USA > New York > Our diocese : a study of the history and work of the Church in the Diocese of Central New York > Part 9
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The products of the Parish Brotherhood Chapter when fully developed are Candidates for Holy Orders; Lay Readers for local missionary work; Teachers for the Sun- day School ; Leaders for men's clubs, etc. ; Trained Work- ers for special Church Services or meetings of every kind ; Men for Parish Missionary Committees and Mission Study Classes ; Ushers for Church Services, with special thought for hospitality to strangers ; Men to call upon strangers, or lapsed communicants.
The Rector should naturally turn to his Brotherhood Chapter for any help on any man-sized job of any kind- and never call in vain.
Daughters of the King. This order is a call to women to bestir themselves and labor in Christ's vineyard on the same lines and with the same rules as those of the Brother- hood of St. Andrew.
The sole object of the order is the spread of Christ's Kingdom among women and the strengthening of parish life.
Members are admitted with a solemn service before the altar, invested with the cross and pledged by a vow to prayer and service.
The two rules are : First to pray daily for the spread of Christ's Kingdom, especially among women, for God's blessing upon all members of the order and for the spiritual growth of the parish to which her chapter owes allegiance. Second, to take regularly some part in the worship, study, and work of the church, to make a constant effort to bring other women within its influence, and to render at all times
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such aid to the rector as he may deem necessary for the spiritual up-building of the parish.
The order was founded in 1885 by the Senior Bible-Class for young women in the Church of the Holy Sepulchre, New York City which had for its class name "Daughters of the King." Desirous of stimulating its members to greater activity and more earnest zeal for Christ and the Church, their teacher, Mrs. M. J. Franklin organized the class with the present emblem and motto into a national order. It was not expected that the order would in any way supersede established guilds or other parochial activities. It was pur- posely organized as a religious order. It started at once upon the highest plane. " Magnanimiter Crucem Sustine" was its motto and "For His Sake" its watchword. Other classes, in and out of the parish adopted the ideas and the constitution and were permitted to affiliate. By 1889 six chapters had been formed and since then the growth of the order has been continuous. There are now about five hun- dred chapters, with Junior branches as a recent development. Annual Conventions now are being held in various cities of the country and Local Assemblies offer the possibilities of more frequent meetings of smaller groups.
Like the Brotherhood, the order divides its organized work under three heads, first the Bible Class, which is made the corner stone of all chapters. Second, the Visiting Com- mittees, who, under the guidance of the rector, serve to bring the invitation of the church to all strangers and new- comers. Third the Hospitality Committee, who meet and assist strangers and get their names and addresses for the second committee. * In this diocese there are some twelve chapters, the members fulfilling their vows and strengthen- ing the work of the church in each parish where the order exists.
Girl's Friendly Society. The Girls' Friendly Society, from its very small begining in England forty-six years ago,
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OUR DIOCESE
has grown, with nearly half a million members, into one of the largest Societies for girls in the world. Those who have worked in it longest are very sure that if every girl would in her youth join a Branch managed along the lines which would emphasise the teachings of the Society, and help its members to live up to its ideals, the world would become a much better place to live in. The great work of the G. F. S. is the building of Christian character. The children are welcomed as candidates at the age of six years, and kept along the various stages of membership until marriage. It is the work of the Society to keep more or less before them its standards of life-Purity, Dutifulness, Faithfulness and Thrift.
Each girl when she becomes a member is assigned to an older woman as Associate, whose privilege it is to be that girl's special confidential friend and adviser. The extreme closeness of this tie of mutual friendship would be surpris- ing to any one not in touch with the Society.
The Rector of a Parish is always the Head of the Branch, and primarily responsible for its Tone, but to carry on the practical business of working head, he appoints a Branch Secretary, who is responsible to him, and who in turn is assisted by Associates-young women of perhaps a little more leisure and experience than the members.
The Branch should be run as much as possible by the members themselves, as it is emphatically their Society, and upon their loyalty and enthusiasm hangs its value as a power for good in the Parish and Community.
An active successful Branch would, at the beginning of each season, adopt a carefully thought out program for the work, classes and recreation for the year. This should em- body Service in each of the five fields, Parish, Community, Diocese, Nation, World, and should be carefully balanced with Recreation to appeal to the various natures of the girls in that particular Branch. Gayety is a necessity for
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young people and they should be able to look forward and backward on their G. F. S. Meetings as among the bright hours of their lives. Experience shows that programs must be varied and must include both real recreation, and work that is worth while, in order to arouse the enthusiasm of the members. It is also well to form as many Committees as possible among the members making them in this way responsible for whatever is undertaken. It is human nature to love what we work for ! Programs full of sugges- tions may be obtained on request from the G. F. S. A., Central Office, No. 15 East 40th Street, New York City.
