Cuthbert Pratt: Maintaining Parish Traditions, 1950-1958

Cuthbert Pratt was born in Banbury, Oxfordshire, England, on May 28, 1916; his family later emigrated to the United States. He was a 1937 graduate of Lafayette University in Easton, Pennsylvania, and like his predecessor Dudley Stark, a graduate of the Episcopal Theological Seminary in Cambridge, Massachusetts; while at seminary, he had also taken courses at Harvard Divinity School. Before coming to Chicago in 1945 he had served as deacon in charge of St. John's Church, Lawrence, Massachusetts, curate of St. Ann's Church, Brooklyn, New York, and rector of St. John's Church, Fall River, Massachusetts. In his four-and-a-half years as assistant at St. Chrysostom's the congregation had come to appreciate his sermons, which reflected both his high intellectual level and dry British sense of humor and which might include quotations from Ogden Nash as well as from theological writings; he had begun the Service League program for young adults and had been given responsibility for the church school. At a time when the parish was feeling pressure from the diocese to change its churchmanship and form of worship, the new rector's strongly low-church orientation was welcome.

After Cuthbert Pratt's death in 1979, long-time parishioner Martha Mullen Wells paid tribute to him: "An eloquent and highly articulate preacher, Dr. Pratt always gave his listeners something to take home: a moral to live by, or an ideal to ponder. He had a tremendous sense of humor, and an extremely quick — though never barbed — wit. He thoroughly enjoyed indulging in clever repartee with friends who were able to keep up with him. Not many were."

A glimpse of Cuthbert Pratt in a pastoral situation is given in a Tribune story of December 9, 1949, six months before he became rector of the parish. Reporter Norma Lee Browning, investigating the question "How well do Chicago's churches practice what they preach?" visited several churches, "dressed as a poor, shabby woman of the streets, to see whether Christianity is merely lip service and to record her experiences as a derelict." Her first stop was "St. Chrysostom's, lovely carilloned church on the near north side":

 

Looking wan in a wrinkled babushka and frayed coat, the reporter trudged up the stairs to the parish office of the Rev. Cuthbert Pratt.

 

Pastor Proffers Help

 

The young Episcopal pastor looked at her with mixed curiosity and pity, and offered her a chair. "Can I help you?" he asked.

"That's what I want to know," she said. "What can people like you do for people like me?"

She sighed and gazed out the window. The pastor studied his vagabond visitor.

"Why did you come here?" he asked.

 

"Because it's a pretty church," she replied vaguely.

"How did you happen to be stranded in the city?" The stranger merely shrugged. "Any friends here?" No. "Any references with you?" No. "Do you have a social security card?" No. "Haven't you ever — worked?" he asked hesitantly. The visitor refused to meet his eyes. It was obvious he thought her a strumpet.

 

"Are You Fleeing Police?"

 

"Tell me," he said sternly, "are you trying to escape from something?"

"Of course," she agreed, "but do we have to go into that?"

"Look here, young lady, are you wanted by the police?" She convinced him she wasn't and he switched to a more philosophical mood. "I know what it's like to be up against it," he said. "I worked my way through theological school and sometimes it was tough going. Maybe you'd be better off in a small town. Chicago is not the most charitable place in the world, you know."

Nevertheless, he thumbed through the pages of a telephone directory. "Our church has no shelter for women. We have the Cathedral Shelter but that's for men only. I believe your best bet is the Salvation Army."

He reached for the telephone. Having been deposited at the Salvation Army's emergency rescue shelter only the day before by another pastor, the reporter hurriedly exclaimed, "Don't bother to call. I can find it myself."

The pastor insisted on being helpful.

"Are you willing to work?" he asked. She assured him she was but what could she do without experience. He debated gloomily, then said perhaps she could get on somewhere as a waitress. He suggested the Thompson restaurant offices and gave her detailed instructions on how to get there. He also advised her to avoid agencies that charge high fees for finding jobs.

"You won't be much ahead if you have to pay out your first month's salary to someone to find you a job. I'm sure the Salvation Army will give you food and shelter until you find a job. If not, come back and we'll see what else we can do. Good luck and let me know how you make out."

The vestry issued its call to Cuthbert Pratt on June 6, offering him a salary of $7500 a year plus the use of the Astor Street rectory. In his formal letter of acceptance a few days later, he wrote, "It is an honor to have been considered and an even greater honor to have been elected; but it is a spiritual responsibility to feel led — as indeed I do — to accept the election ... I look forward to a future of great service for the cause of Christ and His Kingdom in this Parish." Considerable care was taken in handling the release of the announcement to the newspapers. On June 21, the Tribune carried a story by John Evans announcing the vestry's choice, which commented that Mr. Pratt, at thirty-four, was the youngest man to become rector of the parish since 1909 (when thirty-three-year-old Norman Hutton had been called to St. Chrysostom's). Five days later Dr. Evans described Mr. Pratt's first sermon as rector:

A 34 year old churchman stepped into the pulpit of one of the 20 most influential Episcopal churches in the country yesterday morning to take over as rector. Three bishops were previously rectors of the church. In a communion noted for three doctrinal parties — high, low and broad — he added a new dimension — deep churchmanship."

He is the Rev. Cuthbert Pratt and he became rector of the notable near north side parish of St. Chrysostom's, 1424 N. Dearborn Parkway, which he served as assistant minister under Bishop Dudley Scott Stark for four and one-half years ... Election of an assistant minister to the rectorate of an Episcopal church is unusual.

 

Speaks with Confidence

 

The new rector spoke with youthful confidence and mature humility. He said he would carry on the church's tradition consolidated by Bishop Stark's 18 year rectorate ...

 

Tells Social Service Need

 

The Rev. Mr. Pratt emphasized the "front door" and "back door" responsibilities of the parish, with the front door looking on a changing Gold Coast and the back door opening to social service responsibilities west of Clark st., which have been expanded to reach youth and other persons without regard to race or religion. He said each is a person and never a "case."

"The purpose of the church," the new rector declared, "is to evangelize the world. Whenever the tables are turned and the world proceeds to evangelize the church, then we are in a bad way. Our common concern must be this — that we all may be found worthy to merit the definition of deep churchmanship."

Mr. Pratt was not married at the time of his call, but his long-standing engagement to Ethel Lang of Brooklyn was known to many in the congregation. In late summer, parishioners received invitations to the couple's wedding at Trinity Church, New York City, on September 21, 1950 (St. Matthew's Day); the ceremony was performed by Dudley Stark. After a short wedding trip the Pratts returned to Chicago in early October and were welcomed by the congregation at a Sunday afternoon tea in the Guild Room.

The first days of Cuthbert Pratt's rectorship had been marked by the beginning of fighting in Korea. By November 5 a significant number of parishioners must have been in military service, as the bulletin asked that servicemen's names be supplied to the office so that they could be given a cross and Prayer Book and receive parish mailings. Some years later, a January 23, 1956 Chicago Sun-Times feature story by Dolores McCaskill described the rector's campaign during the Korean war "against 'ghouls' who were writing to bereaved families in the cold-water section, charging debts to slain servicemen or otherwise trying to get money from distressed relatives. His campaign ... started when he asked the church members to tell him of any family, whether the parishioner knew them well or slightly, whom he might comfort in a case of bereavement."

As might have been expected from a rector who had served St. Chrysostom's as assistant for some years, there were few major changes in the parish's activities or service schedule in the winter of 1950/51. The 1950 union Thanksgiving service took place at St. Chrysostom's; former rector Stephen Keeler returned as guest preacher on that occasion. Following Dudley Stark's practice, Cuthbert Pratt continued the observance of Founder's Day on the Sunday nearest to St. Chrysostom's Day (January 27), presenting an annual report to the parish in lieu of a sermon; the title of his first report, "Saint Chrysostom's in a Year of Crisis," almost certainly alluded both to the change in rectors and to Bishop Conkling's attempt to modify the parish's style of worship. (Vestry minutes of November 30, 1950 recorded that "the position of the Parish [concerning intinction] ... had been made perfectly clear to the Bishop, and ... there had been no further formal objections from him.")

Mr. Pratt urged parishioners to observe Lent through additional service, and regularly in his early years included in the Lenten bulletins a full calendar of parish activities with names and telephone numbers of contact persons. Maude Snyder's scrapbook preserves his Lenten meditation from a series appearing in the Daily News food section (the date of which is not recorded):

All who have come to this country and all those who have been born in this land have loved the good earth.

To call it "God's Country" means a great deal -- it DOES belong to Him!

Because this is so true it ought to be one of our main thoughts during Lent.

God's only Son denied Himself the bounty of His Father's world for our sake.

