USA > Connecticut > The story of the Diocese of Connecticut : a new branch of the vine (Espiscopal Church) > Part 29
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The Sunday school quickly spread to America and in the early 1800's flourished in several seaboard cities. Since most of the states had no good public schools, it appeared as a heaven-sent minister to teach the three R's cheaply. As public schools arose, it became strictly religious and denominational.
Some Episcopalians at first opposed the movement. Bishop White of Pennsylvania, who was inspired by Raikes, with difficulty persuaded his flock to accept the English novelty. But by the 1820's Sunday schools were widely diffused. Episcopalians per- ceived their value as a complement to secular public education. They felt that gradual "Christian nurture" was better than depend- ence upon revivalistic conversion. Their opinion found support in the philosophy of the Rev. Horace Bushnell, Hartford's cele- brated Congregational minister, who taught that children should gradually grow into Christian character.
Connecticut Congregational churches experimented with Sunday schools before 1805, and by 1820 their success had con- verted most Episcopal parishes. In 1827-1830 the Episcopal Watchman urged more parental support, Sunday school unions, and better books and teachers. By the 1850's the Diocese was completely committed to the Sunday school as the principal agent of religious education for children.
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At first the activity was parochial and haphazard, but in the 1820's it began to assume systematic organization under the nation- al Episcopal Sunday School Union, which circulated advice and literature. The Diocesan Convention appointed a Sunday school committee, which urged all schools to enter the Union and adopt its course. Following a committee's recommendation, the Diocese organized a union, with the Bishop as president. Its directors acted as a publication committee and maintained an office to supply literature for prizes and school libraries. The Union systematized the administration and curriculum to a limited extent and en- couraged the establishment of more schools.
One of the pressing needs was a broader course of instruc- tion. Before the rise of Sunday schools the Episcopal Church re- lied almost entirely upon the catechism. For a long period many Connecticut parishes used the catechism of Bishop George Innes of Brechin, Scotland, which was republished in 1791 by Bishop Seabury. By 1820 the schools were fairly clamoring for a new course, and appealed to the learned rector of Trinity Church in New Haven, the Rev. Harry Croswell, who probably did more than any other man to promote Sunday schools in the Diocese. In 1823 he began to issue the five books of his Young Churchman's Guide, with the advice and approval of Bishop Brownell. It was based upon the catechism and is believed to have been the first complete course used by the American Episcopal Church. It was warmly recommended by the general Sunday School Union, and for many years was used far outside New England.
Croswell's course was by far the most popular, but others were extensively used. One was a catechism of the Bible, pub- lished in 1818 by Menzies Rayner, rector of St. Paul's Church, Huntington. Other popular books were Mrs. Mary Sherwood's Stories Explanatory of the Church Catechism and the Rev. Charles A. Goodrich's Outline of Bible History.
The catechism method flourished far into the nineteenth century, for public catechizing was believed to impart a feeling of unity to the school. In some parishes the rector catechized the en- tire school in the church on the first Sunday of the month. Such public examinations were eagerly attended by parents and other parishioners, and closed with announcements of prizes.
This method required feats of memorizing that now seem
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incredible. It was not unusual for a class to learn hundreds of Bible and hymn verses and answers from textbooks. Another popular method was the "Fun to Learn" game, consisting of sets of cards on the Church's seasons, ornaments, vestments, and other topics. Comprehensive tests were always popular, and as late as the 1920's the Diocese used a series leading to three grades of achievement. The questions covered the Prayer Book, the cate- chism, the creeds, the Church, the Christian year, Old Testament heroes, the life of Christ, the sacraments, and missions.
The old-time Sunday school was not afraid that it would give some children inferiority complexes by distributing prizes. A favorite award was the gift book, which might be an "elegant" lit- tle volume with gilt edges and a tooled binding. Sometimes the school awarded a subscription to one of the numerous Sunday School magazines. In the 1820's the general Sunday School Union published a monthly full of stories, dialogues, addresses, and pic- tures, which was warmly praised by the Episcopal Watchman. The Church Penny Magazine for Children was started in New Haven in 1867 and was intended "to amuse and instruct."
