Episcopalians: A Commitment to Battle

Wearing a yellow and green dashiki, the Rev. Junius Carter, rector of Pittsburgh’s Holy Cross Church, trembled with emotion as he looked out from the speaker’s lectern at the delegates assembled in Notre Dame University’s domed athletic center. “Too long, bishops, you have sat on the sidelines and have not acted as our pastors!” he shouted. “I urge you to intervene at this convention and exercise the authority that has been given you by our Lord.”

The effect was electric. In a climax to three days of acrimonious debate at the Episcopal Church’s Special General Convention, the delegates reversed an earlier decision and voted (404 to 222) to provide $200,000 to the moderate National Committee of Black Churchmen. In taking the action, delegates knew that the money was intended eventually to reach the coffers of James Forman’s Black Economic Development Conference. The Episcopal Church thus became the first major denomination to recognize—however indirectly—the “reparation” demands enunciated in Forman’s Black Manifesto (TIME, May 16). Even this did not quite satisfy the militants. “The action is a political compromise,” said the Rev. Frederick B. Williams, who accused the convention of channeling funds through the Black Churchmen “to avoid honestly facing” Forman.

Flowered Crosses. The convention was also remarkable in other ways. Each of the nation’s 107 dioceses had been invited to send, in addition to the regular delegations, one youth, one woman, and one member of other minority groups as nonvoting participants. The guests soon radicalized the convention, making the issues of racism and Viet Nam its dominant themes.

Throughout the week’s meetings, gaily dressed youths stood in the arena’s bleachers, holding hands and taking turns quietly reading the names of all the Viet Nam war dead. At one point, the Bishop of California, the Rt. Rev. C. Kilmer Myers, introduced a procession of priests and youths bearing antiwar signs and wooden crosses aglow with psychedelic flowers and asked for “spiritual sanctuary” for two AWOL soldiers who had flown from Hawaii to the convention. Clearly the U.S. Episcopal Church, which for years has been a leader in the fight for change, was now ready to commit itself even more fully to the battle.