Our best effort to do likewise is small by comparison; but whenever we do deny ourselves for the sake of others we do what He would have us do.

Whatever helps to make real the power of God in the world of Men is important.

Our own sacrifices — when they are real — have His blessing and help to show forth His power.

Community Center activities during the winter of 1950/51 included basketball, volleyball, indoor baseball, singing, art, cooking, sewing and needle arts. A letter probably dating from this period, reproduced in a Community Center fund-raising brochure, indicates that its programs continued to fill a need:

Dear Mr. Kubitz:

For some time my children have been going to St. Chrysostom's Community Center, The Saints, as they call it, and I want to thank you and the Center for providing a place for my children after school hours ... [It] has filled their leisure hours in instruction in cooking, sewing, dancing, and other useful pastimes.

... I am also most thankful for the clothing, shoes and toys you provided ... and the chairs and food we needed so badly after we moved to Chicago for [sic] Kentucky.

Boy Scout, Girl Scout, Cub Scout and Explorer Scout groups contiuned to meet at the church. At a district meeting on April 17, 1951, Norman Dengler received an Eagle Scout award and Frank Faulhaber, Jr. the "God and Country" award, while the parish troops took second prize in the district first aid contest.

Among the year's Business and Professional Women's Guild programs were Helene Boeing's presentation, "Shooting the Rapids of the Colorado River," and a program on "CHAPEAU-ology" by a millinery designer skilled in creating new hats from old on the spur of the moment, a topic which must have been appealing in an era when women in Episcopal churches were expected to wear hats to services. Ethel Pratt recalls a Business and Professional Women's Guild meeting just after her arrival in the city, at which Bertha Baur questioned her closely about her work experience outside the home and did not welcome her to the group until she learned that Mrs. Pratt had worked before her marriage. The Reverend William S. Morris, an English clergyman and fellow student of Cuthbert Pratt's at the University of Chicago, spoke on "Representative Poets and the New Poetry" at the first Service League meeting in October.

The Church School (with an enrollment of 160 in 1950) also saw few major changes during Cuthbert Pratt's early years as rector, though Eleanor East's hymns were gradually dropped from the Christmas and Easter services, probably to no one's regret. Two adult Bible study groups were conducted by parishioners; Robert Ryan led a Sunday evening group, and Sarah Leavitt's class met between the Sunday morning services. A commercial artist, Mrs. Leavitt devoted a substantial amount of her time to reading and study of the Scriptures; as a result, her Biblical knowledge exceeded that of most clergy and nearly all lay persons. (A Service League Bible quiz in April 1956 with a panel of the clergy and Mrs. Leavitt may well have been intended to showcase her abilities.) She enrolled on two occasions in a Bible study program for lay leaders offered by Seabury-Western Seminary, wishing to take advantage of the knowledge of both groups of instructors. Among the persons attending her Sunday class were some of the more difficult parishioners of the period; Sarah Leavitt, a person of strong opinions who could not be said to "suffer fools gladly," expressed herself vigorously when discussing members of the group with others but showed considerable restraint in dealing with them in class. On occasion she also registered well-informed though forceful disagreement with the parish's prevailing practices of worship. Her mother Ethel Murray, an active member of the Women's Guild, for many years headed the apron booth at the parish bazaar.

Mrs. Leavitt's daughter Harriet shared her mother's artistic gifts, winning first prize in 1951 in the senior group of the Bishop's Pence poster competition; however, her principal gifts were musical. Harriet Leavitt Mueller earned a doctor's degree in music, performing her solo recital on the St. Chrysostom's organ in the fall of 1979; she served on the diocesan music commission and was one of the compilers of Cantate Domino, a collection of contemporary hymns issued by the diocese in the early 1980s as a supplement to the 1940 Hymnal.

During Cuthbert Pratt's first year as rector he did not have a full-time assistant. Though clergy affiliated with the University of Chicago divinity school assisted at the 11 a.m. services of Holy Communion on the first Sunday of the month, Mr. Pratt had entire responsibility for the parish's busy schedule of activities; at the end of one year he had performed 265 services of Holy Communion, Morning Prayer and Evening Prayer, preached 110 sermons, celebrated 18 private services of Holy Communion and performed 132 other services, and was almost certainly present at a large majority of the meetings of parish organizations.

This heavy burden understandably caused the vestry some concern. When the issue was raised at the group's meeting on February 16, 1951 Mr. Pratt replied that since his election he "had been using all the avenues available to man" without success because "the amount of money previously offered to an Assistant Minister was no longer sufficient to attract the kind of man we would want." "After individual expressions of opinion as to the limit to which we might go financially," the vestry told the rector to use his judgment as to salary, and at its next meeting in May approved hiring the Reverend William S. Morris, the speaker at the first Service League meeting the previous October, who had assisted at several services during the winter. Mr. Morris remained on the parish staff for only a short time, resigning in November 1951 when he found himself unable both to continue his studies and hold a full-time position; several distinguished guest preachers during the winter of 1951/52 helped to fill the gap. These included Bishop Richard Watson of Utah; the Reverend Bernard Iddings Bell, Episcopal chaplain at the University of Chicago; the Very Reverend Jesse Appel, dean of the Episcopal cathedral in Porto Alegre, Brazil; and Paul Rusch, a layman who served as a missionary in Japan before World War II, worked in United States military intelligence during the war and later returned to Japan to found KEEP, the Kiyosato Educational Experiment Project.

Suggestions from Dudley Stark and other bishops outside the diocese proved fruitless in securing an assistant; the rector interviewed several students at his alma mater Episcopal Theological Seminary only to discover that all were committed to return to their home dioceses after graduation. (The parish seems to have made no attempt to ask for help from the diocese of Chicago, almost certainly fearing that a clergyman recommended by the diocese would attempt to change the parish's churchmanship.) Though these sources proved unsuccessful, the Reverend Donald M. Nickson, a native of Buffalo, New York soon to graduate from General Theological Seminary, was hired in the spring of 1952 and arrived in Chicago in mid-June.

For the first time since John Hauser's departure ten years before, the parish had a priest on the staff with a family of small children; Mr. Nickson and his wife Billie were the parents of three-year-old Nancy and one-and-one-half year old twins Wayne and Malcolm. In 1953 a third son, James, was born to the Nicksons; Service League members Martha Mullen, Walter Ryan and James Krehemker were godparents at his baptism. Nancy Nickson enjoyed church school and her teachers recalled her as an active participant in classes; a charming photograph, "The Voice of Easter," in the April 17, 1954 Daily News showed her standing with folded hands in front of a window in the cloister. The twins were lively and difficult to control; at this period the parish did not have a nursery for children too young to attend church school, and in later years both Ethel Pratt and Henrietta Newton remembered the Sunday when one of the twins, escaping from his mother's watchful eye, was spotted on the roof after he crawled out the window of the Nicksons' third floor apartment!

Donald Nickson, a friendly and unpretentious man, reached out easily to many members of the congregation who did not fit the traditional misconception of St. Chrysostom's as a "society church." Among them was a family living on North Avenue with several small children (some close in age to the Nickson children) who suffered a personal tragedy in July 1954 when their year-old baby daughter drowned in a bathtub. Mr. Nickson learned that the parents were unable to pay the funeral costs; he described the situation in a sermon without naming names, and on his own initiative placed offering plates at the back of the church to receive contributions for the family.

On more than one occasion in the late 1940s and early 1950s, Business and Professional Women's Guild programs had included performances by actress and dramatics teacher Kate Pentzer Stokes when her tours in one-woman shows or with a Shakespeare company brought her to the city. A resident of Washington, D.C., she was director of religious education at St. John's Church there; her students founded Phi Sigma Alpha, a dramatic sorority which gave plays and other performances for charitable causes. After her death in 1952 the sorority held a memorial service at St. Chrysostom's on October 4. The service bulletin included a tribute by sorority member Frances Weege: "Under her guidance the members of the Sorority moved onward and upward, not only in dramatic endeavors, but in spiritual qualities ... [She] had the happy faculty of making us feel glad, for she firmly believed in the Bible quotation, 'A glad heart maketh a cheerful countenance.'" The Business and Professional Women's Guild donated a lectern in her memory for use in the parish house.

Donald Nickson had been ordained to the diaconate in the diocese of Western New York before coming to St. Chrysostom's. As a recent seminary graduate with a wife who did not work outside the home and three small children, he probably found it financially impossible to return to his home diocese for his ordination to the priesthood, and he was ordained at St. Chrysostom's at the 11:00 service on Sunday, December 14, 1952. Though a deacon had been ordained and a bishop consecrated at St. Chrysostom's in 1931, this was the first ordination of a priest at the church.

