The Ecclesiastical Province of Atlanta, by majority vote of its Ordinates, will soon establish a Provincial Board of Mediation for the purpose of dealing with disputes that may arise within the Church of the Province.

The original proposal for such a board had previously been submitted by a committee appointed for this purpose by the Ordinaries of the Province. This committee, composed of Savannah’s Bishop Gerard L. Frey and one priest from each Senate, submitted their original draft to the Provincial bishops in November. Since then it has been refined and resubmitted.

The proposal calls for the establishment of a Mediation Board composed of 23 people, including a bishop, priests, nuns, laymen and women. Its purpose will be to help safeguard the rights and dignity of individuals as well as afford a system of constructive peacemaking and conciliation.

The board shall appoint a competent hearing panel for each case it accepts to mediate. Although the findings of the hearing panel shall have no coercive power, they will have the moral weight and binding force which their truth conveys.

Such a formula rests on the presumption of good will of all concerned. It also asserts that, in the Church as a community of love, there must be anxious care for all men, those in authority and those subject to it.

Such care is demanded, first by human honor; and then, much more, by the charity of Christ. Such a board is not conceived to preclude the possibility of further redress within Church structures.

The bishops also announced the establishment of THE PROVINCIAL ADVISORY COMMITTEE OF BISHOPS AND CLERGY, composed of the bishops of the Province and two priests selected by each Senate in the Province. The priests selected do not necessarily have to be actual members of the Senates.

This council will meet twice a year prior to the semi-annual bishops’ meetings. It is further anticipated that the study will be given to the future participation of members of the laity as well as men and women religious in the Provincial Advisory Committee.