Evening star., 1932-09-30
CATHEDRAL WORK
HELD IMPERATIVE
At ANNIVERSARY
Bishop Freeman Sounds Plea
for Renewed Efforts on
Great Project.
CHURCH LEADER POINTS
TO TROUBLOUS TIMES
Great Throng Told Nations Insti-
tutions Menaced by Crisis and
Spiritual Leadership Necessary.

Construction work at Washington
Cathedral must continue. There must
be no cessation of effort to complete the
great Gothic church begun a quarter
century ago on Mount St. Alban and
now one-third completed.
In this manner, Right Rev. James E.
Freeman, Bishop of Washington, yester-
day summarized the determination of
the Cathedral Chapter, Council and
| friends to go forward without pause to
the natural conclusion of the vast en-
terprise inaugurated by his predecessors,
Right Rev. Henry Yates Satterlee and
Right Rev. Alfred Harding
Before congregation Of friends Of
the Cathedral, which filled the Great
Choir from wall to WALL Bishop Free
man analyZed the problems of the times
and affirmed his conviction that II the
Cathedral were needed in 1907, 1t Is
doubly needed in 1882.
His address came as the elimination
of day of commemoration and thanks
giving. beginning at 730 o'clock in the
morning with communion service in
the Bethlehem Chapel, where Bishop
Satterlee sleeps in the heart Of the tenn
pie he dreamed At IL O'Clock there
had been special service at the Church
of the Epiphany in celebration OF the
ninth anniversary Of Bishop Freeman's
conservation. At midday a group OF
Cathedral leaders and co-workers had
met at luncheon at Beauvoir, the beau
tiful mansion house which Rev. DR..
Walden Myer bequeathed to the Cathe-
dral.
Service Brings Crowds.
The afternoon service at o'clock
brought crowds to the Cathedral's doors.
People who had attended the laying OF
the foundation stone and had been ac-
lively interested in the work ever since
came with steps made slow with the toll
Of years. People who never before had
been beneath a cathedral roof also were
present. They came by airplane, auto
mobile, trolley car and afoot, climbing the
stairs to the makeshift entrance of the
unfinished south transept and passing
quietly into the high white sanctuary
Of the great choir.
It was a Cathedral family congrega-
ton, an assembling of men and women
to whom the nascent house of prayer
for all people" is spiritual home, to-
ward the erection of which they have
toiled and sacrificed. In the process
sion there were no new faces. The
Cathedral choir and the Cathedral
clergy followed the gold cross presented
by the Emperor of AbySsinia up through
the north transept and east to the
chancel. as they have followed it on
many other occasions since the great
choir was opened for public worship
last Ascension day. The bishop marched
at the end, the shepherd of his flock.
Anthems sung at the foundation
stone service 25 years back rose to the
vaulting under the unseen direction of
Edgar Priest, at that time as now choir
master and organist of the Cathedral.
Then the bishop spoke.
Stresses Present Need.
He reviewed the spiritual ideals of
the Cathedral founders and recalled
how eminent men in the state, in the
arts and sciences. in education and in
business have aided in the work. Pres
iGent Mckinley, he said, had called the
Cathedral enterprise "a new sowing for
the Master and for men" Bishop Sat-
terlees conception of it, he said, had
been that of "the Word made flesh"
1t had been intended to serve as "a
witness for Christ in the Nations Cap
ital' and pledge of Christian fellow
ship, faith and trust. Men and women
throughout the land" he declared.
have come to realize that in no center
on this continent, other than here in
the Capital, is a great affirmation of
spiritual ideals so essential and indis-
pensable. Beyond its esthetic values
they have seen in this temple that
which is fundamental to our security,
our peace and our permanence" as
nation.
He added: IF at its inception 25
years ago, when the foundation stone
n hn inc oJiy
Of its founders a place of importance,
then we may venture to say, with deep
ened assurance, that in this present
Storm-to tossed age it has still larger
place, and its warrant for being is au-
thenticated and confirmed by the tragic
needs OF these momentous and critical
days"
Christian faith and Christian prac-
tice, he declared, are being tested today
as in no other period. Institutions are
under fire. New conditions have arisen
and ito meet these new conditions our
most venerable institutions must be
prepared. not only to maintain their
creedS and systems, but to maintain
them by rendering them more appealing
and more satisfying
Some ancient molds of thought must
be recast, he agreed, but I'VE are not
of those who believe that the Christian
religion in its simplicity and beauty,
nor, indeed, in its adaptability to
human needs, has lost aught of its ap-
peal AS matter of fact, there is a
hunger of the soul evident today, an
unsatiSfed hunger such as we have
ton"
Clings to Tradition.
The bishop continued: This Cathe-
dral Church has not sought by the
employment of any artifice or an un-
due emphasis upon any novel practice
to attract those who are drawn by
the bizarre and the spectacular. To
adhere to catholic tradition and to
maintain a reverent worship has been
its one supreme aim. It has neither
cultivated nor been influenced by any
school or party, it has yielded to no
innovations Every Office. every
service in this place must be so Or
dered as to evoke and call into action
those deep religious feelings, emotions,
if you viii, that find their expression
in every habit and practice Of life.
To send men and women forth from
this place restored, renewed in body.
mind and spirit, this is the Cathedrals
purpose and its only purpose"
Concerning the present status Of the
CaCneQrdl enterprise, JIle 0ISIlOp SOA-
emnly declared: In the face of the
seemingly insuperable difficulties that
now hinder and halt our construction
work, we dare to carry on. The very
exigencies of this hour of trial, the
emptiness of life without God, the pow
erty of riches, the uncertainty and f1c-
titiousness of all human values, the
interrupted and disrupted progress of
our cherished enterprises, the dissipated
hopes and the worldwide cry of disillu-
stoned men and women, give to our task