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
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