Moratorium

Last week Rev. Dr. Frederic Sydney Fleming, in his annual report as rector of Manhattan's rich old Trinity Parish, bluntly declared: "There is no part of the Church of Christ that has not failed lamentably in its witness and ministry in these recent years--the impotence of the Church is the worst failure." Remedy offered by this lean, ascetic-looking churchman: "I seriously believe the Christian Church would once again bring salvation to the world, and begin to save its own soul, if it had the wisdom and courage to declare a moratorium on preaching for a period of one or two years. . . .

"For the most part sermons today are a very poor edition of 'topical' homiletics, a brand of religious pep-talks, sailing forth for a transitory popularity under the guise of being inspirational. Truly the miracle of the Church is the patience of the laity.

"May we pray to be delivered from any more preaching campaigns calculated to arouse a benumbed and harassed people who have been preached to death. Bishops' crusades, united preaching missions, citywide drives . . . these are samples of the inflictions that advertise their own delinquency."

The Federal Council of Churches is planning a "Preaching Mission" of famed names to tour the U. S. next autumn.

This file is automatically generated by a robot program, so reader's discretion is required.