The National Graduate Training Center (Windham House), which opened in 1928, was one of several training centers that raised up a cadre of women able to minister to people in domestic and foreign venues who were in need of health care, education, and spiritual guidance. Only some of the participants went on to become deaconesses, while most took their vocational interest as a serious lay calling.
The history of Windham House falls into three periods.
From 1928 to 1943 the program of living, worshiping, and studying together was initiated and developed, and some basic convictions and groundwork about the program were established.
From 1944 to 1959 the two-year, fourfold program of study was inaugurated and carried out.
In the years 1959 to 1967 the program took a more exploratory path in an effort to stay current in the midst of rapid cultural change.
The Windham House program was terminated on June 30, 1967 and the property was leased and eventually sold to the Parish of Trinity Church, New York City for the operation of Trinity Institute, a center for the continuing renewal of the ministry of the Church.
Founded in 1951 by Episcopal priest, the Rev. David A. Works, the North Conway Institute (NCI) was an ecumenical organization focused on shaping alcohol policy through education and advocacy rather than promoting abstinence. Initially based in New Hampshire and later in Boston, NCI’s work extended beyond New England, influencing national church bodies and government agencies. Its staff served on numerous boards, and the organization was known for its interfaith approach and emphasis on collaboration.
Works strove for NCI to be a catalyst in the church and society. He encouraged people and groups to come together to face the problems of alcoholism. The Institute sponsored conferences, seminars and created working partnerships with government organizations and private sector businesses. Yearly conferences hosted by NCI brought together leaders within different disciplines to share and discuss information and to propose solutions to problems caused by alcohol. Doctors, clergy members, government workers and business leaders were among those that attended the summer conferences.
During the 1950s and 1960s, NCI worked at the forefront of discussion concerning drunk driving. In 1956 and 1959, North Conway Institute co-sponsored the Governor's Conferences on "Drinking Drivers." In 1963, North Conway Institute worked with the Institute for Safer Living of the American Mutual Liability Insurance Company to host a Conference on Church Action for Highway Safety.
NCI was also instrumental in forming The Ecumenical Council on Alcohol Programs (TECAP). This group created the first policy guide written by an interdisciplinary and ecumenical board which accepts the use of alcohol by church members. The Ecumenical Council on Alcohol Programs involved Protestants, Catholics, Jews and several secular agencies.
During the 1960s many groups concerned with alcohol problems widened their emphasis from care of the alcoholic to include prevention of alcohol problems. NCI was involved in this movement through sponsorship of the 1968 annual NCI conference which explored how the church could help prevent problem drinking. During this same time, NCI worked with the National Council of Churches Task Force on Alcohol Problems to introduce the 1967 Cooperative Commission on the Study of Alcoholism report to the public. This report was the result of a six year study by an interdisciplinary committee funded by a $1.1 million grant from the National Institute of Mental Health. The report proved controversial at the time because it supported the changing of drinking practices and attitudes as a way to prevent future problems with alcohol in American culture. Specifically the government report called for a lower drinking age and encouraged the responsible use of alcohol by youth in such environments as church and sporting events.
Much of NCI's influence in government and industry resulted from the experience of its leader David Works who served as a consultant for federal, state and church agencies. Works was once called "the prophet the church did not want to listen to," by the Rev. J. David Else, president of the National Episcopal Coalition on Alcohol. In 1955 Works was appointed chairman of the U.S. Government Commission on Alcoholism among American Indians. This was the first action concerning alcoholism taken by the federal government after Prohibition. During the 1970s Works served as chairman for numerous committees including the National Council of Churches Task Force on Alcohol and Drug Problems, a U.S. Department of Transportation study on drunk driving programs, the Conference for Religious Leaders of the National Safety Council and the Massachusetts Drug Rehabilitation Advisory Board.
NCI also quietly helped hundreds of families and individuals affected by alcohol problems. Many of the resources collected at the NCI offices and brochures published by NCI were shared with pastors, friends and associates who were trying to help a family member or employee with an alcohol problem.
From 1789 until 1919 (except for the brief period from 1792-1804), the senior bishop by date of consecration was automatically the Presiding Bishop (PB). In 1919 the PB was made president of the National Council which serves as the Board of Directors of the Domestic and Foreign Missionary Service. Duties established at that time included presiding over meetings of the House of Bishops, acting as the executive head of all programs and mission departments, having authority to appoint interim officials and officers, and maintaining oversight of bishops. In 1964 the office was granted authority to appoint the President and Chair of the Executive Council.
In 1967, the duties of PB were brought together under one canon (Canon 2) and stipulated that the term of office be 12 years or until the PB reaches 65 years of age. It also named the PB as chief pastor and gave the office the responsibility for representing the church in its corporate capacity as well as responsibilities involving initiating and developing policy.
