USA > Massachusetts > Middlesex County > Cambridge > The biography of a church; a brief history of Christ Church, Cambridge, Massachusetts > Part 8
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CHARLES LESLIE GLENN
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THE BIOGRAPHY OF A CHURCH
merger that had just been effected of the congregation of St. John's Chapel with that of Christ Church.
This latter meant that to the 521 communicants in Christ Church in 1930 were added 270 communicants from St. John's, making a total of almost 800 communi- cants; and the number of baptized persons increased from 1000 to 1300. As St. John's Chapel ministered to the most privileged section of Cambridge, the merger gave the new rector proportionately greater resources with which to administer and develop the work of the parish.
Mr. Glenn had not been rector many months before not only the congregation but the community recognized that a leader of dynamic power had come to Christ Church. His vision of the way in which the parish should minister to people of all ages and especially to college students, his warm friendliness and his personal charm, his evident consecration to his Master, and his unique and inimitable way of presenting the gospel of Jesus Christ in his preaching produced an immediate response. A large number of people both in the city and in the University began attending Christ Church, many of whom had not previously been interested in any church.
As a consequence the parish grew rapidly in numbers, in strength and in influence. It was found necessary to have two identical morning services at 10 and 11:15 to accommodate the steadily increasing attendance on Sun- days, and later a special service for students at 9 A.M. was added. The already existing parish organizations increased in vitality, and in addition many new ones sprang into being. For example, the following organiza- tions were formed during Mr. Glenn's rectorship: the Business and Professional Women's Guild, the Junior Guild for young married women, the Young People's Fellowship for those of high school age, Boy and Girl Scout Troops, Brownies and Cubs, and in 1939 the Supper
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Club for young people between the ages of 21 and 40 which in 1941 changed its name to the Fortnightly Club. As a result of this rapid increase in the number of or- ganizations, it was found necessary to create a Parish Council to guide and co-ordinate their activities, and later an all-inclusive organization in the form of a parish Church Service League was established. In addition, Mr. Glenn was ever encouraging informal group meetings for students. It is significant to note that all except the first named of the above organizations were primarily for young people. Within five years the Church School was to reach an all-time high with an enrollment of over 350 pupils.
Quite naturally this tremendous growth in numbers and interest necessitated securing clergy to assist the rector. It was no longer possible for one assistant to do effective work if he had to divide his time between the parish and the work with students. It was evident that the parish needed an assistant minister and in addition another as- sistant who could devote his time entirely to student work. To provide a second assistant, however, necessitated "selling" the idea to the parish in order that the salary could be raised. Hence it was years before it was possible to have an assistant minister especially for student work. The parish was extremely fortunate, however, in the splendid series of assistants that the rector was instru- mental in bringing to it. All of them were keenly in- terested in the work among students, although their pri- mary work was in the parish. These assistants were: John Augustus Bryant, Robert Walcott Fay, John Cameron Grainger, Harold Bend Sedgwick, Walter Wil- liams, H. Martin P. Davidson, Gray M. Blandy, George W. Wickersham, II, Henry Robbins, Samuel Tyler, and Francis B. Sayre, Jr.
In 1933, in order that the parishioners themselves would
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be able to keep in touch with the many activities in the rapidly developing parish, the rector instituted the Christ Chureh weekly leaflet, whieh beeame a medium of infor- mation between himself and his parishioners.
One of the major interests of Mr. Glenn was the church sehool. By 1935 it had grown so large it was neeessary to employ a paid secretary to administer the organization of it, and in another two years a director of religious educa- tion. Naturally, this splendid growth in the parish was reflected in the budget. During the year 1929, the last year of Mr. Evarts' reetorship, the total receipts of the parish were $28,465, of which $5126 was for capital ex- penses and $7523 was contributed to the Diocese and General Church. By the year 1939, the total receipts of the parish were $37,266 with $8804 being given to the Dioeese and General Chureh.
