USA > New York > The Diocese of Central New York; the founding fathers > Part 7
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In presenting the subject, burdened as it was then and is today with conflicting opinions, the Bishop spoke with caution. Surely, he stated, sober judgment and Christian sentiment should not be ruffled by a reminder of Christ's solemn directive to carry the Gos- pel throughout the world. And how had that been done of late in Western New York? In some instances, popular beneficence for that end had come from various church societies. In others, weekly
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offerings had been made, and again in some cases there were special collections. "And in some, I fear, very little attention is given to this important subject." Fearful, however, of being misunderstood the Bishop added that the whole income from the diocese for local missions and education from October, 1838 to August, 1839, was $761.00-a sum that had been raised in but forty churches for an average of $19.00 a parish. And how, he asked, was this to be spread over the fifty-five churches dependent for life upon a mis- sionary stipend? Something more than a handful of silver was needed ! Of course he admitted the truth of the old adage that God helped them that helped themselves, referring to the need for mis- sionary units to bcome self-supporting. But in a larger sense mis- sionary giving alone would strengthen the weaker churches and aid in the founding of new mission stations. And it was to the latter- the parishes of tomorrow-that his mind was turned.
When one views the frontier as a factor in American history the picture repeatedly arises of hardy and courageous pioneers. Ecclesiastically speaking such a man was Bishop Le Dancey for this in truth is the impression derived from a study of available sources. Take the Journal of 1839 for example. Here one reads of the challenge tossed to Convention and, what is more important, the answer that came from the attending clergy and laity. Presented by the Rev. Lucius Smith, once resident in Central New York, the delegates enthusiastically endorsed the recommendations of a com- mittee to study the bishop's plea. These resolutions provided for a canon authorizing monthly collections and for a pastoral letter that would make all things clear to all. De Lancey accepted the assign- ment with delight and in his communication suggestions were made for the timing and method of raising funds at the local level.1 Greater stress, however, was placed upon the Christian obligation of giving regardless whether it was a mite from the poor or from the abundance of the more fortunate. Every church, mission or
1 On October 4, 1839, the Standing Committee instituted a Committee which with the Bishop, was to direct all missionary affairs. The funds so raised became known in time as the "Permanent Missionary Funds,"which prior to 1863 was invested in a single Trustee elected annually by Con- vention. On March 26, 1863, State legislation created the Trustees of the Parochial Fund which in due time received such sums as held by the Trus- tee of the Permanent Missionary Funds and the Bible and Prayer Book Society of the Diocese. See the Journal of the Parochial Fund Trustees of the Diocese of Central New York and the Educational and Missionary Records of the Diocese of Western New York.
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parish, was to join in swelling the "stream of good." "We have in round numbers," so the letter continued
... one hundred congregations in this Diocese. If each congregation made these collections regularly and faithfully each month, and the sum collected was only one dollar per month, the annual proceeds ... would be $1200 ... if five dollars per month were raised the annual proceeds would be $6000.
How modern it now reads!
Actually, the latter figure tallied exactly with the sum needed to maintain the existing missionary establishment, namely fifty mis- sionaries at an annual salary of one hundred and twenty dollars. But from a realistic point of view six thousand was an amount far greater than had ever been raised in a given year thus clearly reveal- ing how dependent Western New York had been upon the gifts of New York. Knowing that aid from that quarter would not last much longer, De Lancey wrote in strong terms about an impending missionary crisis and solemnly warned the diocese to "brace itself" for further responsibilities. And with a view to stimulating action, he referred to a written promise made by William Pierrepont of Jefferson County to pay for the support of two missionaries for five years ; a promise, incidentally, that was kept and later renewed for a similar period.
