Evening public ledger. [volume] (Philadelphia [Pa.]) 1914-1942, 1914-12-05
PHILLIPS BROOKS
CHURCH NOW SCENE
OF REAL PENTECOST
In Old Church of the Ad-
vent DR.. E. NJ. Frank
Does Most Unique Work
in City.

"A little Pentecost repeated weekly, may
be witnessed in the quaint edihce OF the
Church OF the Advent, 5th and Button
wood streets In this old, weather-beaten
building, where Phillips Brooks once
preached sermins that helped to make
him famous, to some of the select fami-
lies of Philadelphia, the Rev. f. M.
Frank, the rector, is doing work that is
more unique than may be found in Phila-
dolphia, and possibly in the country.
The old church is endowed, but with
the changing nelghborhood, 1t was in
even a more unfortunate position than II
IL had been without money, a few years
ago. 1t was almost without members.
Old families had moved into the suburbs
with the growth Of congestion In the
once fashionable section north of Frank
lin Square, aud the houses that once
served as comfortable homes were In
many cases turned into lodging and tene-
ment buildings. occupied largely by i'm
migrants who spoke many tongues. To
add to the misfortunes OF the parish. the
"red-liSht' section. which nourisheu
previous to Mayor BlankenDurg's adpn-
istratlon. crowded upon ii, and this drove
still more Of the old families away.
buI lne paTlSn was fortunate III one
respect: 1t had rector with a vision
Doctor Frank is not one OF the kind OF
clergymen who finds leisure pleasure.
He is happiest when he is doing some
definite work among the unfortunates
and, because Of this, he has never seen a
day when he has felt time n burden
when it was difficult to find something to
do. When he found practically no parish
to minister to he started out to build up
one around him. out among the friend
less men and women who crowded the
tenements and talked in a dozen tongues
he reached for souls
Being fortunate enough to be able to
speak several of the languages and ener-
getic enough to learn to speak those he
did not know well, Doctor Frank found
It easy to interest the new arrivals in
America. They were, like all newcomers,
anxious to make friends among English
speaking people. Doctor Frank, being
possessed with an affable disposition and
desirous of helping these people. soon
had them all at his door Marvellous re-
suits for the good of the neighborhood
have been the result. To a visitor there
could be no more interesting place on a
Sunday than Doctor Franks services in
the Church Of the Advent.
At $3.50 o'clock in the morning a Mass
is sung in Servian; at 10 o'clock, and last
ing until IL, there Is a regular Episcopal
2 o'clock In the afternoon there is n Mass
in the vernacular Of the Armenians.
When Doctor Frank cannot get native
speaking priests to ohiciate at the serv-
ices he does so himself. having become
fluent in many of the foreign languages
of southern Europe during several years
he resided abroad.
He believes a mistake Is made in trying
to thrust upon immigrants the language
and customs Of this country which are
entirely unsuited to their experience. Far
more good can be done among them he
believes, by permitting them to do their
good work IN their usual way and gradu-
ally become acquainted with the Amerl-
can methods,
The progress of the work done is shown
by the erection of a new church at 9Th
and Spring Garden streets by the congre-
cation OF st, Michaels Russian Orthodox
Greek Catholic Church. only a handful
of members began to worship in the
Church of the Advent when Doctor Frank
told them they could hold the Russian
Orthodox Greek Catholic services there.
But their rector, the Rev. j. II. Kroh-
malney soon added to the congregation,
and the probabilities are that there will
be big edihce at 6th and Spring Garden
streets to replace the present structure
before many years have passed.