Some magazines were aimed to inform the teachers, who were mostly unpaid volunteers, willing but untrained. Teacher education began as early as the 1830's and generally was the rec- tor's problem. A typical course was given by the Rev. Harry Croswell, who lectured once a month and expected the teachers to read essays on the art of instruction.
These efforts failed to appease the demand for a ready- made course, which with conscientious effort could be used effec- tively. The earlier standard courses began to seem dull and top- heavy with memorizing, but nothing else seemed to replace them. For a time many parishes used the interdenominational Inter- national Lessons, which did not emphasize the Church's year and special teachings.
The right solution seemed to be the graded Christian Nur- ture Series. It was begun in 1912 by the Rev. Messrs. William E. Gardner and Lester Bradner, with the help of a critical advisory committee and tests in class. Published in 1916 and revised in 1923, this course became immensely popular, because it emphasized the Church as an institution, but did not favor peculiar or extreme brands of churchmanship. It admirably combined information with
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social ideals, and a heavily Biblical content with illustrative ma- terial from other sources. Its excellence is attested by continued popularity after more than forty years.
The old-fashioned Sunday school frankly aimed to train good Churchmen and relied upon worship to create a reverent at- titude. For many years Croswell's Young Churchman's Guide pro- vided the standard school service. It consisted of sentences, an exhortation, the Lord's Prayer, versicles, a psalm, the creed, pray- ers, and hymns. The hymns would now be considered too obvious- ly childlike and didactic. Another favorite was Bishop Hobart's Office of Devotion, or Liturgy, for the Use of Sunday Schools, published in 1827 by the general Sunday School Union. It was an abbreviated form of Morning Prayer and was used at Christ Church in Hartford, where the children gathered around the organ for worship.
School worship developed many quaint and attractive cus- toms. In some parishes the children marched into church, led by their teachers. Elaborate ceremonial marked the great festivals, especially Easter, when the service frequently closed with a distri- bution of plants. Some parishes held an autumn flower show to dis- play and award prizes for these plants, and for flowers from seeds given in the spring. City schools sometimes united for special fes- tival services, with collections for missions or for country schools. A few parishes had separate schools for Negroes, or mission classes for poor and neglected children.
The old-time Sunday school had a charmingly homelike and pious quality, with its festivals and prizes and picnics in the open- trolley period. But it often lacked efficient administration and equipment, or even a suitable place for work. In the early 1800's most schools held classes in the nave of the church, the gallery, or the basement, and some used halls. There were few parish houses until after the 1870's, and even then the planners gave slight consideration to the school.
Local organization was informal, and it was unusual to find a school as well governed as a certain one in Norwich. The super- intendent there organized a Sunday School Society with share- holders, donors, catechists, visitors, and a sewing circle. The share- holders raised funds, the sewing circle made clothing for poor pupils, and the donors supplied gifts, including the big Christmas
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tree. The general view of adequate administration was voiced by a priest at the Diocesan Convention in 1878. He advised accurate records, frequent reports, rewards "quite generally distributed," Christmas and Easter festivals, papers for the pupils, and regular offerings.
There was no "Director of Religious Education" until the present century, and a good superintendent was the ordinary key to success. Superintendents were sometimes regarded as the lead- ing laymen in their parishes and a few served for generations. Mr. John C. Hollister of St. Paul's, New Haven, perhaps held the rec- ord - fifty-one years! When a new rector arrived, a parishioner quaintly remarked that he would be "such a help to Mr. Hollister."2
Careful grading of schools came rather late in the 1800's. The result was greater efficiency but some regretted the loss of the intimate bond between pupil and teacher, which might endure for a lifetime. An attractive feature was the naming of classes for bishops, or even for former superintendents or teachers.
Schools generally struggled with annoying obstacles, includ- ing some that are still familiar. In early days, when they empha- sized ministry to poor children, the most frequent cause of ab- sences was lack of good clothing, which was often supplied by women's sewing societies. Many complaints of parental laxity have a familiar ring. Another difficulty was "leakage at the top," the loss of the adolescent. In 1831 the parish in Derby typically reported that just when children (particularly boys) could obtain the most benefit from the school, they were likely to drift away.