Nothing, however, was said as to increasing a stipend that had remained at the same figure since the early years of the Hobart administration! For this pittance, and it was rapidly becoming that by 1839, a missionary had to labor not only at an assigned station or stations, but in urban and rural communities beyond. God's word, it was said over and over again, was to be preached and new churches founded. To do all this, called for men strong in body and mind and dedicated to the divine call. These qualifications were viewed as essential by all, though some difference of opinion arose whether a missionary should or should not be married. Living conditions, generally below standard even for that day, frequently operated to answer the problem negatively. Exceptions existed and it should be added that many a mission did offer a parsonage and assistance in money or kind. Nonetheless, a turnover in personnel was high each year, there always being the human urge to leave for more inviting and lucrative fields. But a study of the pastorates will reveal there were others who thrived and grew in spiritual stature amid a mission field.
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The response to De Lancey's appeal deserves more space than this volume can afford. It will be our purpose therefore to present certain essentials necessary for an understanding of missionary planning and accomplishment as it relates to Central New York from 1841 to 1868, a period that spans Bishop De Lancey's episco- pate and the early years of Bishop Coxe. First of all, a résumé of collections for diocesan missions may be presented. Surveying these for the convention years 1840-1841 to 1847-1848 one notes that in Central New York a total of some forty-one hundred dollars was raised of which more than thirty-six hundred came from Oneida, Onondaga, Chenango, Jefferson and Oswego counties.1 Though all of these, and they are listed in order of sums collected, were mission fields they enjoyed relative and apparent advantages not to be found in the others such as Broome and Tompkins. At the same time each of the five counties experienced similar characteristics within their own boundaries. In Oneida, for example, out of a total of approximately seventeen hundred dollars more than four- teen hundred came from Grace and Trinity in Utica. Next among the cities was Syracuse where St. Paul's raised close to five hundred out of a county total of five hundred and fifty dollars. St. Paul's, Oxford, followed with some two hundred and thirty dollars which was about one half of what Chenango contributed. Finally, Christ Church, Oswego, gave almost two thirds of what the county raised. These five parishes alone furnished nearly fifty-seven per cent of all monthly collections for diocesan missions within Central New York.
An interpretation of some importance is needed at this point. The missionary stipend, it will be recalled, was one hundred and twenty-five dollars a year. With this fact in mind it becomes crys- tal clear that the total sum raised could maintain no more than four missionaries a year. Much more sobering is another fact, namely that the number of missions maintained, during the years noted, averaged about forty a year. The apparent contradiction inherent in these conclusions is resolved upon discerning that diocesan head- quarters had other sources of income for missionary work. Of these, mention has been made of New York's support for a few years following the establishment of Western New York. Then there was the Permanent Diocesan Missionary Fund consisting of sums given by New York from its own missionary reserves plus
1 Data for the two years before 1840-1841 is too scattered to be of much value. Moreover, the information given is not altogether too clear as to the purpose the sums listed were used for.
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those gifts made at times by kindly disposed churchmen of the new diocese. Again, there were others who made contributions for cur- rent expenses. Finally, there were the General Funds into which went church collections not ear-marked for diocesan missions but which by canon might be so used.1
During the years that followed the 1848 Convention the entire support of domestic missions rested upon the general sources plus the monthly collections. Nor was there any change in the method of collection or the amount of the missionary stipend. The system, it must be noted, entailed no expense beyond the nominal postage involved in relaying the collections to headquarters and converting the same into stipends. Thus the scheme introduced by De Lancey paid the missionaries punctually each quarter of the year and in some instances was able to increase the salary where it was thought necessary. But it was not the collections that made this possible. Only the liberal withdrawals from the General Fund saved the Diocese from debt. In spite of this defect De Lancey had reason to be grateful as evidence of which one may read his pastoral letter in 1856 to the laity of Western New York entitled, Parish Duties, A Guide to Wardens and Vestrymen. So effective was this small tract that it was re-issued in 1862 and may be read with profit to this day.
It would be misleading, however, to conclude the Church in Central New York, or Western New York for that matter, meas- ured up to the expectations of the Diocesan. A perusal of the Jour- nal and Messenger between 1848 and 1868 reveals how mission work within the diocese was stinted through lack of funds. Addi- tional insight may be gleaned from the Minute Book of the Mis- sionary Board. Finally, one will remember how much ground was lost through the inability or failure of the parishes to promote missions. But it would be quite unjust to assume that the ears of the faithful were always closed.
