In 1888, when Mrs. Fargo (as in Wells Fargo) and some fellow Episcopal church women in New York began collecting prayer books and hymnals for fledgling Episcopal churches in the western part of the United States, the supplies were shipped via stagecoach. Today, what those women began is still known as Church Periodical Club and the need for the “ministry of the word” is as great, if not greater. However, the frontiers of the church have expanded beyond the imagining of Mrs. Fargo and her friends, as have shipping methods. All this was made ever so clear on the evening of July 4, when some 300 people gathered in a ballroom at the Hilton in downtown Indianapolis for the Overseas Bishops’ Dinner, the concluding event of the CPC’s national, pre-General Convention/ECW Triennial meeting.
The Rt. Rev. Julio Murray, Bishop of the Diocese of Panama (pictured on the left), emceed the program, introducing Episcopal and Anglican bishops and primates from locales as far flung as Jersusalem, Brazil, Cuba, Central America, Liberia, Canada, Africa, the Dominican Republic, Japan, South Korea, Taiwan, Mexico, Wales and Guatemala. Most of them took the opportunity to speak - sometimes with the assistance of a translator, always with emotion - about what the ministry of CPC has done for them personally (i.e. receiving grants for textbooks while in seminary) or for parishes in their dioceses.
The Bishop of Costa Rica, the Rt. Rev. Hector Monterrosa, talked about his diocese’s companion relationship with the Diocese of North Carolina. He explained that when asked by Episcopalians in North Carolina what Costa Ricans wanted most he replied, “prayer books.” And the prayer books came. Between the efforts of North Carolinians and Church Periodical Club one thousand prayer books were delivered. “We met our goal and I cannot tell you what a blessing it is to have Spanish language prayer books,” he said.
This is what CPC, which exists entirely on voluntary financial contributions, does. It makes sure, when possible, that church literature in appropriate languages gets to those in the Anglican Communion who’ve requested them. But that’s not all, not by a long shot. It also supports work in the mission field. Theological and educational material, including software and audio/visual material, also go throughout the U.S. to hospitals, seminary libraries, schools, prisons, drug rehab centers, seafarers’ institutes and juvenile centers.
As the Rt. Rev. Dom Filadelfo Oliveira, Bishop of the Anglican Diocese of Rio de Janeiro, put it, “I cannot begin to tell you what the CPC work means. It is so important because it all contributes to one thing — the mission of God’s kingdom on earth. Thank you, thank you.”
(Note: The Episcopal Church Women in North Carolina educate about as well as advocate for CPC. In addition to sending textbook grants twice a year to seminarians from our diocese, we donate, on average, about $3,000 a year to CPC for its national and international outreach. The more that’s contributed by parishes and individuals the more we’re able to give.)
The ECW of Diocese of NC adopted the Millennium Development Goals as a mission point in 2007. We were integral to the success of the Diocese of NC’s 2011-2012 NetsforLife campaign, actively serving on its steering committee and donating $7,200 to the effort. 
