USA > Connecticut > The story of the Diocese of Connecticut : a new branch of the vine (Espiscopal Church) > Part 41
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Williams was a confirmed old bachelor but never a cranky or crusty one. Remembrance of his humor and wit and honest finesse in odd situations has preserved a treasury of amusing anecdotes. Student pranks, which would have annoyed most col- lege presidents, he handled with tactful discipline. He was aware that, as a boy, he once tweaked the queue of a dignified and sleepy old gentleman in church. His mind was a mine of delightfully amusing stories, rarely repeated and always perfectly fitted to the place and the occasion. His mind could so concentrate that he was able to sit at his desk and write a lucid sermon or learned essay, while surrounded by chatting people. He could lay aside his care- fully written sermon, when the lights failed at an evening service, and preach an extemporary one that thrilled the congregation.
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He had the rare power to make his hearers visualize persons and events, and to explain the abstruse in plain but beautiful language. Unaffected simplicity gave him a place in the hearts of children and of innumerable humble persons.
His intellectual and spiritual impression was intensified by a handsome and masculine bearing. All noticed his six-foot stature and spare but powerful frame. In old age the Rev. Doctor Melville K. Bailey recalled his impression of the bishop, when he saw him upon entering Trinity College in 1875. He was "erect, alert, ani- mated, with wide shoulders, and in action giving every manifes- tation of manly vigor. His head rose massively above the eyes. His profile suggested the eagle type; the nose strongly aquiline, the chin angled and projecting, the lips firmly carved."
The most enduring popular remembrance of him may be described in the words of the poet William Wordsworth:
"The best part of a good man's life, The many little unremembered acts Of kindness and of love."
His innumerable letters of consolation to the sorrowful were reverently and gratefully cherished. His wonderfully stimulating influence upon hundreds of students bred in them a profound per- sonal loyalty to him, and a deathless devotion to their Church and to God.
CHAUNCEY BUNCE BREWSTER: 1897-1928
Brewster was born on September 5, 1848, in Windham, where his father, Joseph, was rector of St. Paul's Church. From the common schools and the strict Hopkins Grammar School in New Haven, he went to Yale College. His record there was among the most distinguished of his time, and his victories in debating foretold brilliant acclaim as a preacher. He was graduated in 1868 as class historian and orator.
The college earnestly wanted him to teach and appointed him as a tutor, but his background and spiritual gifts pointed to the ministry. At Berkeley Divinity School his mind was shaped by a man he always revered - John Williams, then at the height of his rare power as a teacher. The Bishop ordained him as a dea- con on May 29, 1872, and on May 30, 1873 advanced him to the
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priesthood. After a brief assistant ministry at St. Andrew's, Meri- den, he was a rector successively in Rye, New York, Detroit, Balti- more, and Grace Church, Brooklyn Heights, until 1897. Every- where he held important offices and steadily gained in reputation, especially because of his effective preaching.
This peculiar fame, as much as anything else, inspired his election as a bishop. His consecration at Trinity Church, New Haven, coincided with a memorable occasion in the history of the Diocese - the centennial of the consecration of Abraham Jarvis, October 28, 1897. The only shadow upon the day was the absence of Bishop Williams, who was too feeble to come from Middletown. But the crowded congregation knew that his successor was Williams's own "son in the faith".
Many at first regarded Brewster simply as a great preacher, but soon they revised their estimate for he proved to be a most able executive. He made no startling changes but adopted any pro- posal that would advance diocesan welfare. He realized the long- cherished but still vague project of a Cathedral, to counteract the prevalent parochialism and to promote diocesan unity.
At his accession the Bishop was well into middle age but he governed the Diocese without assistance until 1915, when Edward Campion Acheson became suffragan bishop. Modern social, religious and business trends made the administrative machinery more complex, but he always knew how all its wheels were turning. There was a marked increase in missions and chapels, confirmations, communicants, and contributions. The Diocese more fully recognized its obligation to general missions, better support of the clergy, and the Pension Fund. The Bishop inspired new interest in religious education and teacher-training, more care for young men and boys, social service, ministrations in foreign languages, the Silent Mission for the deaf, and the Bishop's Fund and residence. He established a diocesan newspaper, The Connecticut Churchman.