Bishop Lauriston L. Scaife of Western New York came to Chicago for the service; Archdeacon Samuel Baxter of that diocese was the preacher, Cuthbert Pratt presented Mr. Nickson for ordination, former St. Chrysostom's assistant William Morris read the Epistle, and in one of the few contacts of that period between St. Chrysostom's and its neighbor the Church of the Ascension, Ascension curate Russell Nakata read the Gospel. (An account of the ordination in the present writer's diary comments that the service was "impressive but long" and also describes Bishop Scaife as "impressive.") After the service, the Service League sponsored a reception with coffee and light refreshments to honor the newly ordained priest and the visiting clergy in the Guild Room — perhaps the first occasion in parish history at which a social activity with coffee was scheduled after the 11:00 service.

Parishioners continued to express their concern at the lack of an elevator to the second floor of the parish house. At the vestry meeting of February 19, 1952 senior warden Bruce Borland estimated that an elevator could be installed for between $8500 and $10,000. John Redmond urged caution, noting the difficulty of meeting city permit requirements, but other members of the vestry reacted positively; "Mr. Allen, with his usual enthusiasm, offered to start the ball rolling toward procuring the $10,000 needed." As several members of the Women's Guild were especially interested in the project, it was agreed to ask the Guild to be responsible for a substantial portion of the costs; Bruce Borland promised to obtain further information on the feasibility of the elevator and report back to the vestry. However, the Guild indicated that its reserves were not sufficient to make a contribution of the size required, and Mr. Borland's research probably served to confirm John Redmond's estimation of the difficulties of the plan, since no follow-up report or other discussion of the issue is recorded for some years.

Another physical improvement undoubtedly seemed more urgent to the vestry. As early as 1944, Harold Simonds had indicated that the organ given to the parish by Aurelia Senn in 1897 and extensively renovated in 1922 was giving problems. John Redmond reported in late 1952 that "future piecemeal repairs would be inadequate to prevent eventual breakdowns" and suggested that the organ should be thoroughly rebuilt; Austin Organs of Hartford, Connecticut, provided an estimate of $33,000, which could be reduced to $30,000 by the elimination of "certain unnecessary stops" and which would "have the effect of providing the Church with what could be considered a new organ." John Allen, always eager to lead efforts for fund-raising, commented that it would be easier to raise money for an entirely new organ than for the renovation of the existing instrument, and a committee of the rector, John Redmond, John Allen and LeRoy Kramer was appointed to investigate possibilities.

On February 27, 1953, the committee made its report. Bids for a new Aeolian-Skinner organ at $41,000, for renovation of the existing organ by Austin Organs at $35,310, and for a new organ from the Canadian firm Casavant Brothers at $30,800 were considered. The group voted to accept the Casavant bid after learning that Dr. Simonds considered it "satisfactory"; the time differential as well as the lower cost (the Casavant organ could be installed in nine months as against eighteen months for the other two bids) probably had some influence on the choice. Fundraising began soon afterward, and an electric organ was rented for use until the new instrument would be installed. By October over $37,000 had been raised, and on November 8 Dr. Simonds inaugurated the new organ with a recital following the service, though the formal dedication was postponed until the Founder's Day service the following January.[1]

Harold Simonds was the subject of a Tribune article by reporter William Pilkenton on April 2, 1953 (Maundy Thursday).

CHICAGO CHURCH BELLS TO CHIME; EASTER NEARS

Since the 18th century, with its Bachs and Handels, music has become as much a part of Easter as the lily ... If Bach and Handel contributed much to Easter music, so, too, have many others. For instance, Gillett and Johnston, English bell founders, make one of the world's finest carillons, and the Simonds family of Boston has produced one of America's best carillonneurs.

Mr. Pilkenton gave an account of the donation of the carillon and Dr. Simonds' training under Anton Brees, and described the operations of the instrument:

Simonds, when he is playing, wears a pair of cut-down gloves, covering only the little fingers and outsides of his hands. The keys are struck with the clenched fist.

"One of the more difficult things to accustom oneself to," said Simonds, "is attainment of varying dynamics. As in the piano or organ, of course, this is accomplished by the force with which keys are struck. But the problem arises from the fact that the keys are struck with the fist instead of the more sensitive fingers. Very little music is published for the carillon ... Most carillonneurs do their own arranging. There is a practice clavier here, in another part of the church, where I do mine. It is modeled after the real console, but not connected with the bells."

Harold Simonds' place in the hearts of parishioners is shown by the fact that several copies of this story were preserved and in later years found their way to parish archives.

Dr. Simonds' wife Lucille had died of cancer only a short time after the Pratts' marriage in the fall of 1950. In a tribute published at the time of Dr. Simonds' retirement from McCormick Theological Seminary in 1958, Paul Davies of the seminary recalled her as "a person of intelligence, grace and charm," a description confirmed by present-day parishioners who remember her. On June 29, 1953, in St. Chrysostom's chapel, Harold Simonds was married to choir member Maxine McCormick, coordinator of public health at Presbyterian Hospital, who had been confirmed at St. Chrysostom's the previous year. "A woman of vigorous mind and gay spirit, she ... has already won a place of warmest regard in the Seminary circle," wrote Paul Davies; parishioners of the period attest to this estimation and recall that Dr. Simonds' second marriage, like his first one, was exceptionally happy. In the following year the vestry marked his thirty years of service to the parish, presenting him with a gold watch on November 7, 1954.

The early years of Cuthbert Pratt's rectorship saw some changes in vestry membership. Herman Kretschmer died on September 23, 1951; the vestry's tribute cited his "devotion to the church ... not only within this Parish ... but also in the leadership and assistance which he gave in the establishment of the Bishop Anderson House and the Chicago Medical Center ... His contributions ... in the field of Medicine ... were without peer." Ferrel Bean, an insurance executive, was chosen to replace Dr. Kretschmer the following January.

A departure felt by the entire parish came in the spring of 1952 when Pat and Nancy Warren left the city to live at their second home near Traverse City, Michigan. At a gathering in the rectory on May 15, the vestry made a farewell presentation (the exact nature of which is not recorded) for which Mr. Warren wrote a letter of thanks to Bruce Borland: "Just why I should be ... honored is beyond me to tell as I am sure, beyond all doubt, that the years at St. Chrysostom's have brought me much more spiritually and materially than it would be possible for one person to give. I am humbly thankful to all of you for the beautiful remembrances which came my way." Three days later, the Warrens were honored at a tea followed by a service of Evening Prayer with special music by the vesper choir. After their departure, Harold Simonds took responsibility for the evening as well as the morning choir.

After six years as senior warden Bruce Borland chose to retire from that position in 1953, though remaining on the vestry; Fletcher Durbin succeeded him as senior warden and Stuart Stone was named junior warden. Mr. Stone was active in parish and diocesan affairs; his wife Elizabeth was a member of the Women's Guild, president of the board of the Episcopal diocesan social agency Youth Guidance and a volunteer for the This'n'That thrift shop supporting several Episcopal charities. His tenure as junior warden was short; he resigned in February 1954 after being appointed president of R. Wallace & Sons Manufacturing Company in Wallingford, Connecticut. On April 14, Daily News society writer Athlyn Deshais, in a feature headlined "Mrs. H. Stuart Stone Gives Up High Styles for Gingham Dresses," described the Stones' purchase of an old home three miles from Wallingford, commenting that "the departure of the very urban Stones (who never have lived close to the soil) will mean quite a void in Chicago's social, charitable and civic circles" and quoting Elizabeth Stone's comment, "You'll never see me in slacks!"

A matter of concern to the vestry at this period was the status of the parish's invested funds. Minutes of the 1951 and 1952 meetings contain much discussion of the rate of return on several funds given to the parish over a period of years. William Cox was appointed to head a committee to consider disposition of funds, which on November 30, 1952 recommended the creation of a merged funds account, a proposal approved at the vestry's next meeting. Mr. Cox' work in setting up the fund as well as his long record of service to the parish made him a logical choice to succeed Stuart Stone as junior warden. Members of the congregation recall him with fondness; a long-time parishioner and member of a distinguished Chicago family, he freely showed his appreciation for the work of anyone who was active in the parish and warmly welcomed all, regardless of social status.

Cuthbert Pratt's 1953 Lenten appeal for service within and beyond the parish apparently did not receive as good a response as he wished. Shortly after Easter he preached an eloquent sermon on Isaiah 6:8: "Then said I: Here am I, send me," citing the need for more committed service to the Lord by parishioners. Influenced by this sermon, a few weeks later Service League member Arthur Peacock left the city to become a missionary in Jesse Appel's diocese of Southern Brazil, thus helping to fulfill Bishop Anderson's hope, expressed at the dedication of the parish house thirty years earlier, that St. Chrysostom's would send some of its members to foreign mission fields.

