by Mike Roberts, Church Historian
Last month we looked at an order of service from 1947. Included in the orders of service from this period were “Parish Notes.” These often covered topics that we hear in our own Candles of Community. However, they also reflect the week-to-week issues that were presented to a post-war Universalist congregation.
1/26/47: Pastor Martin Neimoeller, famous German resistance leader will speak Friday evening in Music Hall. This meeting is being sponsored by the Council of Churches of Greater Cincinnati. No admittance charge but an offering will go to overseas relief.
2/9/47: The Sunday after Easter, Universalist ministers in Ohio will cooperate in a general exchange of pulpits. Mr. Thorburn will preach in Columbus and the Reverend Harriett E. Druley of Springfield will occupy our pulpit.
3/9/47: At long last the big furnace has refused to work. It is possible to use the chapel for our services since it has an auxiliary heater. To repair the furnace will cost several hundred dollars. (Ed. A special fundraising drive was held.)
4/20/47: It is a long way from Cincinnati to Richmond, New Hampshire. Back from the road in an almost abandoned cemetery is a large granite marker. Upon that marker is the name Ballou. It is the family lot of Hosea Ballou. On that same lot is a head stone with the name Garfield. How many know that the sister of Hosea Ballou (a famous early Universalist leader) was the mother of James A. Garfield, a president of the United States?
5/11/47: PTA’s, churches and civic organizations will meet with Mr. Munz of the Juvenile Delinquency Department to consider the serious condition that exists in Walnut Hills. Conditions in the immediate neighborhood of the church are growing worse. The intention of this meeting is to organize neighborhood councils to deal with this vexing problem. Aside from the Basin Area, Walnut Hills is number one on the list in juvenile delinquency.
9/21/47: The reply of Mr. Charles P. Taft to the inquiry of Dr. Robert Cummins relative to the matter of membership in the Federal Council of Churches of Christ in America, was indeed weak and showed a desire to dodge the issue. Mr. Taft merely stated “If we let the Universalists in we let the Lutherans out.” Be thankful fellow Universalists that our philosophy of religion is bigger than creed or system. Truthfully we affirm our belief in “The supreme worth of every religion.”
11/4/47: We express appreciation to those who have asked for labels to ship clothing to the homeless and parentless children in displaced children’s camps in Europe. Keep the clothing going to Europe through the Universalist Service Commission. There will be a carton in the Narthex next Sunday for the convenience of those who have only one or two articles.
1/4/48: Mr. Thorburn will be on WCKY next Sunday morning at 8 o’clock. This is the religious hour of the station which has a Jewish and Catholic as well as Protestant section.
1/25/48: Members of the Clara Barton Guild are busily engaged in making towels for the Clara Barton Diabetic Camp in North Oxford, Massachusetts.
2/15/48: (Ed. This passage was posted in the order of service with no comment.) “Every Protestant who deliberately abstains from attendance or support of the church of his choice is voting for the dominance of either Atheism or Roman Catholicism in the United States of America. And if you want to know what that means, look to Russia on one hand or to Spain on the other. Then think of the “Faith of our Fathers” and what that gave the world.”- Reverend Walter H. MacPherson
4/11/48: May 23 will be Anniversary Day being the nearest to May 25th when our church was incorporated in 1827. Incidentally, 1948 is the 50th anniversary of the building of our present edifice.
6/20/48: We express our sincere sympathy to Mrs. Powel Crosley and Mr. Powel Crosley, Jr. in their hour of sorrow in the death of their grandson and son, Powel Crosley, III. Private services were held in Spring Grove chapel.
6/27/48: From the State Convention in Columbus– A resolution supporting the organic merger of the Universalist and Unitarian denominations was unanimously passed.
11/7/48: I’ve paid my dues to the D.A.R., Colonial Dames and the Eastern Star, The P.T.A. and the V.D.C., American Legion Auxiliary, College alumni, that check’s been made, Country Club statement is due and paid. verything’s settled–a clean wiped slate, my church pledge will just have to wait.
11/14/48: Your attention is called to the Palestinian exhibit at the art museum. It is being sponsored in the interest of the Children of Palestine Movement. It is a Christian effort, we understand, started by Unitarians and Universalists in Boston in the interest of displaced Jewish children from Europe. The movement is soliciting funds for food and medical care to help these children get a new start in life in Palestine.
May we be blessed by whatever we do.