Student Work
The most outstanding and most permanent contribu- tion Mr. Glenn made to Christ Chureh parish during his reetorship was the development of the student work. As we have noted, his own interest in this work among stu- dents was a primary one. He had the gift of awakening students to interest in religion and of attraeting them to the ehureh. In the beginning of his ministry many in- formal groups of students had been formed. The old St. Paul's Society was superseded by the Sunday Evening Club, which in turn was to develop into the Canterbury Club in 1945.
It was essential, if the student work was to be carried on effectively, that the facilities for holding meetings be greatly inereased. It was impossible to hold student meetings with any regularity in the one room parish house already overburdened with meetings of the parish organizations. Toward the end of Mr. Glenn's rector-
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ship, the one large room was divided in two; nevertheless, it was still impossible to have two meetings with speakers conducted simultaneously in the two sections of the one room. Therefore, in 1934 Mr. Glenn persuaded the parish to purchase 19 Farwell Place with 5000 sq. ft. of land.
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VIEW SHOWING THE VESTRY ROOM ADDED IN 1910 AND NUMBER 19 FARWELL PLACE BOUGHT IN 1934
This house, even with a small addition added to it, was still too small for the expanding work of the parish, so in 1935, Mr. Cushing Toppan gave the parish the house at No. 22 and 24 Farwell Place, and it was decided that this house should become the center for the student work of the parish. At the same time, Mr. Glenn per- suaded the Diocese, because of the importance of more effective work for the Episcopal students attending Harvard and Radcliffe Colleges, that a special annual appropriation of $1500 be given to the parish for this
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THE BIOGRAPHY OF A CHURCH
work. This gift, plus $1500 secured by renting part of the new property, enabled the parish to engage a regular chaplain for students in the person of the Rev. Luther Tucker, as well as some theological students to assist him in the work, which had previously been done by the rector and his assistants in their "spare moments." Among the students who were attracted to the church to assist in the student work under Mr. Tucker's guidance was the Rev. Frederic B. Kellogg, who himself became chaplain to students in the following year, 1937. He has served in that capacity ever since, continually developing and ex- panding the work in a way that has more than lived up to the highest expectations of Mr. Glenn and those who founded the work.
By 1940 the student work under Mr. Kellogg's guidance was so well organized and effective that chaplains from other colleges all over the country were looking to Cam- bridge for guidance in the setting up of their own student work. While the relationship between the student work and the parish had always been a happy one, Mr. Glenn and the vestry felt that it would aid both the parish and the student work if the latter were incorporated separately from the parish. This would mean two things. First, that parishioners who didn't happen to be interested in the student work would realize that when they contributed to the parish their contribution was being primarily used for the furtherance of the work of the parish. And sec- ondly, the students, parents of students, and alumni who wished to contribute to the student work, but who nat- urally saw no reason why they should support the local parish, could give, realizing that their contribution would be used to strengthen and extend the work in which they were most interested. Consequently, with a gift of $25,000 from Mrs. Philip Rhinelander as an initial en- dowment fund, the student work was incorporated under
FREDERIC BRAINERD KELLOGG
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THE BIOGRAPHY OF A CHURCH
the title of the Bishop Rhinelander Foundation for Col- lege Work in memory of Philip Rhinelander. This man, as a young clergyman and as a professor in the Episcopal Theological School from 1907 to 1911, was one of the first
THE CHURCH FROM THE BURYING GROUND WITH TOPPAN HOUSE ON THE LEFT
to see a vision of the work which the Church should be doing for college students and one of the first to try in- dividually to fulfill that vision. Since its beginning the student work carried on by the Bishop Rhinelander Foundation under the guidance of the Rev. Frederic B. Kellogg has steadily increased in its scope and influence, and each year it has become a more vital and effective means of forwarding the Christian religion among the students at Harvard, Radcliffe, M.I.T., and the other educational institutions located in Cambridge.
