Stories of Social Change in Contentious Times
Richard Poethig in 2013
Looking back on life at age 85, one theme has pervaded my thinking and action over the years. How do you bring social change in contentious times? The last century has been a time of constant turmoil. We have lived through a period of phenomenal population growth and with it the consequent struggle for living space in all its forms. This larger picture translates into the tensions we have faced in the places we have lived. In my last fifty years I can recall three situations in which I have been part of struggles to achieve these human necessities.
The first of these remembrances was from our time in Manila in the Philippines. When our family arrived in Manila in March 1957, the scars of World War II were still evident. Manila was one of the most destroyed cities in the Pacific war. Read more in Organizing for Change, part I.
When I returned to the United States in 1972, I came back to direct the Institute on the Church in Urban-Industrial Society (ICUIS) located at McCormick Seminary in Chicago, Illinois. In the United Presbyterian Church offices in New York, there was a scramble to reorganize the old departments into the new Program Agency. In the reorganization, the urban-industrial concerns which had been my bailiwick suddenly took a back seat. I also served as dean of the Presbyterian Institute of Industrial Relations (PIIR) where I struggled to line up industrial jobs for summer seminarian participants in “The Ministers in Industry” program. In the 1970s, the industrial base of the Chicago region evaporated. Three hundred and fifty two manufacturing firms left Cook County with a net loss of 151,000 manufacturing jobs. It was obvious that finding jobs for summer seminarians was a dead-end. In this new globalization of the economy, the work of ICUIS was pressed to provide a new perspective: the impact of global political change. What was the church’s role in the world economy? For this we had to begin in our own back yard. Read more in Organizing for Change, part 2.
We moved to Buffalo from Chicago in January 1986. My wife, Eunice, had been called to be the Executive Presbyter of the Presbytery of Western New York.... Upon arrival, I had been called to an interim position at the South Presbyterian Church in South Buffalo, in the vicinity of the defunct Bethlehem Steel in nearby Lackawanna. Our previous experiences both in Youngstown and in South Chicago had prepared us for the dynamics of a de-industrializing Buffalo. Read more in Organizing for Change, part 3.
The first of these remembrances was from our time in Manila in the Philippines. When our family arrived in Manila in March 1957, the scars of World War II were still evident. Manila was one of the most destroyed cities in the Pacific war. Read more in Organizing for Change, part I.
When I returned to the United States in 1972, I came back to direct the Institute on the Church in Urban-Industrial Society (ICUIS) located at McCormick Seminary in Chicago, Illinois. In the United Presbyterian Church offices in New York, there was a scramble to reorganize the old departments into the new Program Agency. In the reorganization, the urban-industrial concerns which had been my bailiwick suddenly took a back seat. I also served as dean of the Presbyterian Institute of Industrial Relations (PIIR) where I struggled to line up industrial jobs for summer seminarian participants in “The Ministers in Industry” program. In the 1970s, the industrial base of the Chicago region evaporated. Three hundred and fifty two manufacturing firms left Cook County with a net loss of 151,000 manufacturing jobs. It was obvious that finding jobs for summer seminarians was a dead-end. In this new globalization of the economy, the work of ICUIS was pressed to provide a new perspective: the impact of global political change. What was the church’s role in the world economy? For this we had to begin in our own back yard. Read more in Organizing for Change, part 2.
We moved to Buffalo from Chicago in January 1986. My wife, Eunice, had been called to be the Executive Presbyter of the Presbytery of Western New York.... Upon arrival, I had been called to an interim position at the South Presbyterian Church in South Buffalo, in the vicinity of the defunct Bethlehem Steel in nearby Lackawanna. Our previous experiences both in Youngstown and in South Chicago had prepared us for the dynamics of a de-industrializing Buffalo. Read more in Organizing for Change, part 3.
The Institute on the Church in Urban Industrial Society (ICUIS), 1972 - 1982
In January 1968, The Institute on the Church in Urban-Industrial Society (ICUIS) began its work in Chicago at McCormick Theological Seminary, where the Presbyterian Institute of Industrial Relations was based. The initial funding of ICUIS was provided by the United Presbyterian Church, USA. ICUIS housed both a teaching program and an international information network in urban-industrial ministry. In the international information program the initial publication of ICUIS was "Abstract Service," a monthly source of abstracts on the international urban and industrial ministries which crossed its desk. Another ICUIS publication, "Justice Ministries," was created to cover issues challenging the church and community in the United States.
The mailing list was composed of those engaged in these ministries as well as those in the larger community whose interest centered on the development of these ministries. Information sharing played a major role in keeping the struggles faced by the various urban-industrial ministries in front of the network. The stories of those who faced these justice struggles were provided channels for reaching larger audiences in the international network.
The ICUIS materials are now in the Special Collections of the University Library at the University of Illinois. I've written about the history of ICUIS in this paper, " An Overview of the Historical Development of the Urban-Industrial Ministry of the Presbyterian Church in the 20th Century," as well as in "Role of information sharing in urban-industrial mission" (1998) .
The mailing list was composed of those engaged in these ministries as well as those in the larger community whose interest centered on the development of these ministries. Information sharing played a major role in keeping the struggles faced by the various urban-industrial ministries in front of the network. The stories of those who faced these justice struggles were provided channels for reaching larger audiences in the international network.
The ICUIS materials are now in the Special Collections of the University Library at the University of Illinois. I've written about the history of ICUIS in this paper, " An Overview of the Historical Development of the Urban-Industrial Ministry of the Presbyterian Church in the 20th Century," as well as in "Role of information sharing in urban-industrial mission" (1998) .
"Abstract: The Institute of the Church in an Urban Industrial Society was the umbrella organization for a number of Church organizations, including the Urban Training Center and Association for Christian Training. Founded in 1967, it acted as a clearing house, distributing literature on multiple topics related to the Church, civil rights, missionary work around the world, the environment, foreign and corporate policy, and community organizations. The ICUIS Archive Series contains material related to church and community organizations throughout the world, but primarily within Chicago. It also holds numerous articles and essays related to developing the Church's role in urban community organizing." -
Richard J. Daley Library Special Collections and University Archives
Richard Poethig on the History of Presbyterian Urban-Industrial Mission
Publications from 1979 to the present
|
Church and Society
Published with permission from the Presbyterian Church (USA) Advisory Committee on Social Witness Policy Journal of Presbyterian History Published with permission from the Presbyterian Historical Society
Discussions of Richard Poethig's Work
|
Living History Films,
Presbyterian Historical Society Living History Films The Living History film project features diverse experiences and stories told firsthand by American Presbyterians.
American Presbyterian
Published with permission from the Presbyterian Historical Society
Presbyterian Historical Society Blog
Citations of Richard Poethig's Work |