DEATH IN THE SNOW—A Colorado minister and his two daughters were swept to their death by a snowslide this month. The Rev. Marvin Hudson, a Congregational minister and teacher at the Silverton, Colorado, high school, had stopped his car along Red Mountain Pass to fasten tire chains. A snow plow stood nearby, its driver watching helplessly, as the avalanche struck. Hudson and his daughters were en route to Sunday morning church services.
PROTESTANT PANORAMA—The second in a series of theological talks between Lutheran and Reformed representatives was described as “constructive and promising.” Closed-door conversations in Chicago served to clarify issues “revealing significant areas of agreement and also pointing up differences in position regarding which further study will be required,” according to a statement released by participants.
A steering committee embracing Episcopalians, Presbyterians, Methodists, and members of the United Church of Christ is laying the groundwork for a new church-related, four-year liberal arts college on the Hawaiian island of Oahu. Planners of the $6,000,000 school hope to see classes meeting by 1965.
Arrival of the first Protestant missionary on the island of Tahiti 100 years ago was commemorated with a series of celebrations. It was in February, 1863, that Pastor Thomas Arbousset of the Paris Mission landed at Papeete at the request of the legislative assembly of Tahiti made to Emperor Napoleon III. Today about 70 per cent of the population of French Polynesia are said to be Protestants.
Congregations of the Lutheran Church—Missouri Synod have ratified a constitutional amendment providing for biennial, instead of triennial, General Conventions.
Disciples Board of Higher Education will probe “new standards and procedures” for distributing church funds among its universities, colleges, and seminaries.
MISCELLANY—Mrs. Sara Bartholomae, who recently won a 4.5-million-dollar divorce settlement, says she will build a one-million-dollar Mercury Space Capsule Chapel in tribute to Astronaut John Glenn, Jr. The shrine would overlook Brea Canyon, 30 miles east of Los Angeles.
President Kennedy became the 31st U. S. Chief Executive to visit St. John’s Episcopal Church, thus preserving its tradition as the “Church of the Presidents” which dates back to 1816 when it was built. Kennedy’s visit this month came on the Sunday on which the church’s new rector, the Rev. John C. Harper, was installed. He signed a historic prayer book used in the President’s pew but did not stay for the service.
Roman Catholic bishops in West Germany strongly criticized a German play that portrays the late Pope Pius XII as having failed to denounce Nazi crimes against Jews. They said that the drama entitled Der Stellvertreter (The Vicar of Christ), written by Rolf Hochhuth, 31-year-old Protestant, misrepresented the work of Pius XII and debased his memory.
British and Foreign Bible Society won Spanish governmental approval to resume operations in Spain. Activities had been suspended since 1956. A government announcement said Enrique Cardinal Ply y Deniel, primate of Spain, had notified the Spanish Foreign Ministry that the Spanish metropolitans had given their approval for the society to operate again.
Awards “in recognition of total design including special design features” were presented to four churches during this month’s National Conference on Church Architecture in Seattle. Winners are Newport United Presbyterian Church, Bellevue, Washington; St. Patrick’s Catholic Church, Oklahoma City, Oklahoma; Greek Orthodox Church, Belmont, California; and Broadmore Community Church, Colorado Springs, Colorado.
A fire in downtown Macon, Georgia, swept through the abandoned campus of historic Old Wesleyan College. Buildings had been readied for demolition following sale of the property to the federal government for a post office. The new school is now located about five miles away.
U. S. Supreme Court rejected appeal of Navajo members of the Native American Church to use the drug peyote in religious ceremonies.
Internal Revenue Service revoked the tax-exempt status of Fellowship of Reconciliation, religious pacifist organization. The ruling declared that “the pursuit of peace, disarmament, and reconciliation of nations is not religious activity, but political.”
A bill authorizing civil marriage was approved by the Maryland state legislature after being considered “dead” in committee. Until now, Maryland has been the only state in the union to bar civil ceremonies.
Trustees of Davidson (North Carolina) College are weighing a proposal to abolish a statement of faith required of full professors. In a secret ballot, two-thirds of the Presbyterian school’s faculty voted opposition to the required oath.
A hospitality center for American servicemen, sponsored by the National Christian Council of Japan, was formally opened last month in Yokosuka, home port of major units of the U. S. Seventh Fleet.
PERSONALIA—Dave Hyatt, director of public information of National Conference of Christians and Jews, begins three-year leave of absence to join U. S. Information Agency overseas as cultural affairs officer.
Dr. Carl J. Bihl elected president of Youth for Christ International, succeeding Dr. Ted C. Engstrom, who will retire April 1.
The Rev. Carl R. Key named executive director of the Louisville Area Council of Churches. Key has been executive secretary of the West Virginia Council of Churches since 1958.
The Rev. John W. Sanderson named dean of the faculty at Covenant College, St. Louis.
Dr. Caradine R. Hooton, retiring general secretary of the Methodist Board of Christian Social Concerns, named national director of the National Temperance League.
Dr. C. H. Dickinson, general manager of Ryerson Press (United Church of Canada publishing house), elected president of the Protestant Church-Owned Publishers’ Association.
Dr. William Toth, professor of history at Franklin and Marshall College, named executive director of Foundation for Reformation Research.
The Rev. Halleck N. Mohler named pastor of the American Protestant Church in Brussels.
Pastor Klaus Wilm named director of the “Token of Repentance Action” of the Evangelical Church in Germany. The group seeks to work abroad as an expression of contrition for suffering caused by Nazis.
WORTH QUOTING—“Protestants should abandon religious exercises in the public schools which combine the Lord’s Prayer with readings from the Protestant King James version of the Bible, and Roman Catholics should drop their drive for tax funds for parochial schools. Both programs are unconstitutional.”—Paul Blanshard.
“It is perfectly true that the First Amendment forbade Congress to pass any law ‘respecting an establishment of religion or prohibiting the free exercise thereof.’ These are great provisions, of great sweep and basic importance. But to say that they require that all trace of religion be kept out of any sort of public activity is sheer invention.”—Dean Erwin M. Griswold of Harvard Law School.
Deaths
DR. SPRIGHT DOWELL, 84, president emeritus of Mercer University (Southern Baptist) and former president of Alabama Polytechnic Institute (now Auburn University); in Macon, Georgia.
DR. WILLIAM AXLING, 89, retired American Baptist missionary to Japan and one of the founders of the Japan National Christian Council.
DR. SHERWOOD EDDY, 92, retired leader of the Young Men’s Christian Association; in Jacksonville, Illinois.
THOMAS H. WEST, 74, prominent Methodist layman and ecumenical leader; in Winnetka, Illinois.
