Religion: No. 1 Episcopalian

Within the vast, still uncompleted Washington Cathedral, the Protestant Episcopal Church installed last week its 20th Presiding Bishop. None of the Most Rev. Henry Knox Sherrill’s predecessors had been installed with such pomp & circumstance. Five processions of purple-robed choirboys, candle-bearers, crucifers, bishops and distinguished laymen escorted him toward the high altar. A congregation of 2,500 crowded the unfinished nave to witness the ceremonies of installation.

To his distinguished audience, following the formalities, Bishop Sherrill spoke from a heart filled with the urgency of the times. His theme: “the temper and mind of the church.” Said he:

“. . . When we stop to examine the facts we find that in every parish and diocese it is largely the few who bear the burden and heat of the day. . . . The churches are at a tremendous disadvantage, for we are in essence waging a desperate spiritual warfare in a most critical period of history, at the same time carrying a vast weight of nominal Christians who, as someone has remarked, having been once inoculated by weak religion, seem to be impervious to the real thing. . . .

“If we truly believe in God in Christ, then worship becomes no conventional act of outward respectability, but the very bread of life. . . . If we truly believe, then brotherhood becomes more than a slogan. … If we really believe, then Christian discipleship, the mission of the church, are not inconsequential asides or the task of peculiar people. They are the absorbing responsibility and opportunity of every member of the church.”