April 6, 2018 at 1:53 p.m.
COUNCIL OF CHURCHES
Faiths have collaborated for 70 years
"It has moved into the community in very creative ways," said Rev. Robert Lamar, pastor emeritus of First Presbyterian Church in Albany and past executive director of the council.
Rev. Lamar has been involved in the council since the late 1950s. He described those early days as focused on "churchy business." But today, the council runs an emergency homeless shelter, prison ministries, incarceration prevention services, peace and justice forums and CROP Walks to support food pantries and soup kitchens.
The CACC oversees an interfaith prayer room at the Albany International Airport and chaplaincy programs at nursing homes and at The University at Albany and Albany Medical Center.
CACC leaders are discussing challenges facing local faith and secular communities. About 85 churches, mostly Anglicans, Catholics, Orthodox and mainline Protestants from Albany and southern Rensselaer Counties, are CACC members. Affiliate members include the First Unitarian Universalist Society and the Unification Church. Another 7,000 individuals are also members.
Less than a year ago, Rev. George Brennan was named the first Catholic executive director of the council.
"I feel a lot of positive energy," said Father Brennan, who is pastor of Our Lady of Hope parish in Copake Falls. "I think we have a lot to learn from one another."
Father Brennan has visited 70 churches since he began his role. He's been impressed by the CACC's "baptism witnesses" - members who attend baptisms at each other's churches.
The pastor introduced the practice at his own parish. The ecumenical witnesses serve as a "reminder that we're baptized into the Christian community," he explained.
The CACC also hosts ecumenical prayer services on Thanksgiving and Good Friday. "It's important to pray together," Father Brennan noted. "All of that is part of working toward the unity we desire and that we feel we're called to."
A 1686 charter made Albany the first city in the western hemisphere to guarantee religious liberty, according to Rev. James Kane, pastor of St. Patrick's parish in Ravena and ecumenical director for the Albany Diocese.
Then, in 1941, the Albany Sunday School Union and churches doing community service joined together to form the Albany Federation of Churches, which became the CACC.
Initially, the group was closed to Catholics because of mutual suspicions. But Rev. Lamar and Bishop Howard J. Hubbard worked together in Albany's South End in the 1960s, and by the early 1980s, the CACC had its first Catholic board member.
Catholics were officially invited to join in 1993. Ten Catholic parishes are now members.
Catholics "came on board because they wanted to work with people," said Joan Lipscomb of St. Patrick's Church in Ravena, the first Catholic president of the CACC's board of directors in the early '90s. "I think we [Catholics] deal in depth with people as a Church. We brought that spirit with us."
Rev. Lamar said the addition of Catholics "has challenged and changed the image of the council very quickly and in a positive way."
The CACC has also met with non-religious groups, talking with Habitat for Humanity about affordable housing and with Albany SNUG ("guns" spelled backwards) on gun violence.
Leaders said the CACC faces some challenges: communicating with parishioners, pooling resources to address shrinking faith communities and dealing with racism, healthcare reform and the distribution of wealth.
Father Brennan pointed out that the loss of a $20,000 grant for the CACC's homeless shelter is also a problem. They expect a spike in use of the shelter this winter because of the recent closure of the Alcohol Crisis Center in Albany.
Rev. Lamar hopes the CACC continues to advocate for the poor and hungry, "trying to bring a sense of God's purpose and God's challenges to the issues facing us."[[In-content Ad]]
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