Episcopal Press and News
Urban Bishops Organize, Probe Venture Program
Episcopal News Service. June 22, 1977 [77221]
The Rev. Canon Erwin M. Soukup
Des Plaines, Il. -- Nineteen bishops of the Episcopal Church from dioceses "with significant urban population centers" met here June 13-14 to form an association of common concern, to study the theological and political implications of the urban crisis and to closely question the Presiding Bishop, the Rt. Rev. John M. Allin, on the Church's program of Venture in Mission. Fourteen additional bishops who had intended to be at the meeting sent regrets, citing prior commitments for their absence.
Bishop Allin opened the meeting, noting that the common ministry of the Church was to enable everyone to make his or her particular offering. It is his hope that the urban bishops might develop singular examples of ministry to the cities which would be models for the whole Church, and that the several dioceses would not necessarily wait nor depend upon Venture in Mission (VIM) for meeting the urban crisis.
Two common threads concerning VIM wove through the discussions with the Presiding Bishop and the Rt. Rev. G. Richard Millard, coordinator for Venture in Mission. The urban bishops sought assurance that significant amounts -- at least 50% of VIM funds would be returned to the several dioceses for work in the cities. The second concern registered was whether challenge gifts from large donors might be solicited by national VIM visitors without informing diocesan bishops or taking local solicitations into consideration.
'We will not come into any diocese," Bishop Allin responded, "and call on someone who is a diocesan prospect." He continued, "There is an exception: in agreement with you (the diocesans) we will call on those who will give both to the total project and the diocesan project. The national Church has no mission apart from yours."
Underscoring the first concern, the group, at the end of its meeting, passed a resolution which it included in a letter to the Presiding Bishop, reaffirming "that a minimum of 50% of Venture in Mission funds raised from any source, including challenge gifts, in any urban diocese shall be allocated at the discretion of that diocese. "
The August 1 deadline for the receipt of proposed projects had also entered the discussions as a common anxiety. The Presiding Bishop assured the urban bishops that the Project Proposal Book was "loose-leaf," permitting continuing entry of projects, not "hard bound."
The letter concluded by assuring Bishop Allin "of our desire to join you in working hard for the success of Venture in Mission. "
The ad hoc group of bishops was convened by the Rt. Rev. John T. Walker of Washington, D.C., and was chaired by the Rt. Rev. John H. Burt, Bishop of Ohio. A major item on the agenda was the consideration of forming a coalition for "initiating and administering programs pertinent to the present urban crisis." A report received from the Rt. Rev. James W. Montgomery of Chicago, prepared by a few members of the Joint Commission of the Church in Metropolitan Areas, recommended the establishment of The Episcopal Urban Coalition, to be made up of an association of dioceses which share the concerns and are willing to support the programs of the Coalition.
In explaining the structure and manner of operation of the EUC, Bishop Montgomery used APSO, the Appalachian People's Service Organization, as an analogy. The particular mission thrust of the new coalition will be to the urban centers. The recommendation to organize, approved unanimously by the bishops present, specifically called for a Venture in Mission funding proposal in the amount of $3,820,000 for carrying out a three-year program of mission, "with emphasis on minority church development." The project envisions internships, conferences, clinical training and an involvement in the processes which make public policy.
The Coalition also approved several action proposals. It will sponsor and administer a series of public hearings in various parts of the Church on the urban task of the Church. It also plans for training institutes on public policy, cooperating with the Institute for Policy Studies and the Washington Interreligious Staff Council. The Council would also establish Washington residency programs, involving clergy and laity, which would focus on the problems of hunger, justice and development issues facing America and its relationship with the Third World.
The Coalition also sees the need for the establishment of a mechanism for urban bishops' press conferences on the crucial issues of the day, such as military spending and public policy in the fields of housing and social dislocation. And the Coalition voted as a top priority the establishment of an Episcopal Washington Office on Public Affairs, with a full-time person or persons to interface with the decision makers in the capital city.