To assist the Branch Secretary in her work, the Society has organized five Departments-Commendation, Candi- dates, Missions, Social Service and Literature. The Dio- cesan Heads of these Departments are thankful to be called upon for any assistance or advice in their power to give.
Most important of all is that each member should have a deep and constant inner-consciousness that her highly prized badge is not an ornament alone, but chiefly an emblemi of the standards she is pledged to carry out in her life, and of her responsibility to make her little corner a sweeter, brighter, happier spot because she is there.
The vows she takes when joining the Society are no more than those by which she is bound as a Child of God, a member of Christ and an inheritor of the Kingdom of Heaven, but it is the work of the Society, under the leader- ship of the Rector, and through the mutual friendship be- tween associates and members, to help each other to keep these vows, and to develop into the true woman, our Country needs so sorely, who will be ready to bear her responsibility and use her influence for the right.
The strength of this world encircling chain of true womanhood depends upon the strength of each branch, and upon the tempered metal of the members.
Is this work not worthy of the finest young women of
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OUR DIOCESE
our Church ? A work in which can be used to the greatest advantage all the resources of culture, education, enthusiasm and charm.
In this Diocese there are thirty-three branches with a total membership of about eighteen hundred. Why are there not more ?
Would that every clergyman in the Diocese, would have a training class, under some competent person, for Associates, who would carry on the Branch along the lines most needed in that particular parish.
The G. F. S. is the accredited Society of this Church all over the world for work among our girls and young women of every class. It is fortunate in this Diocese in having the hearty support and cooperation of the Bishops.
Lay Reader's League. A casual study of the historical chapters of this book will reveal the fact that from the very earliest days of the Church in general and of our Diocese as well laymen have done much to perpetuate the Church not only morally and financially but in actually holding services. And the present is no exception.
How many men are reading services in the Church at large we have no way of knowing. In the Diocese of Cen- tral New York, however, there are over sixty men who have been granted formal licenses to read services in the various parishes and missions. Some of them are on "full time." They have not only been granted licenses to read but are paid a regular salary so that they can devote all their energy to the building up of the church in their re- spective fields. We say " fields," because such will gener- ally have one, two and three missions to foster. One lay- reader in particular has had for some time four different missions under his care. With all the consecration of a " far off missionary " he has devoted himself and all he possesses to the people in his charge. Hls missions are far apart. Climatic conditions are often impossible. He often
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has walked ten miles through the deep snows and held three services in a single Sunday. Others "earn their own living in that state of life into which it has pleased God to call them " and devote their Sundays to the work of lay- reading without remuneration of any kind. One such has for years worked far into the night Saturday after Saturday, walked the three miles home after his work was over, be- cause the trolleys did not run at that unearthly hour, risen at eight, or earlier, on Sunday morning and traveled ten miles by trolley to read service in one of the mission churches. Another, without a word of commendation, has these many years "ministered to" a "little congregation of one hundred and seventy children." He cannot baptize them, except " in extremis ; " he cannot celebrate the Holy Communion for them. But he can read the services for them ; play the organ for them, talk to them and love them, and he does-and without pay.
Still others are what might be called "emergency men " -men who read Services as emergency demands in their own parish, in some neighboring parish or in some nearby mission.
Still others are students in college and seminary. These last " kill two birds with one stone "-provide services for certain parishes or missions and earn money to help out on their college expenses. Still others earn their own living and are paid a small sum for their Sunday work. All in all, there are about ten lay-men who are holding services regularly in the diocese at the present time.
And the end is not yet ! Some people have the idea that a man must be a college graduate, or possessed of unusually good appearance or be dressed in "purple and fine linen " in order to be a lay-reader in the church ! Not so? The National Church has defined in Cannon 25, and our own Bishop in his " Directions for Lay-Readers," has also inti- mated just what a man must be and what a man may do as
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OUR DIOCESE
lay-reader. These directions are very explicit and should be secured from the Bishop or Archdeacon before anyone actually begins to read the services of the church. But nowhere do they state that a man must be of a certain height or occupy any particular position in society. Men of average ability can not only read the services acceptably, but can do a constructive and permanent work for the church as well. The Diocese, especially the small villages and country districts, need such men. Indeed, there isn't a county in the Diocese today but what offers splendid challenge to the laymen of the church. It was man power that won the World War and it will be man power that will win the great war the church is fighting here in Central New York.
What men are paid for counts for much-but what men are not paid for counts for even more. So in lay-leader- ship. People expect clergymen to read services, superintend Sunday Schools, etc. That is their business. What an appeal goes out to and through a group of people, when a layman, without ordination and without salary, stands forth and leads in the services of the church. Many and many a man is richer and stronger in his spiritual life today because some other man had the courage of his convictions and " read service."
