Bells in the Delta

The Episcopal Church last year sent one of the largest contingents of clergy and laymen--51 in all--to work on civil rights projects such as the National Council of Churches' Mississippi Delta Ministry. But in December, at a meeting of the Executive Council of the Episcopal Church, Southerners pushed through a resolution that would give any bishop the right to ban out-of-state clergy from coming into his diocese to take part in activities financed by the church's $100,000 civil rights fund. Last week, meeting in Greenwich, Conn., the 42-member council reversed the ruling after hearing argument from council members and others.

Mississippi Bishop Coadjutor John Maury Allin did not oppose the repeal of the December ruling, but he did complain that Episcopal civil rights activists who came to Mississippi paid no attention to his views. "We are an Episcopal Church. The December resolution was an expression of trust in the bishops," said Allin. Chicago Bishop Gerald F. Burrill agreed. "The bishop of any diocese should be consulted prior to any action that concerns his diocese," he said.

Speaking for repeal, Bishop Robert L. DeWitt of Pennsylvania said: "Our church, like every other church, has said over and over again that discrimination, condescension and segregation are evil and of the devil. The Delta Ministry is located in one diocese. But those school bells, those courthouse bells, those church bells toll for us all." Chairman of the Delta Ministry, Paul Moore, suffragan bishop of Washington, was even more impassioned: "God is working through this movement. I've never sensed the Holy Spirit as I did in Mississippi."

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