In July 1953 Wallace Conkling resigned as diocesan bishop for reasons of health. Three months later Gerald Francis Burrill, suffragan bishop of Dallas, was chosen as his successor. The election was marked (according to John Evans' story in the October 21 Tribune) by "parliamentary snarls due to efforts of a number of clergymen and laymen to obtain the election of a more middle-of-the-road bishop. Bishop Burrill is known as a 'Catholic' or so-called 'high' churchman." St. Chrysostom's representatives may well have been among those taking part in the "parliamentary snarls," since the events of Bishop Conkling's episcopate had left their mark on the parish, resulting in deep distrust of diocesan leadership. The newly elected bishop, though a high churchman, was considerably more conciliatory to other forms of worship than his predecessor had been. It is unfortunate though perhaps understandable that St. Chrysostom's did not take advantage of the opportunity to improve its relationship with the diocese; the rift would remain until after the departure of Cuthbert Pratt and nearly all the vestry who had served in 1950.

A long-time parishioner was buried from St. Chrysostom's on November 11, 1953. On February 26, Louise DeKoven Bowen had observed her ninety-fourth birthday, and was featured in a column by the Tribune's Ruth Moss which described her work for Hull House and other civic activities and quoted her views on contemporary social work: "More heart than theory would be an improvement indeed." Mrs. Bowen had donated flags of the Allied nations to the parish during World War I, which were used at many major services including the dedication service for the Te Deum Laudamus window, and in the 1920s had made arrangements with her financial administrators for a regular annual contribution to the parish.

Athlyn Deshais of the Daily News wrote on November 12, "The dreary weather matched the somber mood at St. Chrysostom's Wednesday afternoon. At funeral services for Chicago's first lady, Mrs. Joseph Tilton Bowen, a tribute was paid by Chicago's first families and by her friends from all walks of life. It was only two years ago that the beloved dowager ... entertained me at luncheon ... and confided that she still wasn't through with the crusading that had motivated her life since she was 16. An aristocrat to her fingertips and born to walk with kings and queens, she accepted her social responsibility graciously, but never did she let it interfere with her work for the underprivileged. She will go down in history as one of the greatest humanitarians of her age."

When St. Chrysostom's, St. James, Fourth Presbyterian Church and the New England Congregational Church had established the union Thanksgiving service in 1936, it was agreed that the sermon should be preached by a guest preacher rather than a clergyman affiliated with one of the participating parishes. Cuthbert Pratt took considerable pleasure in announcing that the preacher at the 1953 service at St. Chrysostom's would, for the first time, be one of the founders of the service; Dudley Stark had accepted the invitation to return to Chicago to preach on the occasion. A full congregation was in attendance to greet the bishop on his return to Chicago.

In the spring of 1954, vestry member LeRoy Kramer wrote the Easter letter sent to parishioners with the schedule of services and cards of admission for the 11:00 service: "Many centuries have passed since the first Easter. Many, many millions of Christians have carried the Church's banner through the years. We in Saint Chrysostom's Church ... hope that we can gather others into our fold for mutual benefit. Now is a wonderful time for them to join reverently in celebrating Easter in honor of our Saviour Jesus Christ and of His victory over death. We will also welcome your material help in ... aiding our ... activities for the young and the old, the sick and the needy. Much joy would be our portion if we could see what our help brings to others." Mr. Kramer died on April 10, shortly after his letter had been mailed. "Active in many business and civic interests, he put the interests of his Church first," read the vestry's tribute to him, which praised his "concern and devotion" both to St. Chrysostom's and to the Episcopal chapel at his summer home. A week earlier, long-time parishioner and Bible class member Clifford Newton, whose wife Henrietta taught the church school kindergarten class for many years, had died at the age of forty-six; on Palm Sunday, April 11, Mr. Pratt prefaced his sermon with a tribute to both men. His announcement concluded on a happier note: early that morning his wife had given birth to a son, Christopher Bennett Jethro Pratt.

One of the most faithful parishioners during Dudley Stark's and Cuthbert Pratt's years at St. Chrysostom's was Wallace Owen, for many years an acolyte and an active member of the Service League. He and his wife Marjorie were close in age to Cuthbert and Ethel Pratt and the couples were warm personal friends; Cuthbert Pratt was godfather to the Owens' daughter Pamela. Mr. Owen was employed in the Chicago office of British Overseas Airways Corporation, and on several occasions provided British travel films for parish programs. When BOAC began transatlantic air service from Chicago to London in mid-May 1954, he arranged for Cuthbert Pratt to receive a complimentary ticket on the first flight and to convey a letter of greeting from Chicago Episcopalians to the bishop of London (who, in pre-revolutionary days, had jurisdiction over the church in the British colonies). The trip was Mr. Pratt's first visit to the land of his birth since he had moved to America.

The sermon which he preached on his return remains in the present author's mind as a standard by which future sermons would be measured. Taking as his text Matthew 10:29-31, "Are not two sparrows sold for a farthing? and one of them shall not fall on the ground without your Father. But the very hairs of your head are all numbered. Fear ye not therefore, ye are of more value than many sparrows," he combined a description of the events of his ten-day visit with his emotions on his return to the country of his birth, his reunion with surviving family members and his memories of those who had gone on to closer fellowship with the Lord. The English farthing coin (with a sparrow on one side) had recently been eliminated as legal tender; Mr. Pratt brought back a bag of farthings which were distributed to members of the congregation that day, as well as a container of water from the river Thames for use at his son's baptism later in the year.

On May 30, 1954 an announcement titled "A Parish History" appeared in the bulletin. "Four years from now in 1958 Saint Chrysostom's will have been in existence as a parish for 65 years. Thus far such histories as we have are fragmentary in nature. If you have any old programs, newspaper clippings, etc. which might have some historic value or which might help in compiling records please send or bring them to the Parish Office." Though there is no direct indication of the response to this appeal, it is likely that at least some of the scrapbooks and other material in the archives which provide valuable records of the parish's early history were donated to the church as a result.

An important religious conference was scheduled in the Chicago area that summer. The second assembly of the World Council of Churches, which drew religious leaders from many denominations and all parts of the world, was held at Northwestern University in Evanston from August 15-31; tickets for some sessions could be purchased through the parish office. Mr. Pratt, who normally took his two months' vacation in July and August, returned to Evanston to attend the meetings. In later years he recalled eating with Archbishop of Canterbury Geoffrey Fisher and his wife at an Evanston restaurant popular with Northwestern students, and Mrs. Fisher's considerable surprise at the purple and white football-shaped menus.

Many visitors were expected at St. Chrysostom's on Sunday, August 15, the opening day of both the conference and the American Bar Association convention in the city; Bishop Burrill was the guest preacher at the 11 a.m. service, and the bulletin extended "a very cordial welcome" to the bishop and other visitors. "Following the service, a Coffee Hour will be held in the Dining Room of the Parish Hall under the auspices of St. Chrysostom's Service League. It is hoped that many will be able to attend this informal gathering, to greet our bishop ... and to visit with our guests."

This is the first recorded occurrence of a coffee hour at St. Chrysostom's. Although breakfast after the 8:00 service dates back at least to the early years of Norman Hutton's rectorship, and tea was served in conjunction with the evening service on a number of occasions beginning in the early 1920s, the 11:00 service had seldom been followed by any type of social gathering. The following Sunday's bulletin indicates that the innovation was successful: "The table setting was beautifully done and many compliments were received from our guests and our own members as regards this splendid social function."

In the next three years, the Service League and its successor organizations the Theophilus Club and the Workshop scheduled coffee hours on a number of occasions, including Bishop Street's confirmation visitation in April 1955, Arthur Peacock's return from Brazil in September 1956, Founder's Day 1956 (when "an exhibit of pictures, newspaper clippings and other items of interest showing the history of Saint Chrysostom's Church from the time of its founding to the present" was featured), and Good Shepherd Sunday, May 5, 1957 (at which representatives from several diocesan social agencies made presentations). Locations for the coffee hours varied; the gymnasium, the Guild Room and the North Room as well as the dining room were used.

Although for over ten years the Service League had been the parish organization for young adults, the group's membership and interests had begun to change, and the League's formal programs with speakers seemingly no longer met members' needs. A bulletin announcement of January 20, 1957 described a new group: "Now a new opportunity and a new name come before us. A cordial invitation is extended to be present at the opening meeting of the THEOPHILUS CLUB. You might like to begin the evening by attending the Service of Evening Prayer at five o'clock. That is the ideal way in which to begin! We will then ... proceed ... to dinner ... The Theophilus Club (the name Theophilus you will find in the New Testament in St. Luke 1:3 and the Book of the Acts of the Apostles 1:4) seeks within four major areas of interest to be of service to you. Photography, Music-Drama, Bible study and Science."