Sermons suitable for lay readers are listed in the Bishop's " Directions to Lay Readers" and may be borrowed from clergymen or purchased from the various publishers. The "Directions" above mentioned will be sent by the Bishop to any one in the Diocese who may apply for license as lay reader. Application blanks also may be secured from the Bishop for licenses which must be renewed from year to year.
Church Periodical Club. The Church Periodical Club was founded in 1888 with the idea of bringing together those who need reading matter and those who have such
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material and are willing to pass it on. The organization is national with headquarters at 2 West 47th Street, New York City but with the details managed through diocesan and parish officers. Emphasis is laid on the personal touch through individual sending and the club offer an opportunity for this true act of Christian fellowship.
The work in the diocese has been extensively carried on through the devoted labors of a succession of Diocesan Correspondents. Their routine work consists in directing and advising the parish librarians, who are responsible for seeing that the donors do not forget to forward the maga- zines that they have promised. There is, however, a con- tinuing task of unearthing new sources of supplies, of finding new persons or places where magazines would be acceptable and to keep the personnel complete and interested.
There is also a circulating library in connection with the club, whereby books of churchly character are sent to clergymen and laymen as they may ask for them and as they are given to the library for the purpose. The name and address of the diocesan librarian can be obtained from the Secretary of the Diocese whose name and address are always in the Diocesan Journal, and proffers of current magazines are always welcomed and utilized.
CHAPTER XIII
SOME FINANCIAL CONSIDERATIONS
I T is obvious, that the maintenance of the services of the Church in its several parishes and missions, and the operation of the administrative machinery of the diocese, cannot go on without contributions of money by those in- terested, and also that the extent of such work, its success and development, must depend on the amount of such con- tributions. It is perhaps equally obvious that the interest of the individual in such work, as well as his own sense of obligation for its furtherance is measured by the size of his individual contribution. There is also involved the per- sonal satisfaction to the individual soul that comes from opportunity for worship according to traditional forms.
In one way the Church is like many other philanthropic institutions. It exerts on the community in which it ex- ists a recognized but immeasurable benefit. The entrance of the Church into a disorderly and riotous, or even into an apathetic community has, under the wise guidance of a consecrated clergyman, made over the members of the community into unselfish, neighborly, law-abiding citizens. Indeed, it is unquestionably due to the spread of the Chris- tian religion throughout the world that civilization has advanced to its present stage from that shown in the Middle Ages. Such marked changes as are seen in the position of woman in the family, and in society, in the protection given to children against the avariciousness of employers, in the construction of hospitals and homes, even in the wide- spread belief in the value of education, are all the results of Christian teaching and practice.
That such assets to our civil life should be preserved is an accepted fact and the extent of the philanthropic agen- cies in every community, the generous support they receive
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from all its members, and the local pride aroused by exem- plary institutions, show the general acceptance of the worth of the results. It may be pointed out, however, that the spirit back of all these things is Christian, and that their preservation depends on the continuance of the Christian atmosphere, both individually and collectively. Nor is the influence of Christianity less marked in the case of individ- ual morality than in communistic philanthropy. Violence, robbery, immorality, tend to disappear as households be- some christianized and children are brought up to believe in the morality of the New Testament.
In the early days of this country, men seemed to set a greater store on their Church and on the value of its teach- ings than they do today. For example, the Rev. Daven- port Phelps reports in 1807, that twenty-four church families at Clifton Springs are " so earnestly engaged to be provided with a small Church that they have raised or subscribed about 700 dollars and hope soon to increase it to 1000."
Referring to the little church of St. Luke's at the Ochquaga Hills, now Harpursville, Bishop Hobart writes (1813) "this Congregation has enjoyed the services of the Rev. Johnathan Judd for a few weeks only and of the min- istrations of the Rev. Hart not more than three or four times. And yet for these seventeen years, they have kept themselves together ; they have regularly met for reading the service and sermons ; and I found among them a knowl- edge of the principles of our Church and a fervent attach- ment to its doctrines and worship which astonished and gratified me."
That such zeal is seldom found now need hardly be pointed out, yet the fact that such zeal laid the foundation for the civilization of today and that without it the future of this country is precarious is equally certain.
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But besides its effect on the moral tone of the community, the church stands as an evidence of activity on the part of those dedicated to its service. Soldiers of the Cross must show evidence of their enlistment or else they are dis- credited. A visible church, with services regularly at- tended by all who have entered their names in baptism is not only reasonable but a practice of the church since apostolic times. So buildings are erected and duly ordained, clergyman are installed for the sake of the peace that comes to those of the Congregation who thus do what for them is right. But churches and church services must be paid for. Let us see what in this diocese, the maintenance of a church costs.
