SAD REPORT FROM PHILADELPHIA

From The Living Church, January 4, 1913.

SAD REPORT FROM PHILADELPHIA

Dr. Mortimer Resigns His Parish and is Deposed from the Ministry

The Living Church News Bureau, Philadelphia, December 30, 1912.

A SAD series of events, concerning which full information has not been made public, resulted last week in the resignation by the Rev. Alfred G. Mortimer, D.D., of his rectorship of St. Mark’s Church, on the advice of the Bishop; followed on Sunday by his deposition from the ministry upon his formal renunciation thereof. Dr. Mortimer had officiated at St. Mark’s on the preceding Sunday, the Fourth in Advent. Bishop Rheinlander took his place on Christmas Day. The Rev. S. C. Hughson, O.H.C., will have temporary charge of St. Mark’s at the Bishop’s request.

Sensational reports and charges are printed in the daily papers which, however, admit that they are entirely at sea concerning the facts, and which are devoting a great deal of space to the subject. The only rumor that has been explicitly denied is that Dr. Mortimer had gone over, or was to go over, to Rome; and the only authoritative statement that has been made is the following from the Bishop:

“It is a fact,” he said, “that Dr. Mortimer has withdrawn from the work of his ministry. This action, however, was not the result of any trouble between him and his vestry nor in consequence of any request on their part for his resignation. It followed upon a conference between himself and me in which personal matters of serious moment were considered by us. After the most careful reflection I counseled him to take the action which he afterward took, and his vestry approved the course.”

Dr. Mortimer is now the guest of his brother, the Rev. F.E. Mortimer, D.D., of Jersey City, and has announced that he will soon leave for England, where he expects to make his home in future. His health has been much impaired, requiring frequent absence from his parish during the past year. He is 64 years of age.

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From The Living Church, January 11, 1913, p. 362

SADNESS MINGLED WITH SATISFACTION IN PHILADELPHIA

The Very Sad Case of Discipline Has Been Well Handled by Diocesan and Parochial Authorities

FATHER HUGHSON TAKES CHARGE OF ST. MARK’S PARISH

The Living Church News Bureau, Philadelphia, January 7, 1913.

THE brightness of the Christmas octave was clouded for Church people by the unhappy events briefly recorded last week; the resignation and departure from the city, speedily followed by deposition, of one of the leading priests of the diocese, under the shadow of grave charges against his moral character. The intensity of excitement that marked the first days of this tragic episode have now given place to calmer feeling, in which profound sadness is mingled with satisfaction over the wisdom, courage, and impartial firmness with which the authorities both of the diocese and of the parish met the crisis. It is recognized by all who are in any way conversant with the facts that what had to be done was well done. Father Hughson arrived in town and took charge of St. Mark’s on New Year’s Day. He is well known to the parish, having been a member of the staff of curates during his earlier ministry, and under his steadfast guidance, the work goes forward in orderly fashion.

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A Bishop Coadjutor Chosen in Springfield (1903)

From The Living Church, December 12, 1903, p. 201.

THE happy result of the election of a Bishop Coadjutor in the Diocese of Springfield was the choice, on the first ballot, of the Rev. George Brinley Morgan, D.D., rector of Christ Church, New-Haven, Conn.

Dr. Morgan is a graduate of Nashotah in the class of 1874, in which year he was ordained deacon by the late Bishop John Williams of Connecticut, and has spent his entire clerical life in New England, having been rector at Exeter, New Hampshire, for some years before going to New Haven. His latter work commenced in 1887. So highly is Dr. Morgan thought of by his brethren in Connecticut, that he was seriously considered for Bishop in that Diocese after the death of Bishop Williams. At the recent episcopal election in the Diocese of Newark, Dr. Morgan led in the votes in the clerical order though he was not elected. His election is one in every way to be commended.

