Episcopal churchmen tell of how Rt. Rev. Henry Wise Hobson, Bishop of
Southern Ohio, lately made a visitation in one of his parishes. Getting
out of his automobile he carefully locked its doors. “Don't bother to
lock your car, Bishop,” said the senior warden. “We're all honest
around here.” Sharply retorted Bishop Hobson: “Oh, no, you're not!
You've been using your missionary money to pay your coal bill.”The Episcopal Church operates on a pay-as-you-go budget, each diocese
and each parish contributing its share. The parish budget contains an
item for missions, and the parish is expected to send this allotment to
headquarters. But currently many a rector, like the one in Southern
Ohio, is holding out on missionary money. Last week, in a report
announcing a deficit of $1.200,000 for this year and last, National
Episcopal Treasurer Lewis Battelle Franklin revealed that only 4 out
of every dollar given the church had been used for missions. Mildly he
noted that “pressure of parochial and diocesan needs has caused a
widespread retention of a far larger part of the total money given than
is justified. . . .”Well aware of these practices, Episcopal churchmen have mostly
maintained a discreet silence. One who spoke out bitterly last week was
33-year-old Rev. C. Leslie Glenn of famed old Christ Church,
Cambridge, son-in-law of wealthy Harper Sibley, who sits on the potent
Episcopal National Council. Cried Rector Glenn:”This is the shame of the church! This is stealing, misappropriation of
funds—embezzlement in banking circles. The hand that is nearest the
till gets most of the money. If I had been a banker sitting in church
listening to the favorite subject of some parsons these past two years,
'Dishonesty with Trust Funds,' I should have stood up and shouted,
'Shut up, you pilferer, there is a seminary classmate of yours out in
China with his work crippled because the money you collected in this
congregation to go to him was used by you and your vestry to repair the
chimney or to pay your salary.'”The layman doesn't realize that most of his money is being held this
way. He gives to a budget and supposes that if reductions are necessary
they will be made proportionately on all items, not on missions alone.
… In some cases the bishops have failed to send their share. What
isn't held back by the priest is kept by the bishop. The deep shame of
keeping the money lies in the fact that there is no one to protest, to
the hurt of men and women who trust us out in the far corners of the
world.”
