Published
Records of offices and staff engaged in the Episcopal Church's ecumenical and interreligious relationships, including meeting records of Episcopal and Anglican dialogues, consultations, and covenanted agreements; conversations with faith traditions, work with ecumenical organizations such as the NCCC and WCC, on-going work with full communion partners, and operational files.
The Advisory Commission on Ecclesiastical Relations was created by the authority of the General Convention in 1931 in its revision of Canon 59(v)(v). The National Council subsequently added the Advisory Commission to its bylaws to replace the earlier Committee on Ecclesiastical Relations, that had been set up in 1927 to consider matters of expanding ecumenical relationships.
By 1935, reduced budgets made it necessary to discontinue the salaried officer. A 1937 revision to Canon 59 dropped the Commission and left oversight of this work to the Presiding Bishop and Council. The Commission and an unsalaried officer were continued with a small budget allocation. The broader ecumenical purview of the Commission was extended by Bishop Tucker in 1939, who renamed the body as the Advisory Council on Ecclesiastical Relations.
Published
This is a small group of the Commission’s minutes and reports. Of note is a 1931 report by Frank Gavin on the condition of the Church in Europe and the Middle East, which was filed with the Committee on Ecclesiastical Relations as it was then known.
Minutes and reports are arranged chronologically.
The collection was microfilmed (MIC 141) by the Archives around 1989.
Access to Episcopal Church records is governed by the Archives Public Access Policy. Research requests must be submitted in writing.
The Archives is able to respond to limited requests for reproductions subject to copyright restrictions, internal policy, and the condition of the source documents.
In response to urging by the Joint Commission on Ecumenical Relations, which identified the need for a single person to coordinate ecumenical efforts at the national level, the position of Ecumenical Officer was created in 1963. The first person to hold the position, Mr. Peter Day, was appointed in 1964. While initially under the Offices of the Presiding Bishop and President (1964-1971), over the decades the Ecumenical Officer shifted from one department to another: Jurisdictional Relations (1972-1974), Mission (1975-1977), National and World Mission (1978-1979), World Mission in Church and Society (1980-1990), World Mission (1991), Partnerships (1992-1994), Ecumenical and Interfaith Relations (1999-2003), Office of the Presiding Bishop (2004-2007, 2017), the Ecumenical and Interfaith division under the Partnership Center (2008-2009), the Global Partnership Team in the Mission Department (2010-2016), and Ministries Beyond the Episcopal Church (2019-current). In whichever department the office has been assigned, the Ecumenical Officer serves as the focal point for The Episcopal Church's involvement with and relationship to other churches and ecumenical organizations, both domestic and international, on common liturgical and social matters.
Published
This fonds documents the work of Ecumenical Officer Peter Day in representing the Episcopal Church on various external Christian bodies engaged in consultation on common liturgical and social matters, as well as discussions of unity. Of particular note are the Episcopal Church's files on the Consultation on Church Unity (COCU). Correspondence, reports, newsletters, articles, questionnaires are also found in the records.
Episcopal Church Relationships and Networks, 1966-1967
Consultations with Other Churches, 1961-1971
The records were microfilmed as MIC 153.
World Mission in Church and Society: Ecumenical Officer Records, 1962-77
World Mission in Church and Society: Ecumenical Office Records, 1964-1984
Access to Episcopal Church records is governed by the Archives Public Access Policy. Research requests must be submitted in writing.
The Archives is able to respond to limited requests for reproductions subject to copyright restrictions, internal policy, and the condition of the source documents.
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.
Published
The records of the Deputy for Anglican Relations comprise correspondence, meeting files, and printed materials from the office of the Rev. Charles A. Cesaretti, who was appointed Deputy to the Presiding Bishop for Anglican Relations by Bishop Browning, beginning in 1986. The majority of the files document meetings and official functions that Cesaretti attended around the world. Included are reports, correspondence regarding planning and travel logistics, sharing of funding among ACC members, and internal commentary touching on documents and statements proposed by other Anglican partners which sometimes reveal serious theological rifts in the global Communion.
In addition, an interfaith conference on disarmament and an inter-religious trip to the USSR, as well as records of Bishop Desmond Tutu’s installation and correspondence and meeting files for the Churches’ Emergency Committee on South Africa are included.
General Correspondence 1983-1988
Meetings, Consultations, and Conferences, 1984-1987
Special Projects, 1984-1988
South Africa, 1985-1986
Access to Episcopal Church records is governed by the Archives Public Access Policy. Research requests must be submitted in writing.
The Archives is able to respond to limited requests for reproductions subject to copyright restrictions, internal policy, and the condition of the source documents.