The greatest drawback was lack of competent general ad- ministration, for central control often was resented. Evangelical Churchmen looked askance at the general Episcopal Sunday School Union. Their Society for the Promotion of Evangelical Knowledge was similarly regarded by High Churchmen, and the Calendar, Connecticut's diocesan paper, even regarded it as schis- matic. Really effective and acceptable control did not appear un- til around 1900, when many dioceses introduced Sunday School commissions.
In Connecticut the schools had been somewhat indefinitely supervised by the Sunday School Auxiliary, successor to the origi- nal diocesan Union. Bishop Brewster urged a more official organi- zation and in 1905 the Convention authorized a Sunday School
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Commission to study religious education and promote more effi- cient schools. The Commission was formed in 1906 and at once issued a questionnaire to investigate conditions.
Reports from about half of the schools showed the alarming lack of foundation for effective work, especially in teacher train- ing. The Commission swiftly called meetings to arouse interest, and organized a diocesan union with local branches. Its general meetings consisted of pastors and lay delegates from the schools, with the Bishop as president. Bishop Brewster backed the new plan to the limit, and the Connecticut Churchman advertised it by a series of articles in 1908. In that year the Commission elected its first secretary, the Rev. Samuel R. Colladay.
Doctor Colladay made good use of his fund for travel, and within three years the Diocese began to assume a new attitude toward the Sunday school. People became aware of the Union's local branches, the new diocesan curriculum, teacher-training classes, the traveling exhibit of literature, and the crowded fall meetings of teachers.
The Convention caught the new enthusiasm and in 1911 approved the Commission's request for a larger appropriation and its effort to secure a paid superintendent of religious education. In 1913 the Commission proposed a Board of Religious Education to supervise a greatly enlarged program, and two years later the Con- vention assented. Before its demise, the Commission had chal- lenged the Diocese to improve its schools by presenting a thorough report on their methods and study materials.
Supervised by Archdeacon Henry S. Harte, the new Board inaugurated a sweeping improvement. It operated through visits to parishes, lectures, archdeaconry and diocesan conferences, teacher-training classes with examinations, and visual aids. Mr. Harte incessantly proclaimed his belief that "the most fundamen- tal problem of the age is the problem of Religious Education, be- cause it lies at the door of all else, political, social and theologi- cal."3 An "illuminating if somewhat saddening" survey revealed many courses unsuited to the Church's ideals. Much still remained to be done to enlighten teachers and to gain parental interest and adequate financial support.
Undiscouraged, the Board developed a varied program that gradually produced results. A special catechism, prepared by Doc-
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tor Samuel Hart, aroused interest in studying diocesan history and life. The Christian Nurture Series promoted Bible study, loyalty to the Church, deeper devotional life, Christian service, and more graded schools. Its spread and effectiveness were stimulated by a permanent exhibit of materials, and a comprehensive reference li- brary at Christ Church Cathedral. Teacher-training institutes be- gan to improve the smaller schools, which had always been hard to reach. Suspicion of central control gradually yielded to Mr. Harte's assurances that the Board did not intend to dictate parochial policy or action.
Central administration gradually prevailed. Its approach was heralded in 1920 by the Board's suggestion to make its office the point of contact between the General Board and the Diocese. The New Haven Normal School of Christian Nurture intended its instruction to unify teaching through a standard course of education for teachers.
Under Canon George H. Heyn, as Director of Religious Education, the Board started monthly all-day sessions and named committees to study all phases of education. The annual mite-box presentation service at Christ Church Cathedral helped to bind the schools together and lessen their parochialism.
The centralizing trend gained strength through Canon Heyn's opinion that a busy parish minister could only "touch the edge of the work." Connecticut was slipping behind other dio- ceses, and by short-sighted economy was neglecting the world's greatest missionary field - the children. The Board recommended a full-time, salaried executive and in 1921 the Convention at last established a Department of Religious Education with a Director.