The choice of music and drama as an area of activity reflected the interests of assistant minister Charles Summers and his wife Lorraine. Mr. Summers, a recent graduate of the Philadelphia Divinity School, joined the parish staff in summer 1955 after Donald Nickson accepted a call to a parish in Norwood, Ohio. Lorraine Summers had a degree in music; she was a choir member, and the couple shared an enthusiasm for Gilbert and Sullivan. The Service League sponsored a highly successful performance of The Pirates of Penzance on February 8, 1956, following in the footsteps of the Vesper Choir performance of Patience sixteen years earlier. Lorraine Summers directed the production, Charles Summers played the Major General, Rollin Hunt the Pirate King, and Juanita Hunt Mabel, while Cuthbert Pratt was among the members of the chorus.

On April 29 a bulletin announcement called attention to "ST. CHRYSOSTOM'S WORKSHOP," formed "to continue the type of activity begun with the production of Gilbert and Sullivan's Pirates of Penzance. This year the group is planning to produce Gilbert and Sullivan's The Mikado." Collaboration and good feeling among members of the group existed in areas beyond its dramatic productions; in June, assistant director Eileen Hilborn married long-time Service League and Workshop member James Krehemker.[2]

The group's activities were not confined to its dramatic presentations. Many of its members were also affiliated with the Service League and, later, the Theophilus Club, and were aware that the occasional coffee hours sponsored by these groups filled a real need in the parish. On November 17, 1957, an announcement by the Workshop appeared in the bulletin: "Coffee hours will be held every Sunday immediately following the 11:00 a.m. service ... in the North Room." "The purpose of these coffee hours," according to the next week's bulletin, "is to promote Christian fellowship within the parish and to welcome new members. All donations are purely voluntary and are used to meet the expenses of the Workshop's current production, Iolanthe." Visitors and parishioners for over thirty-five years have had reason to be grateful to the Workshop for the inauguration of this activity; with only a few exceptions, coffee hours have remained on the parish schedule since that date.

Two parishioners who, though not members of the Workshop, played an important part in the success of the coffee hours were Gerhardt and Hilda Meyne. The present author recalls that in the early 1950s, though ushers welcomed parishioners at the services, many members of the congregation made little attempt to introduce themselves to newcomers or persons sitting nearby; after three years of reasonably regular attendance, she knew the names of scarcely any of those in the congregation. The Meynes were among the first to break away from this unfortunate tradition. On the Sunday of Harold Simonds' first performance on the new organ in 1953, the Meynes expressed their appreciation for Dr. Simonds' work and remarked that after seeing the Ramms in church for some time, it was time to learn their names and become acquainted with them. New members of the parish were warmly welcomed by the Meynes; after the establishment of regular coffee hours, the couple made a point of bringing newcomers to coffee and introducing them to other members of the congregation.

Gerhardt Meyne, then in his seventies, was still active in business as the head of the Gerhardt F. Meyne construction firm. The 1929 biographical volume Chicago and Its Makers described the "aesthetic taste which has characterized him throughout his life," his fondness for music, and his "quiet but unvarying support for certain civic undertakings in attempting to solve the problems the city has been confronted with ... Successful himself, he has been generous with his charitable donations and is a strict believer in and practicer of the doctrine that prohibits the left hand from knowing what the right hand does ... His support may always be relied upon for anything that makes for civic betterment."

The Meynes' "aesthetic taste" and love for music were reflected in their appreciation for Dr. Simonds' work and their regular attendance at musical events in the city. When Hilda Meyne entered a nursing home in the early 1960s, her husband continued to purchase two subscriptions to the symphony and the opera and invited parishioners who might not otherwise be able to attend the programs to use the second ticket. On one such occasion the author accompanied him to the symphony. During the first number, Mr. Meyne's eyes closed and his head drooped but at the end of the piece he opened his eyes hastily: "Very relaxing! I heard every note!" An excerpt from a Wagner opera was greeted with the murmured comment, "I heard this in Brussels when they rode horses on stage to it," accompanied by riding motions. The concert continued with a selection from Tannhδuser. "The parable of the publican: 'Lord, have mercy upon me a sinner'," he remarked, repeating his comment to Bishop Burrill during the intermission and again to the author at the end of the evening. "'Lord, have mercy upon me a sinner,' very apt; I think the bishop thought so too." Hilda Meyne was an active member of the Women's Guild as long as her health permitted. On one occasion she paid tribute to a fellow member who had spent a long day working with her on a project: "And during all that time she didn't swear once!"

Another group whose activities continue to the present day was formed in early 1955. At the January 20 vestry meeting, vestry member S. Graham Nelson presented a proposal for an Ushers' Guild to be headed by parishioner Charles Melby; its officers would also include a clerk and four team captains. The vestry approved the plan, authorizing $3 a week for flowers for the group and $100 for an annual luncheon for its members. Later in the month, Mr. Melby and Matthew McCullough were elected to the vestry to fill the vacancies caused by LeRoy Kramer's death and Stuart Stone's departure from the city. Matthew McCullough, like many persons elected to the vestry in the 1930s, 1940s and 1950s, belonged to the church's older generation (he was seventy-six at the time of his election); however, Charles Melby, in his thirties, was the youngest man to serve on the vestry since William Cox's election in 1939.

Two other long-time vestry members retired in 1955. Charles Freeman resigned on August 22 after eighteen years of service, and Joseph King, whose vestry service dated back to the Hutton years, asked not to be renominated at the 1956 annual meeting. Vestry minutes of January 20, 1956, indicate that the nomination process was not at this time an open one. After the group approved the appointment of a nominating committee, "Mr. Pratt stated that Messrs. William C. Leff and Charles R. Sturges had indicated their willingness to serve on the Vestry," and at the annual meeting ten days later, the two were elected without opposition. Though the manner of their selection might not have been all that could be desired, both would play important parts in the parish. William Leff became junior warden in 1958 and senior warden in 1966; Charles Sturges headed the committee which selected Robert Hall as Cuthbert Pratt's successor, and though no longer resident in the city was consulted in 1966 and 1967 by the vestry committee seeking a successor to Robert Hall.

Cuthbert Pratt instituted a change in the Holy Week service schedule in 1955. For the first time, an evening service of Holy Communion was scheduled on Maundy Thursday at 8 p.m.; the service, though now held at an earlier time, has remained on the schedule until the present day. The 1955 union Thanksgiving service at St. James Cathedral was the last in which that church participated. Earlier that year it had been designated the cathedral of the diocese, and felt obligated to schedule its own Thanksgiving Day service each year; though hosting the service that fall, it would be unable to participate in future services at St. Chrysostom's or Fourth Presbyterian. The year 1955 also saw several improvements to the property: landscaping changes including Fletcher Durbin's gift of three elm trees to be planted along the street, repainting the interior of the church, and modification of exterior lighting.

Among the most active organizations during Cuthbert Pratt's years as rector was the Women's Guild.[3] The group's two major annual projects formed a major part of parish activities in the 1950s. After the end of World War II, the format of "Christmas Windows" was not resumed, the Guild instead returning to the traditional bazaar with handmade goods for sale. Work on bazaar items continued over a large part of the year; though the Guild did not meet formally in the summer, many members regularly gathered on Tuesdays to work, and those not in the city continued handwork projects at their summer homes. Handmade aprons had been sold at parish bazaars even during the days of "Christmas Windows," when many of the sales were made to families with resident maids; now, though there were still a few sales of maids' aprons, the bulk of the apron booth's merchandise consisted of brightly colored aprons used by women cooking for their families. There was some (generally good-humored) rivalry between the practical workers at the apron booth and the gift booth workers who created more glamorous items such as decorated boxes and wastebaskets, sequined headscarves, rhinestone-decorated scuffs, and (in 1957) gold-painted bricks "to hand your husband when he presents you with a mink coat or other trifle at Christmas."

Christmas decorations and ornaments were always popular among bazaargoers. Wreaths decorated with hard candy were for sale on one occasion; small felt animals made by Katherine Schuyler were for several years a favorite purchase, and many probably still adorn Christmas trees today. The children's booth featured toys and knit goods, and one year included surprise balls which, when unwound, revealed a multitude of small gifts. In 1955 patι de foie gras from France was among the featured food items, and baked goods and other homemade foods always sold well; however, a Guild cookbook was less successful, requiring considerable time and cost and not making sufficient profit to compensate for the work involved.

