Evening star., 1933-09-24
BISHOP FREEMAN
. REVIEWS 10 YEARS
Decade of Episcopate Will Be
Marked Friday With
Special Services.

Right Rev. James E. Freeman will
complete next Friday a decade Of serv-
ice as Bishop of Washington-a decade
which has brought momentous and
some times correlated changes in the
life of the Nation and of the church.
Ten years ago on MichaelmaS day
he was consecrated with the solemn
ceremony of the Episcopal Church.
That day brought its flood of congratu-
lations, flood that already has started
to flow again.
Messages of fellcitaticn have begun
to come from all sections of the coun-
try. from laynen and clergy. Among
them we're messages from Right Rev
William T Manning. Bishop of New
York. who preached the sermon at the
conservation Of Bishop Freeman; Right
Rev. Thomas F. Gailor. Bishop of Ten
nessee, who presided at the consecra-
ton: Right Rev. William Lawrence.
Bishop of Massachusetts,, co-consecra-
tor Of Bishop Freeman, and Right Rev.
Arthur S. Lloyd. Suffragan Bishop of
New York who presented Bishop Free
man for conservation.
Date Will Be Observed.
program has been prepared by the
Standing Committee of the diocese for
celebration Of the anniversary. Rev.
DR.. George F. Dudley. rector Of st.
Stephan's and the Incarnation parish
is chairman Of the committee.
At 7:3O am. Friday, Bishop Freeman
will celebrate holy communion in
Bethlehem Chapel Of the Washington
Cathedral. A special celebration of
holy communion will be held at IL am.
in Epiphany Church on G street, with
greeting by the bishop. At 3 pm.
in the great choir of the cathedral,
land at 4 o'clock, if the weather permits,
reception will be held in the Bishops
Garden.
During the 10 years of Bishop Free
mans episcopate, notable advances
have been made. particularly in the
Diocese of Washington. in the spirit
ual and financial strength of the
church.
Diocese Gains Members.
When Bishop Freeman was conse-
Grated. the communicate strength of
the diocese was 24.O7O members During
the 10 years which followed, Bishop
Freeman has confirmed 12,198, and
the present communicate strength is
26.545, placing washington among the
outstanding dioceses of the country in
point OF numbers
Speaking of this in the course of an
interview the bishop said: Increase in
communicate strength is the surest in
dication We have of the Church's
growth along spiritual lines. Obviously,
statistics are utterly inadequate to indi-
cate the real spiritual development of
the Church, as there are thousands OF
people nominally related to the Church
who have as yet not been confirmed
Further than this, like all organizations.
We sustain losses through removals and
death" The bishop regretted that so
many people. in removing from one
diocese to another and from one church
to another fail to take letters of trans
fer, by which alone the Church is able
to maintain its official records
Asked whether he thought recent
years marked a decline of interest in
the large concerns of religion, Bishop
Freeman promptly replied Il certainly
do not. think it is safe to say that
not in the nearly 40 years of my Minis
try, which have been in three cities,
two on the Eastern Seaboard and one
in the Northwest, have I known condi-
tions more favorable 70 the Christian
cause than l have witnessed in these
more recent years. Sabatier was right
when he affirmed: Man is incurably
religious Obviously the Christian
cause is very largely dependent upon
its exponents, which implies that the
presentation of the high claims of this
Christian faith must be in terms both
ineligible and appealing to the people
to whom they are presented.
Sees Persuasiveness Wane.
"I am perfectly willing to admit that
tim has urifnocCnd dpc1jrc
of marked ability in the prophetic Of
flee. AS young man I can recall the
names CT score or more of outstand-
ing, nationally known preachers in the
city of my birth. which was New
York. Any consistent survey of that or
indeed, any other city in America to-
day. makes it evident that the pulpit
is less persuasive and less conspicuous
as an opinion-making power than it
once was
This, the bishop believes, is due to
many causes. But conspicuous among
these, he said: Il trace it to the increas-
ing administrative burdens that the
modern institutional Church has laid
upon the mind and heart of its clergy
know scores of men OF outstanding
intellectual gifts, whose preaching pow
er is greatly restricted by reason of thu
weight of many obligations that have
been1aid upon them. One can hardly
think of Phillips Brooks giving his
trative details-indeed, he could not
and be the great preacher he was.
To cite one notable example, a
preacher in my youth, to whom
looked for counsel and advice, one OF
the most commanding men in the en-
tire country, told me on one occasion
that the major portion of Nt5 day was
consumed at hi desk i'll administering
the large and multifarious concerns oi
This institutional metropolitan church. "
Individualism a Factor.
Another cause for this decline in the
prophetic Office the bishop traced to
tan excess of individualism tha5 has
ISSUED in eccentricities of one kind and
another in the conduct of public wor-
ship.
He continued: II believe profoundly,
and my conviction is based upon a
reasonable knowledge of the situation,
that the appeal of the Christian relig-
appeal of Jesus Christ as the worlds
Master. has larger and more popular
hearing today, where properly presented,
than it has had in the now nearly A.
years of my ministry. 1t can be said of
this generation as of the Greeks of old
that, they are at the gates of our terl-
piles crying, 'Sirs, we would see Jesus.
Another matter that gives me in
creasing concern is thu seeming failure
of the church as a whole to make its
proper appeal to the so-called masses of
our people. For reasons that are hardly
Justified, the great body of our work.
ing people, and they constitute ma
t1ority, have come to feel that somehow,
from one cause or another, the church
as an institution is largely designed
for the capitalistic class. To the wage
Garner. religion seems rather costly
luxury to be enjoyed only by those who
can afford to pay for it. One of the
most outstanding obligations upon the