Alexandria gazette. [volume] (Alexandria, D.C.) 1834-1974, 1922-08-03

American home, which will be sub
mitted to the Forthcoming Episcopal
Convention at Portland, Ore, 1t is
declared, brings out clearly the ne
cessity of preaching methods which
will reawaken parents to their re-
sponsibilities,
Rt. Rev. Irving r. Johnson, D.
D.. Bishop of Colorado, who has
made q six months study of preach
mo methods within the Church, and
whose ideas on the work proposed
have now largely been adopted by
the Church, in a report which pre-
coded the action taken vigorously
summons the Church to its duties.
"The Episcopal Church, says the
Bishop, has entrenched itself in
the United States by virtue of its
intrinsic merits rather than by any
aggressive or forceful presentation
of its claims to the American peo-
pile" He calls for "a campaign of
creating human interest in the prob
lens of our national church," and
declares that ''the time has arrived
when the human voice, speaking in
the larger centres of population may
carry on a campaign Of education
through the instrumentality of pa
rochial missions which will help to
disspate our petty parochial and di-
ocesan consciousness and produce
something bigger and more gener-
Gus. In short" he says, "if we
are ever going to make an impress
sion on the disintegrating religious
forces of America, we must first
strengthen our stakes in order to
lengthen our cords. There is an in
suDerable barrier of diStrust, suspic
ion and Indifference to what we are
and to what we teach-due partly to
our own conservative timidity and
partly to the fact that the great
bulk of our population, although
they are not breaking away from
any serious obligations to the eccle-
siastical authorities under which they
serve, are still bound by the bond
age of phrases. preiudices. and life
long affiliations and trust us not
Convenience is replacing conviction
in the Teligous zones about us.
"You have first to convert the
clergy to bigger conception of
their ministry than one of preserv>
ing the fine traditions of an ancient
diocese or keeping up the morale Of
a fine parish. Our people have to
be taught that they belong to the
Holy Catholic Church rather than to
the parish of the Good Samaritan.
The Church, "says Bishop Johnson
finally is not merely a business
and merely business methods will be
as disastrous to its morale as mere
w ecclesiastical methods would
surely wreck a bank. There is and
must be a human touch in Christ's
businests."
The Importance which is attached
to the work which the two mission
ers will undertake is illustrated in
the fact that, to accept, both will, at
a financial sacrifice, sever their con-
nection with large and flourishng
parishes to give their undivided at
tention to the newtask. DR.. Clark
is one of the most eloquent and ex-
perienced missoners in the Episco-
pal Church and DR.. Shaad holds
equally high rank. Their work will
be of a ioneer character in the res
pect that there is a growing feeling
throughout the Church that vigor-
Gus preaching of the kind which
brouiht new blood into the church is
on the decline; and they will ge es-
pecially charged with conducting
missions and leading schools of the
prophets" which will train clergy
men in the method by which it is
hoed to restore the expounding Of
the Scritures.