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Authority record

Deputy for Anglican Relations

  • Corporate body
  • 1986-1991

Following his election as Presiding Bishop in 1985, Edmond Browning created the Deputy for Anglican Relationships (also known as Anglican Relations and Anglican Affairs). The office was part of the Senior Executive Group of the Presiding Bishop’s staff at Church Center, and its purpose was “to provide consultative and coordinative support” to the Presiding Bishop in affairs dealing with the Anglican Communion. The Rev. Charles Cesaretti was the first to be appointed to the position in January of 1986. The Rev. J. Patrick Mauney took over the office in January of 1989.

The Deputy acted as liaison to other members of the Anglican Communion and as a close advisor to the Presiding Bishop on Anglican matters, traveling to Anglican church conferences and meeting with representatives from the global Anglican Communion. As such, the Deputy was responsible for keeping abreast of world events and international crises and advising the leaders of The Episcopal Church on framing the Church’s responses.

Following budget cuts within The Episcopal Church in 1991, the position of Deputy for Anglican Relations was not renewed and much of the work was transferred to the Partnerships Office.

Episcopal Divinity School

  • Person
  • 1974-20171974-2017

The Episcopal Divinity School (EDS) was established in 1974 in Cambridge, Massachusetts, through the merger of the Philadelphia Divinity School and the Episcopal Theological School. EDS was a respected and progressive institution that sought to prepare both men and women for the ministry, whether lay or ordained. In 2016 the board of trustees decided to sell its Cambridge, Massachusetts campus and the following year, EDS affiliated with Union Theological Seminary in New York City, creating EDS@Union.

Committee on World Relief and Inter-Church Aid

  • Corporate body
  • 1950-1967

Due to the initial success of the Presiding Bishop's Fund for World Relief (PBFWR) in the 1940s, the scope of the program was expanded over the course of 1949 and 1950. At the request of the Presiding Bishop, National Council expanded the purview of the PBFWR to encompass not only world relief, but also “church cooperation,” generally expanding the scope of its grant-funded projects and specifically enabling it to finance the costs of The Episcopal Church’s participation in the World Council of Churches. Consequently, the Presiding Bishop’s Committee on World Relief and Church Cooperation was authorized in April 1950 to make appropriations within the terms of the budget item for world relief and church cooperation.

The Presiding Bishop's Committee on World Relief and Church Cooperation formulated policy and approved grants and appropriations; however, formal grant criteria were not introduced until the 1970s. The Department of Christian Social Relations administered the operation of approved programs, which included humanitarian efforts, particularly aid to refugees, parish development, and ecumenical programs. At the February 1959 National Council meeting, it was resolved that the Committee on World Relief and Church Cooperation be renamed the Committee on World Relief and Inter-Church Aid.

One year later, in February 1960, the Committee on World Relief and Inter-Church Aid recommended to the National Council that the operational activities of the Committee become a Division of World Relief and Inter-Church Aid within the structure of the Department of Christian Social Relations.

In 1968, as the Executive Council sought to develop more efficient working structures, the Department of Christian Social Relations was dissolved, effectively ending the work of the Committee on World Relief and Inter-Church Aid.

Presiding Bishop’s Fund for World Relief

  • Corporate body
  • 1940-2000

At the General Convention in 1940, delegates authorized the Presiding Bishop to call for Church members to donate to relief efforts for war refugees. Later that year, the National Council established an advisory committee for those relief efforts, the Presiding Bishop's Fund for World Relief (PBFWR).

Over the course of 1949 and 1950, the National Council expanded the scope of PBFWR’s grant-funded projects and specifically enabled it to finance the costs of The Episcopal Church’s participation in the World Council of Churches. Consequently, the new Presiding Bishop's Committee on World Relief and Church Cooperation was authorized in April 1950 to make appropriations within the terms of the budget item for world relief and church cooperation.

While the Presiding Bishop's Committee on World Relief and Church Cooperation formulated policy and approved grants and appropriations, the Department of Christian Social Relations administered the operation of approved programs, which included humanitarian efforts, particularly aid to refugees, parish development, and ecumenical programs. The name was changed to the Committee on World Relief and Inter-Church Aid in 1959.
Some time after that, it appears that the divisional work was abandoned; however, after an ad-hoc committee of Council was assigned to study world relief work in 1972, the Executive Council approved a charter for the PBFWR.

In its later years, the PBFWR continued to shift the focus of its work towards global disaster relief and, in 2000, renamed itself Episcopal Relief and Development and obtained separate incorporation in 2002.

Episcopal Church Women

  • Corporate body
  • 1985-

Originally authorized by the General Convention in 1871 to coordinate the work formerly conducted by a large number of isolated women’s missionary societies, The Woman’s Auxiliary to the Board of Missions initially served in an advisory role, however, the Auxiliary evolved into a planning and promotion group. The first General Meeting of the Auxiliary was held in 1874, when the women resolved to meet concurrently with General Convention and came to be known as the Triennial Meetings of the Woman’s Auxiliary.