Newspaper accounts of the bazaar often focused on the flower booth headed by long-time parishioner Mary Faust, who was an enthusiastic gardener at her summer home at Glen Lake, Michigan, and grew many of the items sold at the booth. Her lunaria (or "silver dollar plants") were a traditional favorite; everlasting flowers, herbs and spices, and driftwood from the Glen Lake shore were also for sale, and on at least two occasions in the early 1950s small orchids flown in from Hawaii were sold at fifty cents each. Alice Barler decorated boxes for a Christmas box booth, and flea market items were available at a white elephant booth (appropriately chaired in 1955 by Republican committeewoman Bertha Baur). Former parishioner Nancy Warren did not forget St. Chrysostom's after her move to Michigan in 1952; her donations were featured at a special "Michigan Arts and Crafts" booth at that year's bazaar.

The bazaar usually took place over two days, with a sit-down lunch on one day and less formal food service (a snack bar or tea) on the other. The turkey dinner, still the major social event of the parish ("for which," according to bulletins, "our church now enjoys city-wide fame") was scheduled on one evening, and in the early 1950s was followed by entertainment. A Tribune story noted the unusual program at the 1950 bazaar; two young men whom Mrs. Charles Garfield King, in charge of that year's entertainment, had met at a pig auction! (The exact nature of the program is not described; presumably it did not include the auction of a pig.) The following year, films by time-lapse photographer John Nash Ott were featured.

Though the "rector's table" of Norman Hutton's and Stephen Keeler's day was no more, the Tribune of November 14, 1951 recorded that four men including Carroll Harding and Gerhardt Meyne had "donated their talents" to the bazaar's table setting department, and vestry nearly always carved the turkeys at the dinner. High school students not away at boarding school were often recruited as waiters and waitresses for tea or dinner; Athlyn Deshais of the Daily News wrote in 1954, "Perhaps one of the few occasions in sub-debs' growing up years when they're interested in wearing aprons is for the special privilege of serving at St. Chrysostom's women's guild's bazaar tea." An accompanying photograph showed Patricia Brooder and Sybil Schuyler, whose mothers were active in the Guild, sewing Christmas cocktail aprons.

In her feature on the 1956 bazaar, "Starring Christmas," Athlyn Deshais quoted from the year's rhymed invitations, "Sparkling with things for tots to teens, Our gifts would dazzle any queen," but did not identify their creator, Dorothy Sugden Ramm. Mrs. Ramm became actively involved in the Women's Guild when her daughter (the present author) went away to college in 1954; her skill in handwork was immediately recognized by the group, and in 1955 she headed the bazaar's children's booth. After the 1956 bazaar, the bulletin of November 18 extended "a special note of thanks ... to Mrs. Albert Ramm, General Chairman ... for her fine work in this enterprise," and she continued in that position in 1957. The Guild also recognized her abilities in other areas; she was elected recording secretary in spring 1955 and two years later became president, a position which she held through December 1959.

Alice Barler continued to direct the parish rummage sale, held in the late winter or early spring. In her May 13, 1952 Tribune column "Front Views and Profiles," Lucy Key Miller (a parishioner who later married vestry member Charles Sturges) indicated that the elephant doorstop at the following day's sale might be of interest to parishioner Bertha Baur; porch furniture and a Gay 90s striped bathing suit were also for sale that year, while a red plush chair in "early Gen. Grant" style and an electric muscle stimulator were among the noteworthy items at the 1954 sale. More valuable items were sold in the treasure room, which in 1955 featured a blue satin evening dress donated by Elizabeth Stone which she apparently felt would not be suitable to her "gingham dress" lifestyle in Connecticut. "They Were There," a pictorial feature of the Tribune women's section, om March 9, 1957 highlighted the forthcoming sale, with photographs of Alice Barler and Dorothy Sugden Ramm nailing in place a sign announcing the sale, and other members including Gladys Warren Wells, Dorothy Eckhart Williams and Ethel Pratt bringing donations, sorting and pricing the goods. Rummage sale proceeds supported the Community Center; a 1957 appeal for merchandise recorded that the previous year's sale had raised a little over $4000.

The Women's Guild provided support for other work within and outside the church. Their contributions paid for the installation of acoustical tile in the upstairs dining room in 1953 and amplifiers in the gymnasium in 1955, and in May 1955 the Guild informed the vestry that it would pay half of the $12,000 needed for improvements in the kitchen if the vestry would meet the remaining costs. This was authorized; work was completed by October 30, when the Guild hosted a coffee hour to exhibit the completed kitchen. On September 28 the vestry expressed its appreciation to the women, citing in particular the work of "Mrs. Stanley Lawton, chairman of the Planning Committee, Mrs. Carroll R. Harding, chairman of the Housekeeping Committee," and parish secretary Lynn Flemming. At the same meeting the vestry honored retiring parish cook Frieda Hicks.

WHEREAS, Mrs. Frieda Hicks has over a period of more than 30 years rendered service of great value to various organizations and activities conducted by or under the auspices of Saint Chrysostom's Church:

 

NOW, THEREFORE, BE IT RESOLVED, that the Rector, Wardens and Vestrymen ... do hereby record their sincere appreciation of the love and devotion which Mrs. Hicks has shown in her service to the Church.

Helga Harding, honored for her work in planning the new kitchen, was one of several vestry wives who played active parts in the Women's Guild in the 1950s; she headed several bazaar committees during the period, and was the group's vice-president in 1955 and 1956. An even more active Guild member was Dick Bean (always known by her nickname rather than her given name of Irene), whose husband Ferrel served on the vestry from 1952 to 1961. Mrs. Bean was Guild president from 1955 to 1957, and not only took part in many activities but recognized and fostered the gifts of other parishioners; she encouraged Dorothy Sugden Ramm to become involved in diocesan women's activities, and supported parishioner Elizabeth Main as she pursued her vocation for the permanent diaconate in the early 1960s. Helen Cox, wife of junior warden William Cox, was a regular worker at bazaars and rummage sales and in 1956 co-hosted a spring luncheon for Guild members; the present author owns a pair of Christmas candles decorated by Mrs. Cox in the late 1950s which remain attractive nearly forty years later.

Part of the income of the Women's Guild was used for an annual donation to the Altar Guild. This group had begun to grow in numbers during Dudley Stark's later years as rector; during Cuthbert Pratt's tenure, membership continued to rise, totaling forty by 1958. At this time Altar Guild members did a larger amount of sewing than is the case today; during the 1950s chalice veils, surplices and a new altar cloth were made by parishioners. Scheduling practices appear to have been informal; not until 1954 do minutes record the institution of a formal schedule. During Cuthbert Pratt's tenure as rector, several pieces of the needlepoint now in use in the church were completed. Kneelers for the clergy in the chancel, made by Grace Scott and Dorothy Borland according to a design from the architecture of Exeter Cathedral, were dedicated in the fall of 1953, while the cushions at the main altar rail were completed in 1957.[4]

The 1956 Democratic Party convention was held in Chicago in mid-August. Though official activity had not yet begun on Sunday, August 12, many politicians and delegates had arrived in the city and at least some attended church. The present author's diary describes two visitors at St. Chrysostom's. As the Ramms arrived for the 11:00 service, a pastel convertible (a color favored in the 1950s) labeled with signs "Be Happy, Vote Happy," with "police escort and photogs. all round," pulled up and Governor Albert (Happy) Chandler of Kentucky and his wife entered the church. (Persons acquainted with the governor recalled him as a sincere and active Episcopalian whose attendance at the service would not have been politically motivated.) The author judged that Mrs. Chandler "wasn't very pleased by the convertible I guess — she looked unhappy," perhaps because the ride in an open car had disarranged her hat and hairstyle, an important consideration when women did not come to church bareheaded. An inexperienced usher seated the Chandlers in Republican stalwart Bertha Baur's pew; fortunately, Mrs. Baur was en route to the Republican convention in San Francisco and probably never knew who had occupied the pew in her absence. As Cuthbert Pratt was on vacation, the sermon was preached by Charles Summers, who took as his topic "Humility." (The governor, a dark horse candidate, may have found the sermon helpful later in the week, when he received only thirty-six and a half votes in the balloting.) The Chandlers had chosen St. Chrysostom's rather than St. James Cathedral because the cathedral did not have music at the 11:00 service that day, so we may hope they shared the author's appreciation for the "lovely" offertory anthem, Bach's "Come, Dearest Lord." As no coffee hour was scheduled, the governor and his wife were unable to meet members of the congregation, but photographers were again in action as the couple shook hands with Charles Summers on leaving the church.