The new department was organized in January, 1922. The Director, the Rev. John H. Rosebaugh, cooperated closely with the chairman, the Rev. William T. Hooper, and the educational secre- tary of the Woman's Auxiliary, Deaconess Cora L. Roberts. Few dioceses ever have had such an energetic and devoted team of re- ligious educators. They merged the Sunday School Auxiliary with the Board and appointed commissions for special functions. They encouraged closer relations between the school and the home, higher standards of administration, increased giving for missions, and weekday instruction. The Church School Service League became a dynamic agency for missionary and social service.
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The Board was determined to give the Diocese the best Sunday school system in the American Church, and its members traveled and lectured incessantly to publicize their ideal. Mr. Rose- baugh overcame indifference and misunderstanding, and proved the department's worth by its works. Time showed the truth of his fellow workers' tribute, upon his resignation in 1927: "It is not too much to say that he has given to the Diocese a sense of re- sponsibility in this critical field of the Church's life that must continue for many years to come."4
Among the department's many accomplishments under his direction were the Convention's annual Religious Education Insti- tute and Church School Exhibit, the organization of the Young People's Fellowship in the autumn of 1924, the summer conference for young people at Pomfret School, and the beginning of a stu- dent chaplaincy at Yale University. Perhaps most gratifying was the steady growth of Sunday schools, when such schools were generally declining because of a falling birth rate.
Mr. Rosebaugh left a goodly heritage to his successor, Miss Charlotte Forsyth, who had been Director for the Diocese of Pitts- burgh. In her service of less than two years, she promoted the Teacher Training Institutes, the Young People's Fellowship, and the Summer Conference.
Her successor, Miss Helen Stevens, served for fifteen years - longer than any other Director. During most of the time she co- operated with the Rev. Samuel Sutcliffe, Executive Vice-chairman of the department. The Diocese still remembers the innumerable duties they performed so easily and so well. The amazing results were all the more remarkable for being achieved in a dreary period of depression and reduced budgets.
They raised teaching standards by developing model schools, and made the "Y. P. F." one of Connecticut's most promis- ing youth organizations. Their remarkably fine series of pageants taught Church history to thousands of children. Miss Stevens left an inestimably valuable legacy to the schools by raising their standards of education and teaching, and her cheerful, confident personality was a tonic to teachers, parents, and children. When Mr. Sutcliffe died in 1944, the general affection for him was shown by the crowds at a memorial service in St. Paul's Church, Wallingford,
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Mr. Sutcliffe and Miss Stevens relied upon the constant sup- port of Bishops Acheson and Budlong, and of Bishop Gray, who as Suffragan was chairman of the department. They enlisted the moral support of parents and prompted a more intense effort to reach children and families without religion. New leaders rose through the "Y. P. F.," which was encouraged by the establishment of a Committee on Youth in 1941-1942. The most significant accom- plishment was a complete integration of youth work with the general religious education program.
The Department of Religious Education expanded greatly under the chairmanship of the Rev. Reamer Kline. Mrs. Laurence F. Piper served as Religious Education Consultant from 1945 until 1953, and was succeeded in 1954 by Miss Vera L. Noyes, former Director of Religious Education at the Cathedral of the Incarna- tion, Garden City, Long Island. Effort was concentrated upon im- proving the smaller schools, popularizing visual aids, and main- taining close associations through a monthly newsletter. A new Commission on Curriculum and Standards raised the quality of in- struction, with the aid of a committee of religious educators and a conference of superintendents and other school leaders.
The new Christian Education Program of the 1950's, based upon the Seabury Lesson Series, aroused unprecedented interest even though it was not universally acceptable. The quickening has been stimulated by many discussions during weekend confer- ences comprising teachers and parents, and by crowded and enthusiastic "workshops" for teachers.
Bishop Gray set the tone of the new enterprise by a con- tinuous pressure for higher standards and parental support. The Diocese, he declared, could no longer tolerate muddling schools with untrained teachers and methods which no public school would tolerate. Responsible lay support and informed parochial leadership alone, he said, could eliminate the appalling religious illiteracy of youths and adults, and the loss of innumerable con- firmands. His Diocese is now determined that children shall no longer be "the orphans of church life."