The Standing Commission on Structure studied the office further and reported in 1976 concerning the method of electing a PB. They concluded that the PB should continue to be elected by the House of Bishops and approved by the House of Deputies, rather than a joint session of the two houses. The General Convention gave the PB joint authority with the President of the House of deputies to appoint the General Convention Executive Secretary (this position was changed to Executive Officer in 1982).
The Presiding Bishop is the Chief Pastor and Primate of The Episcopal Church, which includes the United States and dioceses or congregations in Europe, Asia and Latin America that maintain continuing ties to the American province of the Anglican Communion. The Presiding Bishop is responsible for initiating new work, developing Church policy and strategy, leading the staff of the DFMS, and representing the Episcopal Church in major public engagements, the Anglican Communion, and ecumenical relationships. In addition, the PB acts as chairperson of Executive Council, President of the DFMS, and is presiding officer of the House of Bishops.
The Office of the Suffragan Bishop for the Armed Forces grew out of the Army and Navy Commission established by General Convention in 1919 "to press upon the attention of Congress the need for Army and Navy Chaplains." For the next 25 years the Commission raised money to aid churches near military camps, provided portable altars and communion sets to chaplains, distributed A Prayer Book for Soldiers and Sailors, paid the pension premiums of chaplains when needed, and contributed to chaplains' discretionary funds to help them respond to emergencies among service men.
In September 1945, the Commission decided to dissolve the existing body and on January 1, 1946, the Army and Navy Commission became the Army and Navy Division of the National Council, reporting to the Presiding Bishop. Since WWII had ended there was no longer an immediate need for chaplains, allowing the focus of the work to shift from wartime ministrations to reintegrating the soldiers into a peacetime society.
In 1946, General Convention determined that a position of Suffragan Bishop for the Armed Forces was required. However, the call for a bishop was not made until 1964 with the election of Arnold M. Lewis, which was due in part to the Unites States becoming fully involved in the Vietnam War. In 1988, the office expanded its scope, and was renamed under the umbrella of Federal Ministries.
Lyman Cunningham Ogilby was born in Hartford, Connecticut in 1922. After receiving his B.D. from the Episcopal Theological School in 1949, Ogilby became a teacher and chaplain at the Brent School, a position he held until 1952. From 1953 to 1967, he served as a bishop in the Philippines, first as Suffragan Bishop of the Philippines (1953-1957) and then as Missionary Bishop of the Philippines (1957-1967).
In spite of his attachment to the Brent School and to the Philippines, Ogilby saw his true ministry as a missionary bishop, whose calling was, in part, to prepare missionary dioceses of the Church for self-support. In 1967, Ogilby resigned as Bishop of the Philippines in order to give the leadership role to Benito Cabanban, a native Filipino who had served as Suffragan Bishop since 1959. Upon his return to the United States in 1967, Ogilby served as Bishop Coadjutor in South Dakota, which was then still a Missionary District. His address to the diocesan convention in that year shows that he expected to assist briefly and then take over the diocese. In January of 1970 he did briefly became Bishop in-charge of South Dakota upon the retirement of Bishop Conrad Gesner, but he served only long enough to guide the election of a new Bishop Diocesan before resigning in March of 1970. From 1971 to 1973, he served as Assistant Bishop of Pennsylvania, supervising missions and aiding parishes under Bishop Robert DeWitt. He became Bishop Coadjutor in 1973, and upon DeWitt’s resignation in 1974, Ogilby became Bishop of Pennsylvania. He held that position until his retirement in 1987. After retirement, he continued to carry out Episcopal duties in the dioceses of Michigan, Pennsylvania, Maryland, and Washington DC.
Lyman Cunningham Ogilby died on November 3 1990.
Founded in 1902 by Wallace A. Battle, Okolona Industrial School (Okolona, Mississippi) did not become affiliated with The Episcopal Church until 1920 when the Diocese of Mississippi and the American Church Institute (ACI) assumed oversight. When Battle became Field Secretary for ACI in 1927, his wife Effie T. Battle took over as administrative head of the school and remained until the arrival of A.M. Strange in 1933.
The school had been renamed Okolona College in 1932. Strange is credited with most of the modernization of Okolona’s physical plant and equipment. In 1965 the Diocese of Mississippi decided to transfer its funding from Okolona College to areas of the state it considered having greater need. The school closed that same year. The campus remained unused until 1990 when the National Council of Negro Women purchased the site with plans of reinstating educational and other support programs for the African American community. The Okolona College site was placed on the National Register of Historic Places in 2002.