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The Church Property
Mr. Glenn deeply appreciated the fact that Christ Church is not only a parish church but also an historical landmark of great architectural beauty. He was more than happy, therefore, to fall in with the plans upon which
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INTERIOR WITH THE NEW CHANDELIERS
the parish had already embarked beginning in 1920 to restore the church so that it would be as far as was prac- ticable like the original building. By this the parish meant that while the church building should look as much as possible like the original building, the parish had no intention of making the church into a museum by re-
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storing the old-fashioned box pews or in any other way making it a less effective instrument for the service of the living. The committee of architects, which included Messrs. Richard Dana, Clarence H. Blackall, Roger Gil- man and John Perkins Brown, gave the church unspar- ingly of their time and thought in insuring the fact that any changes that should be made would be in line with this general policy. For example, Mr. Francis B. Sayre of- fered to give chandeliers in memory of his wife, the late Jessie Woodrow Sayre. A year was taken by this com- mittee of architects to determine the kind of material of which the chandeliers should be made and in what way they should be hung. As the result of their delibera- tions, the present beautiful crystal chandeliers were put in place in 1936. This same committee supervised the landscaping of the church property, giving particular attention to the lawns and to the brick walks which so greatly add to its present beauty.
During the last year of Mr. Glenn's rectorship, the present pulpit was given by Miss Mary Deane Dexter in memory of her father, Mr. George Dexter, who had been for many years an active and devoted member of the parish. The present choir stalls were given in memory of the Rev. and Mrs. Ernest Joseph Dennen by their children in 1940, and "in gratitude for the ministry of Charles Leslie Glenn," and a beautiful classical baroque organ was given by the Toppan family in memory of Sarah Moody Cush- ing Toppan, who had also been for many years a devoted member of the parish. The permanent baptismal font which the church had previously lacked was given by Miss Mary Batchelder.
The Old Burying Ground
Between Christ Church and the First Church Unitarian lay the Old Burying Ground which was the first free man's
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burying ground. Here were buried original settlers of 1633, nine early Presidents of Harvard, soldiers of the Revolution and of the French and Indian Wars, and many prominent families in the commonwealth for the first two hundred years of its history. It was owned by the city, but unfortunately little attention had been paid to it. The trees in it had died and it had become an unkempt and uncared for field.
In 1933 Mr. Glenn was instrumental in helping to form a citizen's committee to put the Old Burying Ground in a condition of which the citizens of Cambridge might be proud. New soil was placed over the entire surface of the Burying Ground. A new lawn was provided, trees were planted, and headstones were straightened. Through the work of the Emergency Relief Agency and the Works Progress Administration, the organizations that provided work during the depression of the early thirties, plus con- tributions from public spirited individuals and patriotic organizations, a map of the graves was made and re- corded. Thus, in the public library as well as in the two adjacent churches, information concerning the location of the graves was made available. Once the initial work had been done, the city agreed to keep the Burying Ground in good condition.
Beyond the Parish
While Mr. Glenn was guiding the affairs of the parish, his interests naturally extended far beyond the boundaries of the parish. While working in the student division of the National Council, he had seen the need of a society devoted to promoting the Church's work among college students with a freedom not possible when directly con- nected with the National Council. As a result, he was a moving influence in founding the Church Society for Col- lege Work for this very purpose. He was in demand for
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leadership for innumerable student conferences. He served on the National Commission of the Forward Move- ment as well as on the Diocesan Departments of Youth and Religious Education.
It was therefore natural that other parishes should try to entice him away from Christ Church. In an age of increasing mobility of population, the vestry itself re- alized that long rectorships such as the thirty-five years of Dr. Hoppin or the almost thirty years of Mr. Evarts were no longer likely. Consequently, it was no great surprise, although it was the cause of great regret, when Mr. Glenn announced in the summer of 1940 that he had accepted a call to St. John's Church, Washington, D.C.
CHAPTER XI
GARDINER M. DAY 1941-
WORLD WAR II AND A NEW PARISH HOUSE
THE REV. SAMUEL TYLER, beloved senior assistant in the parish, served as acting rector from September, 1940, when Dr. Glenn left, until the arrival of the Rev. Gardiner M. Day, the thirteenth rector of the parish, on June 1, 1941. Dr. Tyler was ably assisted by the Rev. Frederic B. Kellogg, chaplain of the Bishop Rhinelander Founda- tion for College Work, and by the Rev. Francis B. Sayre, Jr., the assistant minister.