Stephen Keeler's career as bishop of Minnesota was highly distinguished. In addition to his work in the diocese, he had responsibility for American Episcopalians in Europe and made regular semiannual visitations to overseas congregations. On one such visit, in May 1955, he became seriously ill with heart strain and was hospitalized for two months in Rome before returning to the United States. Though after his illness he made plans to retire in 1959, his health improved enough for him to resume his duties; St. Chrysostom's vestry sent its good wishes in June 1956 on the occasion of the twenty-fifth anniversary of his consecration. Three months later, on his fall visit to Europe, Bishop Keeler died at U.S. Army headquarters in Frankfurt on September 25. The New York Times recorded that he had reunited the dioceses of Minnesota and Duluth, moved the cathedral from Faribault to Minneapolis, and hosted the World Anglican Congress in Minneapolis in 1954; at a memorial service on September 30 in St. Paul's American Episcopal Church in Rome, Canon Charles Shreve said that the bishop "laid down his life in the service of our Lord in as true a sense as an early Christian martyr." St. Chrysostom's scheduled a memorial service for its former rector on the feast of St. Michael and All Angels, September 29.

The "baby boom" years of the 1950s saw a nationwide growth in Church School enrollment and a greater emphasis on Christian education in the Episcopal Church, with the development of the Seabury Series curriculum calling for more active parental involvement in children's religious education. St. Chrysostom's as an urban parish did not share in the growth in enrollment (Church School membership seems to have been slightly over 100 during the middle and late 1950s), but planned to adopt the new lessons in the fall of 1956. A meeting to introduce the curriculum was scheduled that spring; however, according to a letter from the rector dated June 11, only three teachers and no parents were present and it was necessary to postpone the meeting until fall. Canon Charles Leech, diocesan director of religious education, met with parents and teachers on the evening of November 29, while mothers unable to attend the meeting were encouraged to be present at a tea on the afternoon of November 21. Changes in the lessons were accompanied by an expanded "Church School family service" at 9:15 instead of 9:30 a.m., with Holy Communion celebrated on one Sunday each month. Frequent mailings were sent to parents, and regular parent-teacher meetings were held, though relatively few parents seem to have been present at the sessions.

Church school attendance awards continued. Children honored in the middle and late 1950s included the Wilkinsons' son John, who received his ninth year award in 1957; Jan and Rollin Hunt's daughter Susan, who later achieved considerable fame as printmaker Susan Hunt-Wulkowicz; Carol Larsen, who supplied the author with valuable material on parish history from her mother Dorothy Larsen's and grandmother Maude Snyder's collections; and Cynthia Caples, elected to the vestry in 1983. Church school choir members were recognized as well, and in 1956 the bulletin cited ten-year-old Travis Aiken, who had won second prize for her age group in the Bishop's Pence annual poster contest.

In 1957, for the first time in many years, pageants were scheduled at the children's Easter and Christmas services. The Easter pageant, "The Cross of Light," had a cast including Carol Larsen and Susan Hunt as readers and John Wilkinson, Jr. in the part of Peter. "All the Children of the World," the Christmas production, was even more elaborate. The kindergarten and first grade sang carols in German and Spanish, while older children dramatized the Christmas customs of Czechoslovakia, Mexico, Denmark, Greece and Italy and recited all or part of the Lord's Prayer in Czech and in Japanese; the service concluded with the singing of "Joy to the World" by all present.

Mr. Pratt began to issue a four-page publication, Parish News and Notes, to the congregation in the fall of 1956. It normally consisted of brief notes, often highlighting bulletin information which might have been missed by persons absent from church on a given Sunday. The new publication and the bulletins highlighted a number of activities. Plans were made to revive a Brotherhood of St. Andrew chapter for men and boys of the parish; retired Army general F.C. Lee visited St. Chrysostom's in October to discuss the work of the Brotherhood, and the chapter held an organizational meeting in December. St. Chrysostom's hosted the union Thanksgiving service, at which the Reverend H. Ralph Higgins of St. Mark's Church, Evanston, was the preacher. The Business and Professional Women's Guild programs included a speech by Mrs. Ralph Obenschain of Famous Features Syndicates, "Confessions of an Amateur Recipe Clipper." For the first time since the early 1930s, college and preparatory school students at home for the holidays were honored; a reception for them was scheduled following the evening service on December 30. However, attendance was small, probably because the number of parishioners in this age group was considerably smaller than it had been in the 1920s and 1930s, and it was not repeated the following year.

A number of Lenten programs were scheduled in 1957. The rector, Bishop Burrill and other clergy gave addresses on missions to the Women's Guild, while Business and Professional Women's Guild activities included an illustrated talk on the Middle East by a McCormick Theological Seminary professor and book reviews by the parish clergy, and the Theophilus Club's programs focused on Lenten themes. There was a full Lenten worship schedule as well. Five Ash Wednesday services were scheduled (Holy Communion at 7:30 a.m., 10 a.m. and 12 noon, Evening Prayer at 5:45, and the Litany with a sermon by the rector at 8 p.m.); services of Holy Communion on Mondays at 10 a.m. and Fridays at 7:30 a.m., and Evening Prayer on Thursdays at 5:45 p.m., were added to the regular midweek Holy Communion services on Tuesdays at 10 a.m. and 12 noon and Wednesdays at 7:30 a.m.

The publication of Parish News and Notes undoubtedly reflected the growing desire for more information on parish activities and administration. Though many active organizations flourished in the parish from the 1930s through the early 1950s, the rector, wardens and vestry made nearly all the major parish administrative decisions, and little discontent with this state of affairs is recorded. Cuthbert Pratt made an attempt to increase attendance at the 1951 annual meeting by moving its location to the Guild Room; this does not seem to have been successful, as the meeting returned to the rector's study for the next four years. By 1956 the situation had begun to change. Although that year's annual meeting was scheduled in the study, more persons were present than could comfortably be seated there and the session was moved to the North Room. Minutes record a number of comments by members of the congregation; Mrs. Reuben Gaines, the mother of a school-age daughter, "rose to speak on the matter of getting such information as had been brought to the attention of the Meeting before the members of the Parish — especially the mothers of younger children who neither heard nor read of such matters at any time in the course of the year," while Margaret Hirst of the Business and Professional Women's Guild expressed "concern that the Parish Meeting might be held at a later time in the evening when more members of the congregation would find it possible to be in attendance." Fletcher Durbin and Cuthbert Pratt responded to Miss Hirst's comment, apparently stating that the time change was not feasible; however, the issue was again raised at the 1957 meeting.

Because of his parish responsibilities, Cuthbert Pratt had been unable to continue his doctoral studies at the University of Chicago; however, during 1957 he received not one but two honorary doctorates. In the spring Seabury-Western Seminary awarded him a Doctor of Divinity degree, while on November 9 Hobart College named him a Doctor of Sacred Theology. The congregation rejoiced that its rector had received well-deserved recognition for his accomplishments; at a time when relatively few lay people addressed clergy by their first names, and when at St. Chrysostom's the use of the title "Father" was considered a sign of extreme high churchmanship, there was also probably some relief in being able to use "Dr." rather than "Mr." in addressing the rector of the parish.

When he came to St. Chrysostom's in mid-1955, Charles Summers had agreed to stay for three years; on December 4, 1957, the vestry authorized Dr. Pratt to invite a Virginia Theological Seminary student to be interviewed as Mr. Summers' replacement. At the same meeting senior warden Fletcher Durbin "serv[ed] notice of his intention to withdraw from membership in the Vestry at the close of the meeting next before the annual Parish Meeting," and Dr. Pratt "reported that a small delegation from the Parish called upon him in his office recently to discuss the forthcoming annual parish meeting, making certain suggestions pertinent thereto."

The suggestions probably related both to the scheduling of the meeting at a time when more parishioners were able to attend and to the desirability of greater openness in the nominating process, leading to the election of men from a wider spectrum of the parish membership; two non-vestry members, Altar Guild head Ydoine Cornelison and Gerhardt Meyne, served on that year's nominating committee chaired by Carroll Harding.[5] For the first time in many years (possibly the first time in parish history) there was the possibility of a contested vestry election, and parishioners from this era recall an atmosphere of tension as the annual meeting approached.

The vestry honored retiring senior warden Fletcher Durbin at its January 28, 1958 meeting. Carroll Harding paid tribute to him:

The Master welcomes as his followers all sorts and conditions of men and he needs powerful leaders to keep his church going. Fletcher Durbin is one of the great ones, having been a leader in this parish for 37 years, a leader at the diocesan level, a leader in religious education, a leader in the business community in Chicago, and a leader in many charitable projects.