Parochial Expenses. By their very office clergyman are debarred from going on strike, from competitive bidding and from bargaining for higher salaries. They have devoted themselves to a life to be lived for their fellows and even when sadly underpaid have no thought except to make the best of the pittance granted them. It is a sad reflection on the intelligence of their congregations that such a condition exists. The Missionaries of this diocese are now paid a minimum salary of sixteen hundred and fifty dollars, with a house for those that are married. How a family can be maintained, the children fed, clothed and educated, on that amount, less than many a man without education, who works with his hands, receives is known only to the mis- sionary or to his wife. Besides the salary, the maintenance of the church requires the heating and lighting of the church-a minimum of about $100-and repairs and main- tenance, another $100. The contribution to the Diocesan Expense fund is about $75.00 and the other expenses of the church, school, music, pension fund and sexton make up in round numbers a total of $2,000. No church can reasonably expect to run on less and in this is included nothing for the general missionary work of the church. In
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SOME FINANCIAL CONSIDERATIONS
1920, there were only 58 parishes out of the 157 parishes and missions of the diocese that raised more than $2000 a year for all parochial purposes, 95 out of the 157 received monetary assistance from the other 62 parishes.
The total amount of money raised for Parochial purposes in all the 157 places was in 1921, $588, 147 and the number of communicants listed was 26,018 or an average contribu- tion of $22.60 each a year-or about 50 cents a Sunday, which may perhaps be taken as a reasonable measure of the value assigned by each member to the observance of church services under present conditions. There are, alas ! out of 25 parishes and missions with from 100 to 200 Com- municants, 6 only where the average contribution is more than $20 and strangely those places where large amounts are asked for from the diocesan funds themselves give the least towards their own services. One Mission has such a small idea of the value of the services of the church that its members give only $6.31 each or 12 cents a Sunday and an- other only $4.20 or 8 cents. Of course there are differences in the incomes of people in various places-so that 50 cents a Sunday in one case is really a smaller contribution than 12 cents in another. But would it not be an evidence of reasonable business procedure if the custodians of the diocesan funds should lay down the principle that they could nor be expected to aid financially any Mission Sta- tion unless the mission itself showed that it valued the ser- vices by its expression of a reasonable evidence thereof in the per capita amount contributed. But besides the money needed for maintaining services at home, there is all the missionary work of the church for which to provide. This is generally divided into two parts, viz, the Diocesan Mis- sions and the General or Foreign Missions, the latter includ- ing the work in Alaska, and the Philippines as well as in Liberia and China. There is also needed a certain amount for administrative expenses, including part of the Bishop
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Coadjutor's salary, (the rest coming from invested funds) for Secretaries and office expenses, and for convention expenses, all of which in 1921 amounted to $9,400.
Extra-parochial Expenses. The total amount raised in the diocese in 1921 for all purposes not parochial was $116,505 or about $4.40 annually per communicant. This amount varies greatly in the several parishes, ranging from as little as 14 cents to as much as $10 and this sum, whatever it may be, may be taken as a measure of the real christian spirit of the parish, its loyalty and devo- tion to the work of the Kingdom, while the other amount referred to is rather selfish-personal There is a curious interaction apparently existing between the missionary spirit of a parish and its own welfare. In those parishes where all the interest centers on the welfare of the parish- where money is raised and spent for elaborate music- for church decorations and for social purposes -and where the lack of interest in spreading the Gospel outside the parish is mani- fested by small contributions and little or no self-sacrifice, the parish fails to fulfil its purpose, its people are observers rather than participants in church work and its growth is ephemeral. On the other hand, where missionary zeal per- meates a parish, the needs of the parish are likely to be readily cared for since the people are filled with the true spirit of Christianity.
Nation-wide Campaign. In 1918, the church as a whole undertook to rouse, so far as possible, its members from what seemed to be a continuing state of apathy on the part of a large number. A Nation-wide Campaign was inaugurated, Diocesan officers were established and parish committees named. The cause of the church, its task and its responsibility were emphasized and it was hoped that such a reminder of the solemn obligations resting upon the Children of God would stir them to a larger realization of the part each individual must play.
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SOME FINANCIAL CONSIDERATIONS
The results were in many ways extraordinary. Far greater numbers of parishoners went to church-many indi- viduals became active in church work and many others, unable to devote any time to doing the Lord's work, gave generously, in quite different spirit, to support what they themselves could not do. The chief stress was laid by all concerned on the task and responsibility of the Church rather than on the financial needs of the church. But be- cause inevitably the desire to see the work of the Church go forward must result in furnishing the where-withall, the pledges of individuals made for the 3-year period, 1918- 1921, were generous beyond anything before, throughout the whole Church, and at the same time the interests of the whole body of Christians were unified and intensified as never before.
In this Diocese the money thus pledged goes to a Nation- Wide Campaign Treasurer. He divides all such money evenly, half going to the National Office for the general missionary work of the Church and half going to the Diocesen Treasurer.
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