Harlem's St. Philip's

Membership in the Protestant Episcopal Church is up 4% over last year to 2,643,488, reported the official Living Church Annual last week. Added the Annual, matter-of-factly: the biggest of the denomination's 7,851 congregations is now St. Philip's, in Manhattan's Harlem.*

St. Philip's is a large, solid-looking brick church which stands, jammed close between neighboring houses, on the edge of a slum neighborhood. All but a handful of its 3,707 members are Negroes, about 60% of British West Indies (and thus Anglican) stock. There is nothing dramatic about St. Philip's rise to first place; its growth has been solid and steady under the rectorship of the Rev. Shelton Hale Bishop.

Acolyte & Rector. Shelton Bishop's father became rector of St. Philip's in 1886, two years before Shelton was born, and as a boy he always wanted to follow in his father's steps. "I've never wanted to be anything but a priest," he says. "I've known that ever since I've known anything. At seven I began as an acolyte, a server at the altar, and I've been there ever since." After Columbia College and General Theological Seminary, he served churches in Chicago and Pittsburgh, then went back to St. Philip's as his father's curate in 1923. He became rector when his father retired 18 years ago.

Tall, 62-year-old Father Bishop is a "moderate churchman" and a pacifist ("I've never tried to force it on the parish --I don't believe we ever had a conscientious objector"). He is also a member of the potent standing committee of the New York Diocese, probably the first Negro to serve on a diocesan standing committee in U.S. Episcopal history. But the most important thing about Father Bishop and St. Philip's is what they do for the people of Harlem.

Minds & Spirits. With the help of three assistant priests and several secretaries, Father Bishop supervises 22 church organizations. On a typical night, about 250 people will come to St. Philip's parish house for one activity or another--choir rehearsals, meetings of the church credit union (which lends money at low interest to parishioners), basketball (the church has seven teams this year), dancing, or just plain getting together.

One of St. Philip's best-known projects is the Lafargue Clinic (TIME, Dec. 1, 1947), where Manhattan Psychiatrist Fredric Wertham and a staff of 25 give psychiatric help, at 25-c- a session, to anyone, black or white. The clinic began in 1946 as a collaboration between Father Bishop, Psychiatrist Wertham and Negro Author Richard (Native Son) Wright. Nowadays, an average of 60 people a week come to the clinic for help.

For all Father Bishop's organizations and activities, he never forgets his responsibilities to individuals, keeps his door open to those looking for spiritual aid. Last week there was only one thing that fussed him a bit: the attention which he and St. Philip's were getting, overnight, because of the facts & figures in the Living Church Annual. "It's nothing to make any special point of," said Father Bishop.

*Biggest a year ago, and second biggest now: St. Bartholomew's, on Manhattan's Park Ave.

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