Mr. Day found himself in a parish marvelously vital, well organized, and teeming with activity. He quickly became aware that the great need of the parish was not for more parish organizations but rather for the strength- ening of the work and the spiritual life of the existing organizations, so many of which had been initiated and rapidly developed under the inspiration of Mr. Glenn. Consequently, after Mr. Day had been rector for six months, at his first Annual Parish Meeting he told of steps which had already been taken to strengthen the work of the church school. Pre-nursery, nursery, and kinder- garten departments had been added to the school. As the school had so overcrowded the facilities of 19 Farwell Place and the parish house that good teaching was ex- tremely difficult, the addition of these new departments made it necessary to find a new home for at least part of
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the school. Through the co-operation of Dean Dun, St. John's Chapel and the classrooms of the Episcopal Theo- logical School were made available for half of the church school.
This allowed the upper school to meet in the worshipful atmosphere of St. John's Chapel. In order that every child in the school should have the advantage not only of classroom instruction but of a service of worship in ap- propriate surroundings, a children's chapel was created in one of the rooms in 19 Farwell Place for the nursery and kindergarten, and another children's chapel was built in the basement of the old parish house for the first four grades. Even with these arrangements, and with the moving of the rector's office from 19 Farwell Place to the rectory, the demand for more space both for the church school and the parish organizations, not to men- tion the student groups, was so pressing that Mr. Day stated at the Annual Meeting that his six months had convinced him that the crying need of the parish was for a new and adequate modern parish house. He further expressed the hope that the parish would add as quickly as possible to the gift of $2000 made in 1938 by Mr. and Mrs. Arthur Musgrave as the beginning of a fund for a new parish house.
The Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor on December 7, 1941, a month before this Annual Meeting, had thrust the United States into World War II. Any thought of build- ing a new parish house in the immediate future was out of the question, and the whole program of the parish had to be readjusted to meet the war situation. Thus, the first decade of Mr. Day's ministry naturally divided itself into two parts. During the first four years, 1941-1945, the life and work of the parish had to be planned primarily in relation to the war emergency; during the second period, 1945-1951, the great effort of the parish was cen- tered in achieving a new and adequate parish house.
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The Parish During the War
While, as one would expect, there were in the parish a few members who believed that it was wrong for a Chris- tian to participate in war under any circumstances, the rector was supported all but unanimously when he again and again affirmed that terrible as war was, it was a lesser evil than that of refusing to aid those peoples of Europe and Asia who were fighting to preserve their freedom, and ultimately our own freedom, in the face of a ruthless and unspeakable tyranny. In one of his first sermons in June, 1941, five months before the United States' entry into the war, in interpreting the role of the Church, Mr. Day said:
"In the contest between the two opposing forces in the world today, Communism and Nazism versus the democ- racies, the Church has only one inescapable choice because of the obvious attempt of Communism and Nazism to de- stroy the freedom of man and to liquidate the Church in an effort to eradicate the beliefs for which it stands. The Church must put on the whole armor of God and stand with the democracies against these demonic forces. This does not mean that the Church gives its blessing to war. The Church will continue to decry war as one of the great- est scourges and evils growing out of the sinfulness of man. Nevertheless the Church need not bless war to recognize that war may be an evil necessary to prevent a greater evil, namely, the slavery of mankind to a godless tyranny. For in the last analysis the war is being fought to keep open the possibility of achieving a civilization governed by Chris- tian principles."
At the same time Mr. Day further emphasized the fact that the war should be considered in a very real sense a judgment upon western civilization:
"The war is itself the result of a process of decay and disintegration that has been going on in our social and
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economic system for a long time. If we view western or even our own American society realistically and honestly, we must confess that our social order leaves much to be desired when measured by standards of Christian ethics or even human justice and decency. Why should we expect the unemployed, the Negro, and many other less privileged groups in our country to rise in defense of democracy? While we recognize Communism and Nazism as black, we must continue to remind ourselves that Christianity as represented by the Church and democracy as represented by our country are far from white. Therefore at the same time that the Church joins in the defense of democracy, it must never fail to attack the evil in our own social order and to challenge us to apply more realistically our Chris- tian principles to our own social order."