During the decade, 1859-1868, the total sums raised and marked for diocesan missions, within Central New York, amounted to nearly twenty-four thousand dollars which was about six times the
1 Even had the wardens and vestrymen specified the purpose of their collections it would be difficult to make an accurate statement as to the total funds raised in Central New York for diocesan missions. Nor is it of value to multiply the number of missionaries in that area by the annual stipend. Some of these were on a partial stipend and there were always stations that remained vacant much longer than should have been the case. Had the entire diocese met De Lancey's appeal the Church of 1958 would be very much stronger than it is.
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amount given between 1841-1848. Of the larger sum close to forty per cent came from the parishes in Syracuse, Oxford, Watertown, Utica, Pierrepont Manor, Oswego, and Waterloo. Countywise the record favored Onondaga, Oneida, Chenango, Jefferson, and Sen- eca, though all the counties showed growth. And whereas in the years 1841-1848 the income supported but four missions, during the last decade nearly five times that number were maintained ; other stations, it must be remembered, were sustained from the General Funds. Proper allowance, of course, should be made for the over-all increases in population. Especially was this true of those counties that hugged the course of the Mohawk Valley and the Erie Canal; elsewhere the population gain was slow and often uncertain. Particularly was this true of Jefferson, Lewis and the rural areas of Oswego. Limited by natural features, hampered by poor north and south lines of communication, and the absence of an abundance of rich land, the Church found it difficult to advance missions in these areas. In his diary, Bishop Coxe (who frowned at such "barbarous names" as Pulaski and Mexico) recorded in June, 1867, that while there was much to cheer him in Jefferson county still it was "a desolate region ... on which may the Holy Spirit come down."
At the same time, Bishop Coxe kept constantly appealing for manifestations of the Holy Spirit in the hearts of his laymen for both diocesan and domestic missions. The former, as his predeces- sors had affirmed, were always to receive prior consideration though at no time were the parishes to forget the Church's missions within and without the United States. In pursuing this policy, Western New York became the object of some criticism. In January, 1848, for example, the Church Missions Domestic Committee wrote De Lancey laying down the wants and immediate claims of domestic missions. To which the Bishop replied :
If I am right in understanding the subject to be, to make throughout this diocese special collections . .. I beg most respectively to state ... that in this diocese there is an estab- lished system of monthly collections for missions and other objects of Church benevolence, with which any new system of special collections will most seriously interfere. That this diocese is not falling behind in her contributions, I beg to state these facts: that in 1840 this diocese ... contributed to domestic and foreign missions $485. That in 1845 this dio- cese contributed ... $2,008, thus increasing her gifts more than four fold.
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Throughout the remainder of the letter, and another of a much later date, he cited facts and statistics to show that Western New York was the "largest" missionary diocese in the United States, and concluded by saying :
We need fifty missionaries. Virginia sustains 13 mission- aries and gives beside $1600 to your Committee. Western New York sustains more than 40 missionaries and gives be- sides $1150 to your Committee. Would to God, it had been able to do more.
The contest and scramble for funds did not stop at that ; rather it continued during the remainder of the life of the old diocese of Western New York; and those who even to a small degree are cognizant of present conditions, are aware the problem is not solved. However from 1838 to 1868 the offerings of Western New York for both diocesan and domestic and foreign missions certainly in- creased. Here again the Journal is of great value. Take for example the record of St. Paul's, Waterloo, which reveals slightly more than a thousand dollars for diocesan missions between 1859 and 1868 and contributed about as much for domestic and foreign mis- sions. Again, an examination will reveal that collections were made for missionary purposes not covered by larger appeals. Calvary, Homer, in 1851, made a special gift for the Church in Minnesota, and in the same year the struggling mission at Hamilton made a gift to a weaker member, St. James', Theresa. Fifteen years later, St. Paul's, Syracuse, raised funds on Good Friday for the Jews, and on other days for the Church in Ontario, Minnesota, and Illinois, the Freedman's Commission, and the Southern Church over and above what was mailed to diocesan and general church headquarters for missions. In the same year the Utica parishes sent cash and clothing to Nashotah, Dr. Breck's mission, a church at Platteville, Wisconsin, and the Freedman's Commission. And on the eve of becoming a diocese, Central New York gave generously to a hundred and one similar objects.