When the Bishop died, the Convention could honestly de- clare: "The Diocese grew in strength and prestige. The advance was steady and secure."10 And yet, like Williams, he never gave the impression of being a business executive. He was too much concerned with large, vital matters to allow organization to en- gross his thoughts. Christian unity he kept constantly before the
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Diocese, by his sermons and addresses. He longed not for a super- ficial appearance of unity, but for a solid foundation of under- standing among Christians. Ardent advocates of "unity now" mis- understood his attitude, but the ecumenical councils have proved how right he was.
Another abiding interest was the practical application of the Gospel to the Church's social service. Risking bitter criticism, he encouraged those who undertook the Christian mission to lighten or remove the heavy burdens of groups far down the social ladder. He never deferred to any who wished the Church to "preach the straight Gospel and never mention social Questions". The years after World War I were darkened by fierce strikes, hatred, violence, and suspicion. They put his faith in the Social Gospel to the test, but he never softened his tone, and confidence in him was undiminished as he approached the twenty-fifth an- niversary of his consecration.
The celebration in New Haven, on October 26-27, 1922, ap- propriately began with the Bishop presiding at a Conference on the Forward Work of the Church. The following day opened with Holy Communion and a quiet hour for the clergy, led by the Bishop. That the observance was not a mere round of dinners and speeches was in perfect keeping with the Bishop's character. The final service in Trinity Church began with a procession of more than two hundred clergy, including a goodly number of bishops. At a public reception the Bishop was presented with a handsome gift of money from the Diocese. He expressed his grati- tude with unusual emotion, and later by a stately message in the Connecticut Churchman.
Thronging duties pressed upon him until 1928, when he was far beyond the usual age of retirement, and had been a diocesan bishop considerably longer than the average term. He felt that in fairness to the Diocese he should yield to a younger man, and in May announced that he would resign in September. He asked permission to occupy the Bishop's House in Hartford, where he remained for the rest of his life. "For my successor in office," he said, "I confidently ask the same kind consideration and loyal cooperation through these thirty-one years given to me."11
In the cold light of statistics, Brewster's episcopate looks
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immensely impressive. He ordained 149 men to the diaconate and ninety-nine to the priesthood, and confirmed nearly 45,000 persons. Even in "retirement" he kept confirmation appointments until he could no longer travel. One of his last public appearances was at the annual diocesan dinner in 1938, at which he was the guest of honor. On that occasion his sense of humor was as strong as ever, and he related how he was once locked in a rectory at a con- firmation visit, and climbed out of a window.
The Bishop died on the morning of April 9, 1941, at the age of ninety-two. He was the last survivor of his Berkeley and Yale classes, and in point of graduation was the oldest alumnus of both schools. In the House of Bishops only Lawrence of Massa- chusetts and Rowe of Alaska surpassed him in length of service. The Diocesan Convention, a few weeks later, accurately phrased the impression of his life upon people: "In the treasure house of memory there is stored for us the rich recollection of a sympathetic and wise leader, [and] of a preacher whose forceful message came to us in chaste and beautiful English, of a fine-grained Christian gentleman, of a loyal servant of God."12
As a permanent tribute to him, the Diocese established the Bishop Brewster Memorial Corporation, to create and administer the Bishop Chauncey Bunce Brewster Memorial Fund to support a chaplain to Episcopal students in Yale University. There could not be a more appropriate tribute to a great son of Yale and ser- vant of God.
Aside from occasional sermons and addresses, Bishop Brewster's published works are fewer (because of pressing duties) than could be wished from a writer of his competent scholarship and charm of style. His first book, The Key of Life, consists of Good Friday addresses at Grace Church, Brooklyn. In 1901 ap- peared Aspects of Revelation, the Baldwin Lectures for 1900 to students at the University of Michigan. The Catholic Ideal of the Church (1905) is an essay on Christian unity, a frequent topic of his sermons and convention addresses. Perhaps most characteristic of his thought is The Kingdom of God and American Life (1912), expressing his social ideal: "The problem that immediately con- fronts the Church is not to Christianize Socialism, but first to socialize Christians, until their ideal principles shall be real and ruling principles."13
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EDWARD CAMPION ACHESON: 1915-1934
The later years of Brewster's episcopate were lightened for him by his assistant, who reminded people of a kind-hearted and courageous soldier. He was one of the first assistant bishops in the American Church to bear the title "suffragan". For many years it had been felt that there should be a type of bishop who would not automatically succeed his superior, and might be called to another diocese. The Connecticut Convention of 1910 resolved that the innovation would promote the church's welfare, and the General Convention adopted it.
