Ecumenical Office. Records

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.