Meanwhile Bishop De Lancey and Bishop Coxe never ceased to agitate men's minds and souls for increased support for diocesan missions. In 1858, for example, De Lancey told Convention that approximately one fourth of the churches within the diocese had not reported any contributions for church objects within or without the diocese. Of the delinquents one-half were within Central New York and half of these were in Oneida and Onondaga counties. As
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a result several stations had been closed and for the first time in forty years the Missionary Board did not have funds enough to meet the needs of all the stations. Although funds were advanced to meet these obligations the number of missionaries was somewhat curtailed in 1860. Three years later, De Lancey returned to attack. Fifteen parishes, he said, had made no collections though they had benefited from the missionary offerings. The Bishop realized the conditions facing these groups but was not so sure about the limited contributions that came from St. Paul's, Syracuse, St. Luke's, Roch- ester, Trinity, Geneva, St. Paul's, Buffalo, Grace, Utica, and St. Paul's, Oxford. Each of these, he declared, could easily support two missionaries each. In addition, the parochial reports showed that Zion, Pierrepont, St. Paul's, Waterloo, Trinity, Utica, Christ, Oswego, St. James', Skaneateles, Christ, Binghamton, and Zion, Greene, could contribute, if they wished, a hundred and fifty dol- lars each.
But this spiritual pump priming did not bring desired results and in 1866 Bishop Coxe undertook a serious attempt to correct existing conditions. Both the Diocesan and the Missionary Board spoke in favor of resolutions, brought before Convention, which stressed the fact the Church was in "the midst of a moral and re- ligious crisis which cannot be met by any timid, partial, or ordi- nary zeal." The appeal made was "to the faith and to the pure ambition of the faith which has respect to the recompense of the reward, and which bears fruit in large plans, unstinted self-denying bounty, and generous hopes." Implementing these principles a motion was made and carried that the missionary offerings for the coming year "should be at least doubled." In view of the fact that about eight thousand dollars interest from the Permanent Mission- ary Fund had been collected during the past conventional year, the target was set at about sixteen thousand dollars.
As a means of advancing this drive, Convention endorsed a scheme, already operating in some areas, of creating Missionary Associations or Convocations throughout the diocese. Likewise it passed a resolution favoring the appointment of a county missionary for Chenango at the earliest moment practicable. This second action is of interest to the Diocese of Central New York and had its incep- tion in the gift of a thousand dollars from the heirs of Gerrit H. Van Wagnen of Chenango County. Actually, according to his will, a lot of land in Saratoga County was given to Western New York for the "sustentation of missions" in Chenango. The deed to this
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tract was received late in the fall of 1848 by Joseph Juliand of Greene as trustee for the lot which was estimated to be in the neighborhood of a thousand acres. Not finding a purchaser, Mr. Juliand decided to wait until a favorable price might be obtained. About the same time this decision was reached, and being aware of what had happened, the heirs came forward with the gift of a thousand dollars which was to accumulate "until the proceeds of the land .. . shall produce an income equal at least to the usual" missionary stipend ; which income should be so used on the express understanding that the control and use of the fund was always to be in the Diocese within which Oxford was located.
By the opening of the year 1851, the Van Wagnen Fund yielded an income of seventy dollars ; no sale of the land, however, had been made and it was until late 1853 that it was sold for four hundred dollars. In 1858 with the fund standing slightly under two thou- sand dollars, it was agreed to use the income to advance missions in Chenango by subsidizing resident clergymen to make visitations here and there. The scheme did not work too well and it was drop- ped in 1861 ; the matter rested until 1866 when the fund amounted to slightly more than twenty-eight hundred dollars. Thus to imple- ment the vote taken at Convention that year as to a county mission- ary there was almost two hundred dollars. But nothing was done and the total amount of the fund, swollen by donations made in the interim, stood in August, 1868, at $3,993.54 ; this sum in due time was given to the Diocese of Central New York for its own use.
