I come with sad news. Bishop Michael Burbidge and Bishop Peter Jugis, bishops of the two Catholic dioceses in North Carolina, communicated to the Council early this year their plan to withdraw from membership at the end of December. This is not a hasty decision on their part; we and they have been engaged in dialogue for about four years. These conversations included a face-to-face meeting between the two bishops and the Council’s full Governing Board. But we have been unable to resolve differences regarding issues on which we are not in agreement, especially the Council’s neutrality on abortion and our opposition to the constitutional amendment defining marriage.
Let me take a moment to lift up and celebrate the rich history of Catholic participation with the Council. The two dioceses joined the NC Council of Churches in 1977, led into membership first by Raleigh Bishop Joe Gossman, who died in August, and then by Charlotte Bishop Michael Begley. We were among the first state councils to have Catholics as full members. Many state councils either have never had Catholic participation or have, like the National Council, had Catholics in some relationship less than full membership.
We have had wonderful participation and leadership from Catholics. Two (Fr. George Kloster and Bridget Brown Johnson) have served as Council President in the past, and Alberta Hairston, our current President, becomes the third. Others have chaired Council commissions and committees.
All of you who have been associated with the Council for more than the past decade will remember Sr. Evelyn Mattern with great love and deep appreciation. As Council Development and Communications Director Aleta Payne has noted recently, there’s none of the Council’s work, other than Partners in Health and Wholeness, that doesn’t carry Evelyn’s fingerprints. She was deeply engaged with issues of farmworkers and immigration; she directed the Council’s legislative program; she created what is now known as NC Interfaith Power & Light; she was the Council’s communications director; she campaigned for worker justice and equal rights for all.
Seven Catholics (Bp. Gossman, Bp. Begley, Fr. George, Bridget, Sr. Evelyn, Fr. Charlie Mulholland, and Fr. Joe Vetter) have received our annual Distinguished Service Award since 1977. Two Catholics (Ferrel Guillory and Gene Nichol) have received the Faith Active in Public Life Award.
We are grateful for this rich history with the two dioceses in North Carolina, even as we are saddened by the bishops’ decision, for it is a significant setback to our work for Christian unity. At the same time, we appreciate the bishops’ desire to continue to stand with us on issues where we are in agreement, and they are many: immigration reform, protections for farmworkers, just wages and safe environments for all workers, elimination of the death penalty, care of God’s creation, economic justice in our society, peace, and the elimination of torture.
Let me add a personal note. I came to North Carolina to work for the Baptist State Convention just a year after the two dioceses joined the NC Council of Churches, though I didn’t know that at the time. My work for the Baptists on social justice issues put me into occasional contact with most of the wonderful people named above and others from the Catholic Church. That contact has, of course, deepened in the 17 years I’ve been with the Council. So it is a sad thing for me to see the official tie between the dioceses and the wider Christian community come to an end. At the same time, I’m grateful for the bishops’ willingness to work together when we can and for the individual Catholics who will continue to bring a voice for the common good to our Governing Board.
–George Reed, Executive Director
Tom Plaut says
October 11, 2013 at 5:53 pmPerhaps the Bishops will reconsider their position in the light of Pope Francis’ recent statements on openness and inclusiveness.
Joanne Kennedy Frazer says
October 7, 2013 at 6:05 pmI am one of those who served the Catholic Church on the Executive Board of the Council. And I am deeply saddened at the departure of the two dioceses from the Council because the NCCC is the ecumenical voice in our state that is consistently raised up in defense of economic, social and environmental justice, As such it comes out of the rich tradition of the Hebrew and Christian scriptures and calls all people of faith to stand with the poor, oppressed and the vulnerable. I appreciate Rev. Reed’s comments about the value of the past working relationship with the Catholic dioceses.
David McBriar, O.F.M. says
October 7, 2013 at 5:59 pmI am extremely grateful for my association with the NCCC. I have great respect for its leadership and for its courageous stand on many human rights issues. Pope Francis, in his recent interview in America magazine (America, Sept. 30, 2013, p. 28) said: “We must walk united with our differences: there is no other way to become one. This is the way of Jesus.”
Kevin Moran says
September 30, 2013 at 10:18 pmHow very sad that after all the years of cooperation, the Council’s neutrality as regards abortion matters more to the Council than keeping the 2 Catholic dioceses on board. Abortion is a core issue for the Catholic Church.
One may ask that if abortion is a neutral matter and if it existed in First Century Palestine, would it have mattered if Jesus had been aborted?
Sincerely Yours,
Kevin Moran
Aleta Payne, Development & Communications says
October 5, 2013 at 6:02 pmA word of explanation is in order, especially for those interpreting the Council’s intentional lack of engagement on abortion-related issues as a sign of our liberality.
Prior to 1977, the Council had what I would call a traditional mainline Protestant pro-choice position, one held by many of our Protestant member bodies then and now. Without quoting from any one statement, the substance was that abortion should not be used indiscriminately, as another form of birth control, but also that it should not be illegal, that it should be an option available to a woman, in consultation with her doctor and her spiritual guide.
When the Council accepted the Catholic Dioceses of Raleigh and of Charlotte into membership in 1977, that pro-choice position was shelved, out of respect for the Catholic position on the issue and out of recognition that our member bodies then had widely divergent positions. Since 1977 we have left the abortion issue to our member denominations and clergy and congregants to deal with as their denominations and their consciences lead them.
Many of our Protestant member denominations still have those official pro-choice positions. So, in that regard, the NC Council of Churches is actually more conservative (and closer to the Catholic position) than are many of our member denominations. And it would be no fairer to them for the Council to adopt the Catholic position than it would be to the Catholics for us to have gone back to our earlier position.
–Posted on behalf of George Reed, Executive Director
Frank Burnd says
September 30, 2013 at 8:44 pmPerhaps the NC Council of Churches should begin to take a more moderate tone on issues instead of consistently taking the extreme leftwing position.