Episcopal Press and News
Capsule Report--Governing Board, National Council of Churches
Diocesan Press Service. October 24, 1973 [73232]
New York City, October 12-15, 1973
Farewell to Dr. R.H. Edwin Espy, retiring after ten years' service as General Secretary, and the election of his successor, Miss Claire Randall, associate executive director of Church Women United and an ordained elder in the United Presbyterian Church in the U.S.A., were the highlights of the October 12-15 meeting of the Governing Board of the National Council of Churches in New York City.
Dr. Espy's quiet leadership encompassed the most turbulent years in the Council's history. His prior service in world ecumenical bodies gave him a vision of the Church as a supra-national reality and of Faith and Order as a central concern of the ecumenical movement along with Life and Work. But it was in the latter area that the Council had to act on the critical issues of the day and break new trails later followed by most of the major American churches.
Miss Randall's election, though contested, was by a convincing majority and provides the Council with energetic and experienced leadership for the future.
The Governing Board adopted six resolutions on public affairs -- the Middle East war, nuclear testing, violations of human rights in the USSR and Chile, population control, restoration of relations with Cuba, and a labor dispute at the Farah Company in El Paso, Texas. However, the principal attention of members was given to section meetings in which Council programs were studied and recommendations were proposed for adoption by the Board. This new trend in Governing Board agenda is a result of the restructuring voted by the General Assembly in Dallas, Texas, last December.
The resolution on the Middle East was passionately and angrily denounced by representatives of the American Jewish Committee who were present as observers and called a press conference to express their dissatisfaction. Though most American Christians, including the leadership of the National Council of Churches, support Israel's right to exist, they do not commit themselves as completely to defense of Israeli foreign policy (for example, on the status of the occupied territories) as the American Jewish community, and the strains on relationships occasionally become severe.
Another painful issue at the October meeting was raised by supporters of the Rev. Robert C. Chapman, a priest of the Episcopal Church who had been separated from the NCC staff in a cutback and reorganization of the Division of Church and Society. Their efforts to get him restored to the staff as an earnest of the NCC's continued concern for racial justice were unsuccessful. The leadership of the Division has been offered to another Black Churchman, Baptist Lucius Walker, executive director of the Interreligious Foundation for Community Organization.