He continually stressed the significance of the Church as an international fellowship of Christians and strove to make the parish a living symbol of this world-wide fellow- ship. He realized that the Church, outgrowing its de- nominational, national, and racial differences, must ex- press its essential catholicity by making all of its members deeply conscious of their fellowship with all those in every country who acknowledge Jesus Christ as Lord and Master.
The task of the Church in wartime was twofold, its ministry to those at home, and its ministry, largely by mail, to those abroad. The work of all the parish or- ganizations had to be redirected into channels that would aid in the war effort. Many groups, for example, rolled bandages and made surgical dressings in place of their usual activities. The entire parish engaged in a whole- hearted effort to help keep up the morale of servicemen stationed in the area by providing entertainment both in homes and in the parish house. Unlimited opportunity to render this form of service was presented to the parish
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THE BIOGRAPHY OF A CHURCH
because Cambridge had become practically an army camp, with Harvard and M.I.T. serving as training bases for large Naval units and smaller units of the Army and Marines, including the Army Chaplains' Training School, while Radcliffe was partially taken over by the Waves.
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OPEN HOUSE IN THE RECTORY LIVING ROOM MARY DEANE DEXTER IS AT THE EXTREME LEFT
A real asset was the open house in the rectory after the Sunday morning service inaugurated by Mr. and Mrs. Day, as it presented an opportunity for servicemen, many of whom were free only on Sundays, to meet mem- bers of the parish as well as friends from other units. For example, one Sunday six servicemen from California, none of whom knew the others were in Cambridge, all
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met in the open house. In addition, calls came continu- ally to the parish to help in housing families of men sta- tioned in the area. The clergy were presented with in- numerable personal problems varying from that of the soldier who, though passed by the draft board, was psy- chologically unfit for military service and didn't know what to do about it, to the wife who knocked on the rectory door desiring to talk to a minister because she had been driven alnost hysterical by news that her hus- band had fallen in love with another girl and wanted a divorce. More than once the rector offered to enlist in the Chaplain's Corps, and each time the chairman of the Church's Army and Navy Commission and the ranking officers of the Army Chaplains' Training School told him that the ministry of Christ Church to servicemen in Cambridge, though not as glamorous, was of far more value in the war effort than any contribution he would be able to make as chaplain.
Unless one lived in the parish during the war period, it is hard to realize how radically war changed the life of the parish. The most drastic effect was the initial loss of manpower through the enlistment of vestrymen, church school teachers, and officers and members of organiza- tions, some of whom had been so counted upon for their tasks that they had almost been taken for granted. The top classes were cut from the church school because boys as young as 17 years could enlist in the Navy or take in- dustrial war jobs. Consequently the older people and the teen-agers had to pitch in and assume greater responsi- bility. An enormous proportion of the time of the clergy was consumed in trying to keep the parish organizations manned.
The fuel shortage and the gasoline rationing necessi- tated converting the heating plant from oil to coal. The church building could not be heated above 55 degrees
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except on Sunday. The parish house was heated com- fortably only on one weekday, into which all the organ- izational meetings had to be telescoped. The gasoline shortage resulted in a canvass by mail replacing the traditional form of personal solicitation. This method proved so effective and so acceptable to the parish that it has been continued ever since, a canvasser calling in person only on those who fail to respond to the canvass letter. This process of eliminating all nonessential ac- tivities resulted in 1943 in the consolidation of the Mis- sionary Council with the Parish Council and the Church Service League, while at the same time the duties of the missionary treasurer were assumed by the parish treas- urer, as had been the case until 1911. In the thirty-two years of its existence the Missionary Council had per- formed its task of educating the parish so well that the parish's contribution to the work of the Diocese and Gen- eral Church was as a rule only exceeded by that of Trinity Church, Boston.
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