Episcopal Press and News
Browning Announces First Appointments
Episcopal News Service. January 16, 1986 [86005]
NEW YORK (DPS, Jan. 16) -- Shortly after taking office, Presiding Bishop Edmond L. Browning announced the appointments of the Rev. Richard S. O. Chang as Deputy for Administration, the Rev. Charles A. Cesaretti as Deputy for Anglican Relationships and Sherman D. Wright as Field Worker, Native American Ministry.
Chang, who acted as chaplain for Browning during the Presiding Bishop's Service of Installation held Jan. 11 at Washington Cathedral, had served Browning as executive officer of the Diocese of Hawaii since 1979. He will take up his new duties here on Feb. 1.
Born in Honolulu, Chang attended the Episcopal Church-affiliated Iolani School, going on to Trinity College, Hartford, Conn., and receiving his M.Div. from the Church Divinity School of the Pacific in 1966. In March of that year, he was ordained to the diaconate and in September, to the priesthood.
Following his ordination, Chang became assistant rector at Holy Nativity Church in his native Honolulu. During his time there, he also served as headmaster of the church's school. In 1970, he was made Archdeacon for the Island of Kauai, a post he held until 1974. From 1970-79, he was rector of All Saints' Episcopal Church, Kapaa and for 1973-79, he served as priest-in-charge of Christ Memorial Church, Kilauea, and St. Thomas' Church, Hanalei, Hawaii.
Chang, who served as diocesan deployment officer for all but one of the years he was diocesan executive director in Hawaii, has also served as deputy to General Convention (1982, 1985) and in a number of diocesan, provincial and community posts, such as judge, ecclesiastical court of appeals, 1973-76; diocesan council, 1971-72; delegate to provincial synod, 1982-85; member, Provincial Commission for Asian and Pacific Island Ministries, 1982-85; secretary, Salvation Army Advisory Board, Kauai, 1971-77; and president, board of directors, American Cancer Society, Kauai Unit. He and his wife, Delia, have two daughters.
Cesaretti, who was a member of the transition team for Browning, is already known to many for his work as public issues officer at the Episcopal Church Center (1979-85) and as its first staff officer for hunger (1976-79).
A native of Trenton, N.J., Cesaretti is a graduate of Rutgers University and the Philadelphia Divinity School. He also holds a 1975 Th.M. degree from Princeton Theological Seminary. He was ordained deacon and priest in 1965.
Prior to joining the Episcopal Church Center staff, Cesaretti served as assistant at Grace Church, Plainfield, 1965-66; rector of Grace Church Linden, 1967-71; and curate at St. Paul's, Westfield, N.J., 1971-74. He had also served as a regional coordinator in Christian education and as a consultant in that field to the Diocese of New Jersey and the Executive Council.
During his time in the Hunger Office, Cesaretti built a church-wide network of people to speak for hunger issues and carry out anti-hunger ministries.
As public issues officer, he was sent by then-Presiding Bishop John M. Allin to Iran as part of an ecumenical delegation which tried to lay groundwork for the release of American hostages. His work also took him throughout Africa and to England, Ireland and Sweden. He served as staff officer to the Social Responsibility in Investments panel of Executive Council and to the Joint Commission on Peace and the Standing Committee on Human Affairs and Health of the General Convention. He is the author/editor of a number of study guides on public issues, including The Prometheus Question and Rumours of War, which delve into energy and peace questions.
Wright, from the Rosebud Sioux Reservation and whose Certificate of Degree of Indian Blood is listed as 27/32, is an example of lay commitment to the Episcopal Church at the "grass roots" level. According to Owanah Anderson, staff officer for the National Committee on Indian Work (N.C.I.W.), Wright "brings to the national Church family a valuable and direct linkage to the Episcopal reservation community, to which our Church, through Bishop Hare, began mission in 1873."
A life member of Calvary Chapel, Okreek, S.D., where he is a lay reader, Wright has a B.A. from Dakota Wesleyan University. His professional background includes employment intermittently over the past 12 years with the Rosebud Sioux Tribe in several areas, including economic development and tribal planning. His previous employment included work as executive director of Lincoln Indian Center in Nebraska, consultant work in New Mexico and short stints working with relocation programs on the West Coast. He has also been active within his diocese, including in the Niobara Council and the T.I.M.E. campaign of the diocese. He and his wife have three children: two boys and a girl.
Wright, who will come to New York once a month to touch base with Anderson, will be involved in such things as monitoring N.C.I.W. projects and working to strengthen lay ministry and recruit Native Americans for ministry, both lay and ordained. The Field Office for Native American Ministry is currently located in Sioux Falls, S.D., through the courtesy of the Rt. Rev. Craig Anderson, bishop of South Dakota. This diocese has the largest number of confirmed Episcopal Indians, estimated at 10,000.