The matters of investigating details and the funding of these projects was referred to the Coalition's Steering Committee. Members are Bishop Walker, Bishop Burt, the Rt. Rev. Morris F. Arnold, Suffragan Bishop of Massachusetts, the Rt. Rev. John S. Spong, Bishop Coadjutor of Newark, the Rt. Rev. Lyman C. Ogilby, Bishop of Pennsylvania, the Rt. Rev. Robert L. DeWitt of Pennsylvania and the Rt. Rev. Bennett J. Sims, Bishop of Atlanta.
The third major portion of the meeting was employed in a study of the theological and political significance of the present urban crisis. Dr. Richard Barnet, director of the Washington-based Institute for Policy Studies, reviewed the historical and social reasons for the break-up of community. Noting that decay, unemployment, underemployment and increasing despair were the hallmarks of cities today, the real crisis, he said, lies in the conflict between an emphasis upon the value of the individual with the values of our economic system. Oligopoly, where a few immense producers dominate the consumer market, and military spending are leading to a "life-boat" policy, a policy under which the unproductive segments of society, the aged, the infirm, the ungifted, are cast overboard.
He marked the fact that austerity is becoming the watchword, and the impulse is to tighten up on the poor. "For this," he said, "we have no ready-made ideologies."
Dr. John C. Bennett, retired president of Union Theological Seminary, then led the bishops through an outline of the theological perspectives of modern society. He spoke of the two major problems of Christians in America which limited their perceptions and aided them-in rationalizing the status quo: First, Christians usually become so for reasons that have little to do with social justice; and, individualism and an emphasis on personal salvation.
He also marked the special problem of American churches in trying to involve people in a concern for social justice. The American middle class, in debt and feeling victimized by the high cost of living, education, medical care and taxes, nurture their sense of conservatism and lack of concern for social justice. "This," he added, "becomes a very serious pastoral and pedagogical problem for the churches."
Expressing his pleasure in seeing the bishops of the Church organizing to meet the social concerns of the cities, Dr. Barnet summarized: "We are in the middle of an examination of democracy. We need to examine our economic system in the light of the political and moral values of society."
The Rt. Rev. John B. Coburn, Bishop of Massachusetts, appeared to speak for the bishops present when he said, "I am concerned that the Church will focus on the revitalization of the interior programs of the Church, when the fact is that probably that isn't the most important contribution that the Church is going to have in relation to society. The political and the economic issues are the conditions by which the mission of the Church is going to be carried on. We (the Coalition) need to lift the vision of the Church to the energy problem, the welfare problem, the medical care problem, the housing problem -- all areas in which the Church, by and large, is silent...I would like to see a large amount of this Venture in Mission funding be devoted to meeting the national and international problems of the society in which we carry out our mission. "
Fixing the date and location of the next meeting of the Episcopal Urban Coalition was left to the discretion of the Steering Committee.
Participants I The Episcopal Urban Coalition Meeting: The Rt. Rev. Bishops Robert B. Appleyard, Pittsburg; Morris F. Arnold, Massachusetts; George P. M. Belshaw, New Jersey; John H. Burt, Ohio; William H. Clark, Delaware; John B. Coburn, Massachusetts; Robert L. DeWitt, Pennsylvania (resigned); William A. Jones, Jr., Missouri; John M. Krumm, Southern Ohio; David K. Leighton, Sr., Maryland; William H. Marmion, Southwestern Virginia; James W. Montgomery, Chicago; Paul Moore, Jr., New York; J. Brooke Mosley, Jr., Pennsylvania; Lyman C. Ogilby, Pennsylvania; Quintin E. Primo, Jr., Chicago; Bennett J. Sims, Atlanta; John S. Spong, Newark; John T. Walker, Washington.
Also: The Rev. Van S. Bird, chairman, Christian Social Relations, Diocese of Pennsylvania; Charles Rawlings, staff, Diocese of Ohio; the Rt. Rev. Richard B. Martin, Executive for Ministry; the Rt. Rev. G. Richard Millard, coordinator, Venture in Mission; the Rev. Franklin D. Turner, coordinator for Black Ministries; the Rt. Rev. John M. Allin, Presiding Bishop.