Newspaper clipping: 'Church' (continued) — Bishop Allin and Bishop Allison on the future of the Episcopal Church

A jump column pasted at the left of the album page. At the very top of the clipping, the tail end of an unrelated wire-photo caption survives:

…Leahy during flight operations in Asian waters as the cruiser heads toward the Indian Ocean. (AP LaserPhoto)

CHURCH

Continued From Second Front

good future with the arrival of Dr. Allison."

Dr. Allison, who comes to the diocese after five years at Grace Church in New York City, said, “I’ve had a somewhat unusual life. I spent 19 years as a theological professor and five years as a New York City parish priest. I am happy here and I look to the future with optimism.”

He added, "The Christian faith is unique. Human nature does not change, and man needs to hear the word and believe today as much as in the past. The church must return as the word of God and not as an echo of the world. The ‘name-brand’ liberal denominations are taking the world’s way and adopting a sort of Studebaker Corp. method of trying to give the people what they want and not what one Christianity must do.

Queried about the injection of religion into the present presidential campaign, Bishop Allin said, “I don’t see that it has been injected. It was not brought in as an extraneous matter. The separation of church and state is correct but that doesn’t suggest that people, including candidates, cannot be the full persons that they are. Religion should be in the middle of all American life because Americans are basically a religious people. All facets of religion should be allowed an opportunity to grow.”

Asked about a recent announcement that the Roman Catholic Church will consider admission of Anglican priests, including those who have been married, Bishop Allin said that this is not a new situation and concerns individuals who already have approached the Roman Church.

He added, “The chief thing that has happened is the person-to-person thing that is going on all over. There is no threat to the Episcopal Church. This does not bear on us.”

Regarding evangelism and its apparent growth Bishop Allin said, “Christian churches by nature are evangelistic. When they are not so, they are missing their true mission. We live in a Babel age. The church must be recognized as a community of people, of human beings attempting to conform to the word of God. There must be faith in God and obedience.”

Bishop Allin commented on press reports of recent and continuing movements within the Christian faith and urged that the press use “precise language” in reporting religious happenings.

“In the liberal spirit, sometimes labels can be libels,” he said.

Asked to comment on the Episcopal Church’s 1979 decision not to permit the ordination of homosexuals to the priesthood, Bishop Allin said that ordination should not be based on groups but on individuals. In that, he was reiterating a statement made at the 1979 convention, “Any decision should be made on individual cases rather than categories.”

Asked to comment on a splinter group calling itself the Anglican Church in North America, Bishop Allin said, “I find it difficult to keep up with the situation but the basic philosophy of the Episcopal Church is to keep its doors open at all times to all mankind.”

The ordination services will include a procession of more than 30 Episcopal bishops, groups of choirs and other clergy. The event will be open to the public and parking at the auditorium will be free. Because of the anticipated crowd, visitors should come early.

A small inset fragment of a separate Associated Press story below the church column, partly cut on every side. What survives is consistent with a story about a Florida town’s sign ordinance being applied to a church’s rooftop sign, putting the church in the same regulatory category as a McDonald’s restaurant and outraging local clergy:

Outraged / Ordinance

…Fla. (AP) — A …that puts church[es in] the [sa]me category as the [a] McDonald’s res[taurant has en]raged clergymen in…

…passed in Novem[ber, the rooftop signs and says they are] the same as the [First Baptist?] …ol. Both must come [into compliance by some date] of 1982.

Lower right of the page (an advertisement block from the same newspaper sheet, retained because it was on the reverse of the cut):

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8 OZ. Btl. — 75¢ (partly cropped)