Meanwhile, what of Diocesan Funds? The high expectation of 1866 came to naught as was sadly admitted by Bishop Coxe the following year. Some advance had been made and six more mis- sionaries for all of Western New York had been appointed. But the total amount paid to all missionaries was under nine thousand dollars-an estimate that included twelve hundred from the Per- manent Missionary Fund. Thus in that year all the Diocesan could say was :
The great majority of the stipends, however respectable the amount may have been forty years ago, were utterly in- sufficient to give the aid which the Diocese pledges to her missionary clergy; and many of them only serve to prolong a lingering life in Parishes, which with generous and effi- cient help would in a short time become vigorous and self supporting fountains to themselves and to the Diocese at large.
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There was, however, another angle that was given some publicity in the Messenger in June, 1868. An unknown contributor expressed himself rather forcibly about "Obstacles to Church Extension in Rural Areas." These hindrances were listed as religious indiffer- ence on the part of the people, the opposition that existed in some areas to the Church, the want of a church edifice for worship, the difficulty in finding suitable men for the rural field, and a "bung- ling" law which called for two wardens and eight vestrymen in every community before a mission could be officially established. To overcome this situation it was suggested that the diocesan mission- ary system be revised. Some of the missions, it was argued, might well be discontinued and the sums thus saved put to better use else- where. Again, in other instances missionary stipends should be dis- continued since the stations themselves were capable of supporting themselves. Finally, a larger stipend should be given to each mis- sionary. At one time the annual grant of $125.00 was equal to about one-fourth of a clergyman's salary, whereas in 1868 such a sum bought little beyond one new suit of clothes a year. And since the diocesan funds were limited this needed increase would have to stem from the efforts of the Convocations.
Perhaps a better diocesan system was needed though few in high places seemed willing or ready to abandon one that had operated for so many years. As the Bishop had repeatedly stated warmer and more energetic clerical support would have made the problem less pressing and bothersome. Nor should it be forgotten that during the years 1867 and 1868, many of the clergy were thinking and talking about a division of the diocese-a matter of such importance that may well have detracted attention from other objects. But after granting this latter assumption diocesan headquarters knew that fundamentally both the clergy and the laity had been loath to spread the glad tidings in volume equal to the pleas of the bishop and the needs of the mission field.
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CHAPTER VII
CHRISTIAN EDUCATION
Few, if any, will question the importance of the subject with which this chapter is concerned. Particularly is this true of Sunday schools-the nursery for Christian Citizenship. Religious training was present in various forms in the Colonial Church and loyal par- ents supplemented these efforts by informal instruction at home ; but this was not equivalent to what a Sunday school does today. The inception of such a school is generally credited to Robert Raikes who in 1780 began teaching the children of the poor in the delight- ful cathedral city of Gloucester, England. His chief object was to instruct the pupils how to read so as to enable them to study the Bible for themselves. The movement caught fire and was brought to America where at Philadelphia, in 1790, the first Sunday school in the country was started. Though denominational in scope it is pleasing to note that Bishop White of Pennsylvania was among its leaders.
The earliest Episcopal Sunday school was founded at Christ Church, Philadelphia, in 1814. Two years later there were six sim- ilar institutions in New York City and in 1817 Bishop Hobart formed the New York Protestant Episcopal Sunday School Society. In the same year General Convention called the clergy's attention to a canon that enjoined them to be diligent in "catechetical in- struction" as the most "effectual means of promoting religious · knowledge and practical piety." Later in 1826 the General Prot- estant Episcopal Sunday School Union was formed. Unfortunately General Convention withheld its blessing, and while many parishes followed the Episcopal Union, there were others who continued to walk with the American Sunday School Union, an older society and denominational in nature.
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