The Synod met in St. Paul’s Pro-Cathedral, Springfield, Tuesday, Dec. 1st, at 10 A. M., and opened with a High Celebration of the Holy Eucharist. Bishop Seymour was celebrant, with the Rev. J. Rockstroh as deacon, and, the Ven. Archdeacon De Rosset as sub-deacon. At this service Mr. Robert Henry Fairbairn was ordered deacon. The sermon, by the Rev. Wemyss Smith of St. Matthew’s Church, Bloomington, was a forcible presentation of the Eternal Character of the Word of God and His Kingdom as contrasted with the fleeting character of things material. The Rev. J. C. White was reelected Secretary, and Mr. J. P. Cadwallader, Treasurer of the Diocese. Tuesday afternoon was devoted to Diocesan Missions. Addresses were made by the Bishop and others. Pledges were taken with the result of a slight increase over the previous year. Tuesday evening a missionary meeting was held in Christ Church. The Rev. Dr. Hosier and the Rev. J. A. Brown spoke interestingly and encouragingly upon Diocesan Missions. The Rev. Dr. Stocking of Vincennes, Ind., delivered a brilliant address on General Missions. The missionary meeting exceeded in interest those of recent years. Bishop Seymour presided in his usual happy manner.

The second day opened with morning prayer, after which the Bishop delivered his annual address. In this he referred to Bishops and clergy who have died during the year. Other matters discussed were the proposed Cathedral foundation, the fixed character of the fundamental verities of the Christian Faith as witnessed to by the Prayer Book; and the request which he submitted for the election of a Bishop Coadjutor. The latter portion of the Bishop’s address was referred to a committee consisting of the Rev. Messrs. F. A. De Rosset and J. Rockstroh, and Messrs. M. F. Gilbert, C. E. Hay, and Bluford Wilson. The committee reported in favor of granting the request of the Bishop, and of proceeding at once to the election of a Coadjutor. The Hon. Bluford Wilson urged the postponement of the election to a special Synod, and offered a substitute agreeing with the majority report in acceding to the Bishop’s request, but calling, for a special Synod on Tuesday April 12th, 1904. After long discussion the substitute was withdrawn and the majority report unanimously carried. A resolution to proceed at once to the election of a Coadjutor was then offered and carried.

There were nominated the Rev. George Brinley Morgan, D.D., of Christ Church, New Haven, Conn., and the Rev. Johannes Rockstroh of Danville. After prayers for Divine Guidance, the balloting began. On the first ballot the Rev. Dr. George B. Morgan received a majority of the clerical and of the lay vote, and on motion of the Rev. Johannes Rockstroh, the election was made unanimous.

Reports on the State of the Church, from the Board of Missions, etc., were received. The Rev. Messrs. Johannes Rockstroh, F. A. De Rosset, J. G. Wright, and Messrs. C. E. Hay, H. D. Moss, M. H. Gilbert were elected to the Standing Committee.

The Ven. Archdeacon De Rosset, the Rev. J. C. White, and Mr. M. H. Gilbert were appointed a committee to revise the canons, and report to the next Synod.

The Rev. F. A. De Rosset, the Rev. Johannes Rockstroh, the Rev. L. B. Richards, the Rev. Alexander Allen, and Messrs. C. E. Hay, M. H. Gilbert, J. W. Pope, and W. T. Ingram were elected as deputies to the General Convention. Provisional deputies were Rev. Messrs. J. P. John, E. L. Roland, J. E. Wilkinson, W. Smith, and Messrs. J. F. Cadwallader, J. H. Simmons, James Craig, G. C. McFadden. Trustees of Diocese: Messrs. C. E. Hay, Bluford Wilson, M. B. Gilbert, L. Burrows, W. S. Troxell, and the Rev. F. A. De Rosset.

The Bishop having promised to surrender one-half of his salary and a house, the salary of the Bishop Coadjutor was fixed at $2,000 per annum. The Rev. Johannes Rockstroh, President of the Standing Committee, Messrs. C. E. Hay, and Bluford Wilson were appointed a committee to notify Dr. Morgan of his election.

The meetings of the Synod concluded with a reception given by the Bishop and Mrs. Seymour to the members and friends. The whole Synod was marked by great unanimity of feeling.