Connecticut was among the first dioceses to take advantage of the provision, and in 1912 Bishop Brewster requested the elec- tion of a suffragan. A committee to study the matter unanimously recommended an election, but the Convention delayed for three years.
In 1915 the Bishop again appealed for an assistant, de- fending the office of suffragan by saying that the dignity of the episcopate should lie not in its trappings, but in its mission to serve. A special Convention favored an election, and Edward Campion Acheson was chosen by the clergy and unanimously ap- proved by the laity. He was consecrated in his own Holy Trinity Church, Middletown, where Bishop Seabury had held his first convocation and performed his first ordinations.
When Bishop Brewster presented Acheson to the Con- vention, the delegates beheld a tall man who at fifty-seven bore himself with a military erectness. All respected and many loved him, and some knew what an unusual path had led him to the epis- copate. He was of Irish ancestry and was born on April 7, 1858 in Woolwich, England. At twenty-three he emigrated to Toronto. The Riel half-breed insurrection was raging in Manitoba and many young men enlisted to help in suppressing it. Acheson be- came a lay chaplain in Company K of the Queen's Own Rifles. When his captain was wounded in a battle at Cut Knife Creek, Acheson rescued him under heavy fire and earned a citation for heroism.
This experience inspired in him the conviction that he was being called to the ministry, and he left the University to study for the priesthood at Wycliffe College. He completed the course in 1889, but already had been ordained as a deacon on June 10,
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1888, and had served as curate at All Saints' Church, Toronto. On July 14, 1889 he was raised to the priesthood, and later in the year went to the United States as assistant minister in St. George's Church, New York City. He took courses at the University of the City of New York, and in June, 1891 was awarded the degree of Master of Arts. Next year came a call to be rector of Holy Trinity Church, Middletown, where he served for twenty-three years.
The rector soon was married to Eleanor G. Gooderham of Toronto. Their home became a center of gracious hospitality, where countless clergymen and laymen found friendly guidance and inspiration. Acheson was a minister to the entire community, and appealed to people of all classes and faiths by his keen interest and broad sympathy. The vestry would not hear of his leaving, but eventually had to lose him, for the Diocese came to know him as a progressive man of action with the administrative touch.
For eleven years, as suffragan, Acheson worked in close as- sociation with Brewster, preparing for the greater responsibility that came when the Convention in 1926 acceded to the Bishop's request for his election as coadjutor. So extensive were his current duties that they must have seemed hardly more onerous when he became diocesan, upon Bishop Brewster's retirement on November 16, 1928.
To that larger ministry Bishop Acheson brought devotion and vigor, generosity, consideration, unselfish humanity, and sunny geniality. His belief in the best in men had been strengthened by long pastoral experience. The clergy sought him in their difficulties and found calm judgment, sympathetic understanding, and frank counsel. He was interested especially in the clergy conferences at Choate School in Wallingford, the summer youth conferences, and the Conference for Men and Boys at Camp Washington.
Acheson wanted the Diocese to enter new communities and so he helped new missions and encouraged weak and aided parishes. His interests extended to civic and state affairs, education, and young people in secondary schools, colleges, and universities. Gen- eral Convention recognized his mettle by drafting him to serve on important committees. The Presiding Bishop said that the House of Bishops was radiated by his stimulating personality.
