Evening star., 1928-10-11
S1,O)O,O]O IS GIVEN
FOR MISSIONS BY
AUXILIARY WOMEN
Washington Cathedral Holds
Largest Episcopal Com
munion Service.
IS PRELATES 0FFICIATE;
5000 TAKE SACRAMENT
Bishops, in Executive Session,
Begin Prayer Book Re-
vision Work.

An offering believed to have exceeded
ST 100000 for missionary work through
out the world was placed on the altar
of the partially completed sanctuary
of the Washington Cathedral this
morning by the Womans Auxiliary of
the Protestant Episcopal Church, at
the largest Episcopal communion service
ever held in the United States.
1t was the first regular service held
on the main floor of the cathedral, and
the worshipers knelt beneath a net
work of temporary steel scaffolding.
The service was conducted in the par
of promise made by Bishop Freeman
at the New Orleans convention in 1925.
Approximately 5000 persons crowded
into the structure, but in order to ac-
commodate the crowd, which just before
the start of the service stretched two
abreast through the Cathedral Close
and far down Wisconsin avenue, it was
necessary to hold overflow communion
services in the three crypt chapels-
Bethlehem Chapel, the Chapel of the
Resurrection and the Chapel Of st.
Joseph of Aramathea. When still more
arrived an open-air meeting was ar
ranged in the open-air amphitheater,
and consisted of the singing of hymns,
led by Capt. Montford of the Church
Army.
Serve so a Minute.
The eagerness to partake Of first
communion in the cathedral led to
much crowding. At daylight this
morning a small group of women was
waiting at the gate of the Cathedral
Close, and this was extended rapidly
until 8 am, when the service started.
Communion was served Immediately
after taking up the offering, at affairs
by Is bishops, passing the bread and
the wine. 1t was estimated that
approximately so persons were served
every minute, but it was well past
/ 1890 o'clock when the last communi-
cant left the altar.
The exact amount of the offering.
which was taken up by white-robed girl
ushers, viii not be known until tonight,
when it will be announced at meeting
| in the Washington Auditorium. The
offering, which is made once every three
years, is the special contribution Of the
church women to the work of the
church, and is the sum of offerings
taken up twice each year in each of the
" dioceses and 81 missionary districts.
The Most Rev. John Gardner Murray
Bishop of Maryland and presiding biShl
op of the Protestant Epicopal Church in
the United States, was the communion
celebrant, assisted by the Right Rev.
James E. Freeman, Bishop of Wash
ington, and the following bishops:
Right Rev. Arthur Selden Lloyd, Suf-
fragan Bishop of New York; Right Rev.
1<-I-
op OF Idaho. Right Rev. Robert E.
Campbell, Missionary Bishop of Liberia;
Right Rev. Thomas Casady, Missionary
Bishop of Oklahoma; Right Rev. Frank
w. Creighton, Missionary Bishop of
Mexico; Right Rev. Walter Mitchell,
Missionary Bishop Of Arizona; Right
Rev. Shirley H. Nichols, Missionary
Bishop of Kyoto, Japan; Right Rev
William M. M. Thomas, Suffragan BiSh-
op of Southern Brazil; Right Rev. Peter
Trlmble Rowe, Missionary Bishop of
Alaska; Right Rev. Hugh Latimer Bur-
leson, Missionary Bishop of South Da-
kota; Right Rev. Charles Shriver Reif-
Snlder, Suffragan Bishop of North
Toxic, Japan; Right Rev. Edward Maxim
Cross, Missionary Bishop of Spokane,
Washington; Right Rev. Gouverneur F.
Mosher, Missionary Bishop of the Philip
pine Islands; Right Rev. William p.
Remington, Missionary Bishop of East
ern Oregon; Right Rev. Harry Roberts
Carson, Missionary Bishop of Haiti, and
the Right Rev. Arthur w. Moulton. Mis-
Slonary Bishop of Utah. The Rev. G..
Freeland Peter, canon of Washington
Cathedral, directed the arrangements
for the service.
Feature Of Service.
The feature of the service occurred
when SIS members of the B. Branch of
the Woman's Auxiliary.~c in blue
academic hats and gowns, collected the
united thank offering from the assem-
bled delegates and placed it in the
golden aims basin. This receptacle,
which has been in use in successive
thank offering services for 80 YeGrs. n
% inches in diameter and weighs siightS
ly less than 19 ounces. 1t has b beauti~
fully chased border of silver gilt and
center panel of solid gold on which is
depicted the offering of the Magi. 1t
was given to the American Church tr
1852 by churchmen of oxford University.
Since 1889 the golden aims basin has
held offerings, including the more than
$l,000.000 made this morning. totaling
$4,608.286 which have been devoted to
missionary purposes, and particularly to
furthering women'S missionary work in
foreign fields. Church recSSds show
that from the first offering of $2.1SS,
made in it in that yea5. the donations
have grown so rapidly that at the last
triennial thank offer~g service in New
Orleans three years ago ehey reached
an unprecedented $913.000.
Presentation of the offering was made
today by Miss Margaret Weed, national
chairman for the united thank offering.
and by Miss Lucy A. Grant, chairman
of the united thank offering for the
diocese of Washington. They were
assisted by treasurers from the more
than 100 dioceSeS and missionary dis
trictS in which are located 1000
branches of the Woman's Auxiliary.
When the basin was presented at the
Jerusalem altar it held coins from vir-
tually every country: Japanese yens,
French francs. Chinese taels and Eng
lish pounds, and tokens from women in
the far corners of the earth
The Jerusalem altar, upon which the
offering was placed during the service.
is made from stone hewn from a quarry
outside the walls of Jerusalem, from
which the stones in Solomon's Temple
were obtained. 1t was given to the
Cathedral in 1902. before work on the
edifice had been begun, by IL dioceses,
missionary jurisdictions and congrega-
tionS as an early manifestation of coun-
try-wide interest in building Washing
ton Cathedral as a witness for Christ
in the Nations Capital.
In place of the reredoSes, which have
not yet been built behind the Jerusalem
altar and the affairs in the Chapels of
st. John and st. Mary. there we're