The Bishop of Fond du Lac in Russia

From The Living Church, November 7, 1903, p. 13.

MANY friends of the Bishop of Fond du Lac, will be interested in the following letter from him, written at Moscow, October 15th:

“MY DEAR —— You will, I think be pleased to receive a line from me written from this old city, the very heart of Russia. It has now 1,200,000 for its population. The streets are not so crooked or narrow as I had imagined. But it is in this very unlike spacious St. Petersburg. The merchants here are reported to be quite wealthy. I went into one of their large shops, which reminded one of our large Department stores. There are electric lights in the streets, and tramways. The cabs or “dhrosches” are very numerous. They are open and they are very cheap, so that you see many persons and of all classes using them. The people are notably religious. Of course in so great a city I suppose all kinds of vice exist. But there is no city in the world, I think, where, by so many, religion is outwardly expressed. There are little tiny chapels in many of the streets, where persons are seen from morning to night stopping to pray. The men go to church and in greater numbers than the women. The congregation has to stand during the entire service, save when they for a few minutes kneel, and the service may last for several hours. They begin keeping Sunday on Saturday evening. The service is at six. Then the Mass or Liturgy is on Sunday at 10 or 10:30. There is Vespers in the afternoon.

“I was at the great Church of St. Saviour’s last Sunday. This church was built to commemorate the nation’s deliverance from Napoleon. The English people, you know, after their great victory over Napoleon, built in honor of the event a grand bridge over the Thames and called it Waterloo Bridge. The Moscow people built this great church as a thank-offering to God and called it St. Saviour. The Metropolitan who celebrated had me and my attendants placed in his throne in the nave. The church is said, when the galleries were filled on Easter, to hold 14,000 persons. It was on Sunday packed with a great crowd, and so I suppose 10,000 were present, the greater part men.

“We have been most graciously received here and at St. Petersburg. Last week we were at the famous Troitsa (Holy Trinity) monastery, about two hours by tram from here. Now we are staying as guests at the Chudoff Monastery in the Kremlin, where a large suite of rooms is set apart for us. I think I am the first Anglican Bishop who has ever stayed here. Tomorrow night we go back to St. Petersburg and; then shall soon turn homeward. Our passage is taken on the Deutschland, which sails November 2nd.”

Chinese Prayer Book Revision

Chinese Prayer Book Revision
By Francis Lister Hawks Pott
From The Spirit of Missions, October, 1895, volume 60, pp. 430-431.

ONE of the most important pieces of work completed by Bishop Schereschewsky before he resigned his jurisdiction, was the translation of the Book of Common Prayer into the literary language of China. When the American book was revised and enriched, it became necessary to go over the Chinese book again, altering it so as to correspond with the one used at home, and to correct some minor defects that time and frequent use in our Church services had rendered noticeable.

For the accomplishment of this purpose Bishop Graves, in the autumn of last year, appointed a committee, consisting of Archdeacon Thomson, the Rev. Messrs. S. C. Partridge, F.L. Hawks Pott, and J.A. Ingle, to assist him in the task of revising the Prayer Book. The main burden of the work the Bishop took on his own shoulders, translating all the additions which had not yet been put into Chinese, and revising the part already in use. Afterwards he submitted the result of his labors to the members of the committee for their suggestions and criticisms, with the understanding that after each member of the committee had worked privately with his native scribes over the submitted manuscript, a meeting [430/431] of the committee was to be held for discussion, and for the final decision upon the merits of the proposed amendments. In this way the translations of Morning Prayer, the Litany, the Office for Holy Communion, the Ash-Wednesday penitential office, and the special prayers and thanksgivings were reviewed by each one separately. The committee was called together in the library of St. John’s College, Shanghai, on Monday, June 24th, at half-past nine in the morning. All were in attendance, the Rev. Messrs. S. C. Partridge and J.A. Ingle having come down from Hankow for the purpose of attending the sessions. From June 24th until July 7th, with the exception of the two intervening Sundays and the 4th of July, the committee met daily from half-past nine in the morning until noon, and from two in the afternoon until a quarter to five.