Bishop Acheson became diocesan at seventy, the age of retirement for most men, and served less than six years before his
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death in 1934. The members of the Diocesan Convention felt that they had suffered a true personal loss, and in their memorial minutes said: "We honor him as one who was our Spiritual Leader, but more than that we find comfort and strength because we have known him as our friend."14 The Connecticut Churchman published a memorial issue, and Bishop Budlong said: "Bishop Acheson's greatness as a man and as Bishop perhaps none of us completely recognized because of the innate modesty which was hidden under his dignified bearing. .. His high sense of honor, his sterling char- acter, his supreme unselfishness and the deep quality of his per- sonal religious life present a pattern for us all to emulate."15
FREDERICK GRANDY BUDLONG: 1934-1951
Until 1931 Bishop Acheson administered the Diocese alone, and felt the pressure so severely that he requested the election of a coadjutor. With his call for a special Convention, he enclosed an unusual and characteristic card, with two prayers for guidance. One is so remarkable for its felicity of condensed expression that it is worthy of preservation:
"May Thy boundless loving-kindness, O Lord, grant to Thy Church in this Diocese a Bishop Coadjutor who shall be pleasing to Thee in Holiness of life, and profitable to us in watchfulness and zeal."16
The Convention elected the Rev. Frederick Grandy Bud- long, S. T. D., rector of Christ Church in Greenwich. He was born in Camden, New York, on July 10, 1881, the son of the Rev. Frank Dorr and Sarah Elizabeth (Grandy) Budlong. He was graduated from Shattuck Military School in Faribault, Minnesota, and from Hobart College at Geneva, New York (1904), and received the de- gree of S. T. D. there in 1920. After graduation from General Theological Seminary in 1907, he was ordained deacon in June and priest in December of the same year by Bishop Edsall. On April 30, 1910 he was married to Mary Elizabeth Corbett of Brook- lyn, New York, who died on June 12, 1946. On November 18, 1947 he was married to Kathleen (Faulconer) Kelly of Litchfield, Connecticut.
Before his consecration Bishop Budlong had held pastorates in four dioceses. In 1907-1909 he served as curate at the Church of St. John the Evangelist in St. Paul, and for the next three years as rector of Christ Church in that city. In 1912 he became head of
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the St. Paul Deanery, but soon was called to be rector of Christ Church in Winnetka, Illinois, where he remained until 1916. From there he went to St. Peter's Church, Chicago (1916-1920), the Church of the Ascension in Pittsburgh (1920-1925), and Christ Church in Greenwich.
While ministering in the Diocese of Chicago, the future bishop was a lecturer at Western (now Seabury-Western) Theo- logical Seminary, 1914-1921. He was a deputy to the General Con- ventions of 1922, 1925, and 1931, and an alternate in 1928, and served on various diocesan boards and standing committees. After succeeding Acheson as Bishop of Connecticut in 1934, he became a lecturer at Berkeley Divinity School. He was elected president of the Synod of the First Province (New England) in 1947, after serving as provincial representative on the National Council, and was also a trustee of the General Theological Seminary.
Following his consecration on December 16, 1931, Bishops Budlong and Acheson agreed that they would never have any "divided opinions." That pledge founded a whole-hearted partner- ship, and eighteen years later Bishop Budlong said in Convention: "Bishop Acheson was a wonderful 'chief' and he shared his responsi- bilities and duties with me richly."17
For six years after Acheson's death, Bishop Budlong gov- erned the Diocese without assistance. He extensively reorganized the administration, in accordance with plans carefully considered with Acheson and partly inaugurated during his episcopate. This required a vast amount of time and patience, on top of all his other episcopal duties. The abysmal economic depression of the 1930's compelled acute curtailments and painful readjustment in the diocesan budget and program, and work forced the Bishop to de- cline many meetings which he would have enjoyed. In the earlier years of his episcopate his customary Sunday schedule was an especially heavy one. For two years he invited visiting bishops to perform some of the confirmations, but he came to feel that the people preferred to have him combine the classes and perform the rite.
In spite of grave difficulties, diocesan prosperity appeared in the record of confirmations reported by the Bishop in 1939: "We have never quite reached the record made while Bishop Acheson was Diocesan but, with that exception, the total number confirmed
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during the past five years was never equalled during a similar period since this diocese came into being, and during the past twelve months I have been privileged to confirm more candidates that any other one Bishop in Connecticut ever confirmed in a single year."18
By 1940 the burden was too heavy, and at the Bishop's re- quest the Convention elected as suffragan the Very Rev. Walter Henry Gray, Dean of Christ Church Cathedral in Hartford, who became coadjutor in 1945. In 1950 Bishop Budlong frankly told the Convention that he should resign administration to Bishop Gray. "It seems that I can hope to be of more real use to you and to the Church at large if I do not postpone for too long the relinquishing of what has been my high privilege and great joy for nearly twenty years. .. I owe a deep debt of gratitude to all of you clergy and laity alike for having made my episcopate such a happy one."19
Bishop Budlong retired on January 15, 1951, after guiding the Diocese through the dark valley of economic depression and the agonizing tensions of a second world war. He died suddenly of a stroke at his home in West Hartford, on September 25, 1953. The funeral service was held in Christ Church Cathedral on Sep- tember 28, with Bishop Gray officiating, assisted by Suffragan Bishop Robert M. Hatch and the Very Rev. Louis M. Hirshson, Dean of the Cathedral.