THE EPISCOPAL ACADEMY OF CONNECTICUT
One of Bishop Seabury's most cherished ambitions was to establish an Episcopal college. Although most of the clergy of his
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day were loyal sons of Yale, they shared his opinion that the Church would be more likely to prosper with its own college. The unfriendly disposition of the established church permitted slight hope of a charter, and the Convocation of clergy in 1792 merely proposed an "academy." Two years later a committee of the Con- vention appealed for funds, and in 1795 Cheshire was chosen as the location, mostly through the efforts of the Rev. Reuben Ives, rector of St. Peter's Church.
The constitution of the Episcopal Academy of Connecticut was adopted by the Convention in 1796, with the intention of mak- ing it a college. Many Churchmen contributed funds with that idea and started the library with volumes bearing the label "Sea- bury College in Connecticut." The new school began a new era in Connecticut education. Although the trustees included the Bishop and some priests of the Church, the rest might be laymen of any Christian faith, and the students were not compelled to attend Episcopal services. Such liberalism was novel at a time when religious schools generally were strictly sectarian. The same spirit appeared in the act of incorporation, granted by the General Assembly in 1801. Another innovation was a provision for the edu- cation of girls, but a new constitution in 1836 limited enrollment to boys.
Bishop Seabury did not live to witness the laying of the first building's cornerstone. It took place on April 28, 1796, with Ma- sonic ceremonies which would have pleased the Bishop, a loyal Mason. The address, most appropriately, was delivered by Reu- ben Ives. The building, which still stands, was completed and ready for students in the following autumn.
The first principal was the brilliant Rev. John Bowden, who served until 1802 and was succeeded until 1806 by the Rev. Wil- liam Smith. The man who gave the school its solid foundation was the Rev. Tillotson Bronson, a Yale alumnus, who remained until 1826. While editing the Churchman's Magazine and filling many important diocesan offices, he made the academy the most re- spected school of its kind in the country and educated many of the Church's eminent priests and laymen.
The Academy's growing prosperity and reputation revived the ambition to develop it into a college. In 1810 the Convention petitioned the General Assembly to grant the privilege of confer-
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ring degrees. The lower house consented but the Senate, a strong- hold of Congregational Federalism, refused. Some Episcopalians were not unhappy, because they preferred to locate the college in a larger town.
Seeing that the college project was indefinitely postponed, the Academy strove to become an excellent preparatory school. Its early ideal is described in the quaint and formal prose of Greene's Connecticut Register for 1798: "The Pupils are instructed in all things which form a common, or a learned [classical] Education; and the English, in its Grammar, Etymology, and Pronunciation is in a very particular manner, attended to. - The Business of the Day, is opened in the Morning, and closed in the Evening, with Prayers - and the whole Government of the Academy is regulated by a Judicious Body of Statutes."
The Academy always had a modest equipment and endow- ment, and seldom more than sixty students. Lack of uniformity in the college curriculum, and the obligation of poor students to earn their own way, compelled adjustment of the course to the needs of each boy. The relation between faculty and students resembled the traditional English intimacy of tutor and pupil.
There was plenty of drill and memorizing; nobody feared "indoctrination." The books were the tried and true classics, like Noah Webster's speller, the Bible, Lindley Murray's English Reader, the Columbian Orator, Morse's Universal Geography, Pike's or Daboll's Arithmetic, Blair's Lectures on Rhetoric, and Vattel's erudite Law of Nations.
The older boys, led by the principal, drank deeply from the well-springs of Greek and Latin poetry, oratory, and history, and the Greek New Testament, and were drilled in mathematics, natu- ral science, and logic. They rose with the sun, went to morning prayers, and spent a good part of the day in writing. A half-day each week in composition and public speaking was intended to train political leaders who could talk straight, and preachers who knew the Bible and the art of writing a sermon. The most ad- vanced students, particularly those who aimed for the ministry, at- tended a weekly seminar on the Bible and basic Christian doctrine.
The solid, old-fashioned quality of the Academy appears in the programs of autumn public "Exercises," which were lengthy rituals consisting of orations, dialogs, poetry and dramatics, inter-
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spersed with music. Among the performers were many boys who later attained fame. In 1821 Andrew Hull Foote, who became a naval hero of the Civil War, orated on "National Happiness." Gideon Welles spoke on "The Influence of Government upon Civil Society" - most appropriate for a future Cabinet member.
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