Daily Kennebec journal., 1925-05-09
62ND annual CONFERENCE
SESSION OF UNITARIAN
CHURCHES ENDS FRIDAY

Charles T. Johnson Of Waterville,
president; Rev. John w. Day, d. D.,
of Kennebunk, vic" president; Rev.
Harry Lutz of Sanford, vice presi-
dent: Rev. Dan H. Fem of Augusta.
secretary and treasurer. The eXecu-
tive committee is made UP of Percy
j.. Lord of Calais, e. E. Hussey of
Sanford, Mrs. T. V. Doherty of Houl-
ton, James Howes of Belfast, Charles
Alexander of Ellsworth and George
S. Hobbs of Portland.
The officers of the Maine Unitarian
association are: Willard e. Barrows
of Portland, president E. B. Draper
of Bangor, vice president; Herbert E..
Locke Of Augusta. secretary; Elias
Thomas of Portland, treasurer;
George S. Hobbs Of Portland, audi
tor; Hon. Leslie c. Cornish, Hiram
La Pishon and Hon. George y. Emery.
finance committee.
A roll call of the churches was
made and brief report from each
parish in the following cities was
made: Augusta by Rev. Dan II. Fem,
Bangor by Rev. Samuel Z. Beane.
Belfast by Rev. William F. Skerrye,
Calais by Rev. Hugo a. Perdelwitz,
Castine, Eastport by Rev. John Balt-
zly, Ellsworth by Rev. George L.
Jones, Pennington, Kennebunk by
Rev. John w. Day, Lincolnville by
Rev. Harry LutZ. Portland, Saco by
Rev. Ward r. Clarke, Sanford by
Rev. Harry LutZ and Waterville by
Rev. Arthur Buckner.
In the many reports much mention
was made of the large number of
L. HCh -
vices, especially at Christmas time
and the extensive pageantry ana
dramatization that has been used
during the past year to depict the
| familiar stories Of the Bible. Stories
that were particularly emphasized
lwere those of Ruth, the Good Sa-
tive.
The report of the conference held
last year in Bangor was read by the
secretary, Rev. Dan H. Fem of Au-
gusta and was accepted. In his gen.
eral State report Mr.. Fem spoke OF
a substantial increase in the mem
bership of number of parishes des-
pite the fact that there have been
no church added to the conference
during the past year.
He declared two things to be out
standing in the year just closed. The
first was the coming to Kennebunk
of Rev. John w. Day from St
Louis, Mo-, and he told the delegates
of the admirable qualifications which
! Mr.! Day possessed.
The second was the death of Rev,
Joel H. Metcalf of Portland and OF
this he said, I'm that death the Con-
ference lost a strong member: Port
land lost Sn able and peculiarly tall
ented minister, the scientists lost an
expert investigator and many, many
people have lost a valuable friend.
After serving three years as the
secretary of the Conference, Mr.
Fem offered his resignation yester-
day but the opinion of the delegates
was that he should continue in the
office and he was reelected.
Rev. Mr.. Day extended cordial
invitation for the delegates to at
tend the 10th anniversary exercises
of the founding of the Unita arian
church in that town which will be
held on the 26th and 9th of June.
At the conclusion of the business
meeting a communion service was
impressively performed by Rev. Mr..
Fem.
Luncheon was served the delegates
at noon by the ladies of the Water
vile parish.
THE AFTERNOON SESSION
The afternoon was devoted to the
forty-seventh annual meeting of the
Maine Unitarian Association and the
speakers were Mrs. Joel II. Metcalf
of Portland and Rev. John w. Day
of Kennebunk
Mr.. Day took for his subject,
What Is Liberalism?" and he de-
fined liberalism as not set of ideas
but rather spirit or attitude, to-
wards life which is to be found n
all denominations. He urged that
those who are gifted with that spirit
join together and he stated that the
church should go on to a wider an
wider fellowship. Mr.. Day spoke
in terms of commendation of such
men as DIR. Guthrie and DIR. Fos-
dick because they were liberal and
he said that they Should be helped
and not heckled as they now are.
Mrs. Metcalf. speaking on "The
Recrudesence of Entertainments in
the Church" sketched in an interest
ing way the early history of drama
tization and pageantry in the early
church.
The religious dramas Of the Mid
die Ages can well be divided into
three classes, Mysteries. Miracles and
Moralities. she said. When English
came TO be the language spoken by
the common people of England about
the 18th century, wandering min
strels and friars went about the land
entertaining the people with reli-
gious dramas which SO pleased them
that the church began to lose it's in
fiuence. This, Mrs. Metcalf assigned
as reason for the growth and
strength of pageantry and entertain
ment in the church today.
Entertainments are and should be
an important part of church life for
they both entertain and instruct:
especially is this true in the case of
young people, Mrs. Metcalf said.
The speaker stated that the idea
of entertainments in the church as
source of revenue was nothing new
and she told of a man in England in
1913 who bequeathed a sum of money
to church for the purchase of
Bibles which were later given to
those persons who showed the
greatest amount of luck at throwing
dlce. She also spoke of the sale of
ale by the churches of old England
as means of raising money and
contrasted this with the church food
sale OF the present day.
we are now living in a social arn
with dances, movies and all sorts of
entertainment" Mrs. Metcalf told
hef hearers, and she said it wa,
their duty to make the churches in