WALTER HENRY GRAY: 1941-
As early as 1936 many believed that Bishop Budlong's lone- some burden should be lightened by the shoulders of a younger assistant. He agreed, especially as the Convention did not look warmly upon the suggestion of a diocesan archdeacon. For twenty years (1915-1934) the Diocese had been accustomed to two bishops, and its administration had become far more intricate. Bishop Budlong requested the Convention to think in terms of a man to whom they could entrust leadership. "Along with his spiritual qualifications, his love for people, his capacity for leadership and his administrative ability, you should have a man of sturdy health and sufficiently active and strong to be able to endure the strenuous duties of a Bishop's life."20
The man elected in 1940 completely fitted these specifi- cations. He was the Very Rev. Walter Henry Gray, Dean of Christ
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Church Cathedral, where he was consecrated on November 12, 1940. That day was hallowed for him by his memories of Bishop Brewster and Bishop Acheson. The former gave him a silver Com- munion set presented by the clergy on the twentieth anniversary of the same event in his life. Bishop Acheson's family made an offering of his episcopal ring and pectoral cross. These sacred relics accompanied Bishop Gray as he traversed the Diocese and learned to know its people, highways, and back roads.
The growing acquaintance was a fascinating experience for a Virginian. Bishop Gray was born in Richmond on August 20, 1898, the son of William Cole Gray and Irena Hanswood (Talley) Gray. He attended the public schools and after service in the United States Army in World War I studied at William and Mary College and the University of Richmond Law School.
He was admitted to the Virginia bar in 1925. He soon per- ceived that the law was not his true vocation and entered the Vir- ginia Theological Seminary, from which he was graduated in 1928, with the degree of B.D. The Seminary raised him to the degree of Doctor of Divinity in 1941, and the degree of S.T.D. was conferred upon him by Berkeley Divinity School in 1940, and by Trinity Col- lege in 1941. The University of Richmond gave him a D.D. in 1954 and the University of the South a doctor of civil law degree in 1960. Ordination as a deacon was in June, 1928 by his bishop, Henry St. George Tucker of Virginia. He was raised to the priest- hood by Bishop Brewster of Connecticut in February, 1929, when he was serving as assistant at St. John's Church, West Hartford.
In 1931 came a call to be Dean and Rector of Nativity pro- Cathedral at Bethlehem, Pennsylvania. On February 3, 1933, dur- ing his ministry there, Dean Gray was married to Virginia Stuart Hutchinson. Absence from Hartford was not prolonged, for in 1937 he returned to be Dean of Christ Church Cathedral until his election as Suffragan Bishop.
"From the outset," said Bishop Budlong to the Convention, "the Suffragan Bishop has taken his position as a younger brother in the Episcopate with loyalty, enthusiasm and energy. He serves as my chief advisor and as my trusted right arm."21 His five years as suffragan are well estimated in the words used by Bishop Brewster in 1916 to characterize the similar ministry of Bishop Acheson. "I desire to express my grateful appreciation of the help
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he has given me; and I rejoice with you all in the way he has taken up the work and taken hold of the hearts of the people to whom he has ministered."22
A mere enumeration of Bishop Gray's spiritual and adminis- trative duties would confirm the truth of this tribute. Perhaps none has ever given him a more profound satisfaction than his service during World War II, as head of the Diocesan Army and Navy Commission, charged with keeping in touch with service men and women. He was the more consecrated to that ministry because he lost his only brother in overseas service. As the war progressed, Bishop Gray assumed heavy but congenial duties, in supervising the chaplaincy to students at Yale University and the ministry to newcomers in areas of defense industry.
To the Convention of 1944 Bishop Budlong said, in sub- stance, "We are proud of him," and in 1945 he requested consider- ation of Gray's election as Bishop Coadjutor. He was elected on October 21, and assumed the office on December 6. Within a year Bishop Budlong described the teamwork that sustained the Dio- cese for the rest of his episcopate: "I believe that we are demon- strating to an unusual degree that it is possible for two active and energetic Bishops to work hand in hand, each one having an ade- quate sphere of responsibility and leadership, without in any meas- ure jeopardizing the unity of the Diocese."23 The partnership lasted until Bishop Budlong retired in January, 1951, and Bishop Gray succeeded him as Diocesan.
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