During the 1956-1958 triennium women’s work in the Church was reorganized. The Auxiliary transitioned into a division of National Council and was renamed the General Division of Women’s Work. Rejecting the auxiliary status, diocesan organizations began to name themselves the Episcopal Church Women. Symbolic of the turbulent social climate of the late 1960s and 1970s, the Church initiated structural reorganizations aimed at integrating women into the Church on every level. As part of these changes, the General Division of Women’s Work was dissolved in 1968.

Subsequent Triennial Meetings were organized by various ad hoc committees until the 1985 gathering, at which time bylaws were adopted forming the Episcopal Church Women (ECW) at the national level. This organization reclaimed its right as the successor body to the Woman’s Auxiliary and assumed responsibility for coordinating the women’s activities in the Church and for organizing the Triennial gatherings.

A resolution was filed at the June 1986 meeting of Executive Council confirming that the newly formed Episcopal Church Women “is the same or successor organization to the Woman’s Auxiliary, the General Division of Women’s Work, the Committee for Women, the Triennial Program and Planning Committee, and the Triennial Committee.”

Rural Workers Fellowship

  • Corporate body
  • 1924 - c. 2018

The Rural Workers Fellowship (RWF) was first organized in 1924 in Madison, Wisconsin at the National Episcopal Conference of Rural Workers, with which many of its leadership maintained a long relationship. The Fellowship’s founding bylaws stated its purpose as: (1) to promote the interest of the whole ministry to the Church in rural communities; (2) to increase the fellowship among those interested in such services; and (3) to aid the National Council in its service to the rural and field workers. While maintaining its operational independence, the RWF was very closely aligned through mission and personal relationships to The Episcopal Church’s National Council.

For many years the Department of Christian Social Service’s Division of Rural Work led the effort to support rural ministry and provided a subsidy to the RWF to that end. In 1934, the Division of Rural Work was abolished and the Department of Christian Social Service continued the work of rural church promotion as best it could.

In 1941, there was revival of the RWF in the life of the national body as the National Council reorganized and rural work became a part of the Department of Domestic Missions. In 1946, the Fellowship was incorporated and in 1947, a new constitution and bylaws were adopted. In 2005, the Rural Workers Fellowship was renamed the Rural Ministries Network. The RMN appears in The Episcopal Church Annual in 2017, however, by 2019 it was no longer listed.

Woman's Auxiliary

  • Corporate body
  • 1871-1968

In 1871, the General Convention authorized The Woman's Auxiliary to the Board of Missions to coordinate the work formerly conducted by a large number of isolated women's missionary societies. This work included raising funds, publicizing the missionary programs, and recruiting and training women missionaries. The Emery sisters–Mary Abbott, Julia Chester, Susan Lavinia, and Margaret Theresa–were all instrumental in the founding of the organization.

The first General Meeting of the Auxiliary was held in 1874, at which time the women resolved to meet concurrently with General Convention. These meetings came to be known as the Triennial Meetings of the Woman's Auxiliary. In 1889 Julia Chester Emery, who at the time was secretary of the Woman’s Auxiliary, began the United Offering (later renamed United Thank Offering) which provided funds for a wide range of innovative missionary projects.

In 1919, the first National Council Executive Board of the Woman’s Auxiliary was formed to oversee the direction of the work of the women, not only in supporting missionaries, but in social service, religious education, and prayer and worship.

At the 1958 Triennial Meeting, under the direction of the National Council, necessary bylaws were adopted to rename the Executive Board of the Woman’s Auxiliary as the General Division of Women’s Work, which included a designation that diocesan groups would be known as Episcopal Church Women.

Symbolic of the turbulent social climate of the late 1960s, the role of women in the Church went through numerous and significant changes, rendering the Episcopal Church Women unsure of where they fit. Structural reorganizations were initiated aiming to integrate women into the Church on every level. As a part of these changes, Executive Council (formerly National Council) dissolved the General Division of Women's Work in 1968.

Subsequently, the Triennial Meetings were organized by various ad hoc committees until the 1985 gathering, at which time bylaws were adopted forming the Episcopal Church Women (ECW) at the national level. A resolution was filed at the June 1986 meeting of Executive Council confirming that the newly formed Episcopal Church Women “is the same or successor organization to the Woman’s Auxiliary, the General Division of Women’s Work, the Committee for Women, the Triennial Program and Planning Committee, and the Triennial Committee”.

The ECW assumed responsibility for coordinating women's activities in the Church and for organizing the Triennial gatherings.

Department of Finance

  • Corporate body
  • 1919-

The Department of Finance was centered in the office of the Treasurer (a continuation of the office with the DFMS). As an administrative unit, it was a creation of the National Council in 1919, and continued until 1965 when the Executive Council reorganized. The department was charged with administering funds received by the National Council and the expenditure of funds as authorized by General Convention and the Council. It was in this capacity that the department worked with the foreign missions.

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