Following a description of the 1950 meeting at which Mr. Durbin had registered his strong opposition to Bishop Conkling's actions against the parish's practice of intinction and its choice of Cuthbert Pratt as rector, "a good example of the kind of protection for our parish that the successors to Mr. Durbin might well follow," Mr. Harding presented the retiring warden with a silver tray signed by the rector, wardens and vestry, and the nominating committee's report was presented: William Cox was named senior warden, William Leff junior warden, and the vestry vacancy would be filled by contractor (and nominating committee member) Gerhardt Meyne, who had been recommended by a number of parishioners and who seemed an appropriate choice at a time when considerable work was needed on the church's physical plant.

The meeting concluded with a development which seems to have come as a surprise. Cuthbert Pratt presented a letter announcing his intention of accepting a call as rector of the Church of the Holy Trinity, New York. Though indicating that he was willing to be guided by the vestry's "advice and counsel," he stated that he "felt led of God to respond in the affirmative ... for personal reasons," chiefly the fact that he wanted to be nearer to his own and his wife's family in the east. He agreed to remain at St. Chrysostom's until after Easter, setting April 20 (two weeks after Easter) as his resignation date. The news was not announced at the annual meeting two days later, when despite some opposition the nominating committee's slate was elected; the formal announcement of Dr. Pratt's resignation on the following Sunday came as a shock to many parishioners. Cuthbert Pratt was the first (and, thus far, the only) rector to resign from St. Chrysostom's after accepting a call from another parish.

Though his family ties in the east were certainly the major reason for Cuthbert Pratt's decision to accept the call, the events of the period preceding the annual meeting may have had some effect; Dr. Pratt's long and emotional final sermon, and occasional comments in vestry minutes after his departure, indicate that the parting may not have been altogether smooth. Two farewell messages by the rector reflect his continuing love for his parishioners and the mixed feelings with which he left the city. His letter to the vestry dated April 2 stated, "This is a difficult letter to direct, inasmuch as you all occupy a very deep place in my interest and affection, and I am thoroughly convinced that we have worked effectively together for the cause of Christ and for the wellbeing of this parish ... I do hope it will be possible for me to render further service to the Parish and to individual members ... from time to time." On April 19 Dr. Pratt wrote "To the Members and Friends of Saint Chrysostom's Church."

 

As the time comes to bid you all farewell I wish it were possible for Mrs. Pratt and for myself to come personally to your homes and both commend you to God's loving care and also to thank you for your many kindnesses to us over the years which are past. Because this is not possible we take this opportunity of saying Goodbye. Saint Chrysostom's and her people will always loom large in our hearts.

... My own Rectorate is to begin at the Church of the Holy Trinity, 316 East 88th Street, New York City--28--New York on Monday, April 21st. A personal concern for service to both them and to you has once again ruled out the possibility of a holiday in between one work and the next. Remember us at the Lord's Altar wherever you may be as we in turn shall ever remember you ...

In New York City as here in Chicago our door and our hearts are ever open to you--come and see us as and when you can. May the Blessing and Peace of God be ever yours.

Thirty-three years later, in July 1991, Christopher Pratt (a priest in the Anglican Church of Canada) preached from his father's pulpit, commenting that his father had become part of the history of its parish and of many of its members. Many stories testify to Cuthbert Pratt's warm pastoral relationships with his congregation. In conversation with the author, Betty Redmond recalled the Easter Sunday when her mother suffered a stroke early in the morning; though he had three services scheduled later in the day, Cuthbert Pratt met the Redmonds at the hospital.  Henrietta Newton stated that she and her husband thought of Cuthbert Pratt as "a member of the family," and recollected his special kindness at the time of her husband's death. Dr. Pratt's eight years as rector of St. Chrysostom's coincided with the present author's years in high school and college; he was always ready to write references for college, summer employment and graduate school applications, showed unfeigned interest in her choice of studies and career, and sent warm congratulations from his new parish in New York at the time of her college graduation.

Persons not conforming to the inaccurate image of the church as a "society congregation" were often on exceptionally close terms with him. Bertha Mandelkow for the rest of her life looked back with particular fondness on his ministry at St. Chrysostom's. Henri Naumann, a long-time choir member, was also a close personal friend. He had come to the United States and to St. Chrysostom's after leaving his native Germany, where during the Hitler years he had been imprisoned in a concentration camp. Convalescing after a major operation, he was unable to clean his apartment himself and could not afford to hire a housekeeper, and Dr. Pratt came to the apartment himself to do the job.[6] Cuthbert Pratt's sermon of June 10, 1956 on the text, "For who hath despised the day of small things?" (Zech. 4:10 KJV), in which he cited "small things" which could have an impact far beyond their size — small congregations at midweek services, the small items made by the Women's Guild for bazaars which raised considerable sums of money for projects within and beyond the parish — may serve as an apt description of his own ministry, which included many such acts.

The citation accompanying Dr. Pratt's Hobart degree was read into the vestry minutes by Carroll Harding, who described it as "in all respects accurate," a comment which many who remember Cuthbert Pratt would confirm.[7]

The Christian ministry makes two demands upon its members — that they live both in time and in eternity. That they cling to things unchangeable while they preach and teach and minister in terms understood by the generation to which God has sent them.

Such a man was John of the Golden Mouth. He knew the things which appertained to eternity and applied them to the temporal. Commissioned in heaven, he contrived for heavenly purposes in cities made with hands.

It is meet that we should honor one who, serving in Chrysostom's parish, follows his patronal forebear. Brother Cuthbert, you, too, have found the heavenly your source, but the earthy your ministry. You preach the eternal Word with success, you shelter God's poor. You seek out the sick, and give leadership to the young. Your priesthood is informed and well-formed, and well do you serve your calling.

As Charles Summers had already left the parish to become rector of St. Andrew's Church, Plainfield, New Jersey, it was necessary to appoint a locum tenens from outside the parish during the interim period; weekday services, the 9:15 a.m. family service and the Sunday evening service were discontinued during the interim. The Reverend Kendig Brubaker Cully, a professor at Seabury-Western Seminary, was named interim rector until the end of June. For the next six weeks, the Reverend George F. Packard of St. Mary's Church, Baltimore (who was attending a summer course at Northwestern University) served as interim rector and continued the healing process, while diocesan clergy officiated at the remaining Sunday services until the new rector's arrival.

During these months two long-time vestry members resigned from their positions. Bruce Borland wrote a letter of resignation to Bill Cox on August 13: "Last Spring I should have done what I am doing now, namely sending in my resignation from the Vestry ... At present I have gotten so deaf ... I have a hard time hearing what is said in the vestry meetings, and as for hearing the services, I am lost. You know that a younger man could do good work for the church and that is what I would like my successor to do as I am very interested in the future of St. Chrysostom's Church."

Carroll and Helga Harding left Chicago for Easton, Maryland, in May after his retirement from the Pullman Company. "It is a great honor to serve on the Vestry at Saint Chrysostom's Church ... not to be taken lightly," he wrote in his letter of resignation later that year. "The time has come when my place should be filled. In giving up this position, I have the feeling that it was one of the greatest blessings that ever came my way." One of Mr. Harding's final acts on the vestry had been his active part in the renovation of the North Room to make it more suitable as a site for the coffee hour. There were at that time no kitchen facilities on the first floor of the parish house, and coffee had to be brought down from the kitchen on the second floor; the only chairs in the room were long rows of uncomfortable wooden folding chairs whose veneer had cracked over the years, making them hazardous to women's stockings. Carroll Harding donated to the parish chairs and sofas no longer in use in the Pullman headquarters office, and a kitchenette was installed at the south end of the room, west of the door leading into the gymnasium.[8] The Women's Guild suggested that the name of the room be changed to the Harding Room to honor the Hardings' work in its renovation and their many other contributions to the parish. The vestry gladly agreed, and on May 3 (the Hardings' last Sunday in Chicago) a dedication ceremony and reception was held to honor the couple and a plaque was installed identifying the room by its new name.

The vestry worked rapidly to select a new rector. A search committee chaired by Charles Sturges, with the wardens and Carroll Harding as members, was appointed immediately after Cuthbert Pratt's resignation; a short time later Ferrel Bean was added to the committee. According to the committee's April 1 report to the vestry, fifty-six names were submitted by "friends of the parish" and by six bishops; fifteen were personally interviewed and five recommended to the vestry. On Cuthbert Pratt's last Sunday at St. Chrysostom's, the Reverend Robert Bruce Hall of Trinity Church, Huntington, West Virginia, was in Chicago to meet the vestry; on May 20 the vestry issued a call to Mr. Hall, which he accepted one week later. The new rector planned to arrive in Chicago about September 1.

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