The committee was considered to consist of two houses—the Bishop representing the upper and the other members the lower—and no translation was accepted that did not meet with the approval of both.

Line by line, sentence by sentence, clause by clause, and at times character by character, the whole work was passed in review. The utmost care and patience were employed and no limit was put upon exhaustive and thorough discussion. A Chinese scholar and two of the native Deacons were in attendance, to decide upon matters of style where the committee were divided or felt hesitancy as to which translation should be preferred. The inadequacy of the Chinese language to express abstract thought made the task at times a most perplexing one. Other translations of the Prayer Book, used by the English missions, and the Prayer Book used in the Greek Church were frequently consulted, and the different versions of the Scriptures were referred to for the translation of passages from the Bible.

Each member was impressed with a sense of the responsibility that rested upon him, and felt that the work of formulating the sentences and phrases that are to be used in the public devotions of the Chinese Church was indeed a most serious one. The utmost harmony prevailed throughout all the proceedings, and almost all that was finally adopted was done so unanimously.

The following thoughts were present, I think, in the minds of every one: First, what a providential thing it was that the mission in China has had, in the past, a Bishop of such scholarly attainments, who was able to give us so beautiful a translation to serve as the basis of all future revision. Each felt more than ever the value of Bishop Schereschewsky’s translation; secondly, each member came to appreciate, perhaps as never before, the richness and the wonderful depths of meaning in the Liturgy that is the heritage of our Church, and the adaptability of the language of the Prayer Book to express the most earnest and sacred aspirations of the soul when it comes into the presence of its God; and thirdly, each one was impressed with the unity of thought that existed among the members of the committee, and how when it came to the great fundamentals of the faith we were all of one heart and mind.

The days spent together in brotherly discussion will always be remembered with pleasure. At the last session, when all was completed, Bishop Graves announced that as soon as possible the work would be prepared for the printers, and that he hoped it would be ready for distribution during the latter part of the present year.

When once the work is in print, it is understood that it will serve as a basis from which a mandarin version and one in Shanghai colloquial may be made. These few lines are written in order that this most important chapter f our mission history may not pass by unrecorded, and in the belief that the Church at large will not be uninterested in hearing of this great step in the work of the Church in China.

JAPANESE AMERICANS: Church of the Holy Apostles Formed At Relocation Center

Former members of St. Peter’s Mission, Seattle; St. Paul’s, Kent; St. John’s, Ketchikan; and Epiphany, Portland, who are living at Camp Minidoka, Idaho, now are members of the newly recognized Church of the Holy Apostles. Credit for the name goes to Bishop Huston of Olympia and Bishop Rhea of Idaho.

The two bishops were visitors to the Camp on Ash Wednesday and were enthusiastically welcomed by the people. A tea was given in their honor the day before at the home of Dr. Shigaya, so that friends of Bishop Huston might drop in and chat with those who lived in that section. The next afternoon a tea was given by the Fujimotos for the people of the other section.

On Tuesday night the bishops had dinner with the Church staff. On Wednesday morning at 7:30 Holy Communion service Bishop Huston celebrated, assisted by Bishop Rhea, Fr. Kitagawa and Fr. Shoji. Nearly 80 people attended this service. After breakfast at the Fujimotos’, Bishop Huston was taken on a tour of the center.

In the evening more than 150 people attended the services to hear Bishop Huston conduct the Litany, the Penitential Office, and the Ash Wednesday sermon. He also had special prayers for and gave his blessing to five young men who were on the point of leaving for service in the armed forces. At the same service Bishop Rhea instituted Fr. Kitagawa as vicar-in-charge of the Church of the Holy Apostles.

Bishop Huston was much impressed by the efficient way in which the Church is set up and conducted in the camp. And what impressed him most of all is the cheerfulness of the people.

The services of the church are held in recreational halls in each section, which makes it necessary to set up the church furnishings before each service and take them all down again immediately after each service, which meant that on Ash Wednesday the job had to be done twice. Certain committees do the work quickly and efficiently.

From The Living Church, April 18, 1943, p. 7.