The Story Goes On
THE STORIES OF THE EPISCOPAL CHURCH WOMEN
OF THE DIOCESE OF NORTH CAROLINA
IN THE WORDS OF THOSE WHO LIVED THEM.
We will tell the stories not because we live for the past but because the past informs the present,
and we must be present before we begin, with God’s help, to claim our future.
The story fragments below were collected and published during the five-year lead-up
to the 200th anniversary of the Diocese of North Carolina in 2017.
Property for the cemetery was purchased by the St. Luke’s Mission Helpers – a women’s organization in the church – on Wilson Street in 1892, making the cemetery nearly 102 years old.
(Source: The Tarboro Telegram, November 6, 1994, News clipping, Parish Files, Diocesan Archives)
The ladies of this Congregation (to whose sex the Church everywhere owes so much) have, during the year, formed a Working Society, whose works have been good, and we hope will be remembered in the day of the Lord.
(Source: The Rev. J. A. Backhouse, Parochial Report, Emmanuel Church, Warrenton, 1841 Journal of Convention, p. 10)
On the evening of January 29th, the Woman’s Guild [Good Shepherd, Cooleemee] gave a silver tea for the benefit of the clinic, and the interest which the community has is this work was manifested in the large attendance and generous contributions. The Erwin Concert Band furnished music for the occasion, and addresses were made by Mr. J. W. Zachary, manager of the mill, and Mr. T. C. Pegram, superintendent. In addition to the words of appreciation the folks attending contributed eighty-five dollars to the clinic. This very practical expression of interest and sympathy has enabled us to purchase a set of standard scales and other very needed supplies. The school children and others, are being weighed, charted, etc. and a determined effort is being made to build up all those underweight. During the early part of February the dentist sent out by the State Board of Health visited Cooleemee, and for the week assigned here we offered him the use of our clinic rooms in which to work. One hundred and ninety children from the lower grades were examined and in the majority of cases work done. His allotment of time here did not enable him to get out of the fourth grade, and we are now making an effort to get a return date, sponsored by the clinic, and to continue this most important work. Our last year’s report showed that 989 people visited the clinic, with 2, 227 first aid treatments, and the nurse made 981 visits into the homes of the people. May we remind our good friends of the Woman’s Auxiliary throughout the Diocese, that we are just waiting for some funds to go ahead with the many opportunities and pressing needs before us.
(Source: The Carolina Churchman, March 1931, p. 7)
On the 8th of July, 1885, this Parish began the work of extending and remodeling the church building. It is now finished and paid for. A tower has been erected and 12 feet added to the length of the church; also a gallery with capacity for seating fifty persons. The interior now presents an exceedingly pleasant and attractive appearance. The roof is open, ceiled with pine, oiled. The new chancel organ room is divided by Gothic arches; the walls are a pleasant drab tint; the lighting is by four double lancet windows on each side of the nave, filled with figured and colored glass. The chancel and front lights are each a triplet of lancet windows, filled with stained glass. The nave is further ornamented by two choice memorial windows. The work of this year has been full of sacrifice and perseverance. The moneys given for this work have been carefully and judiciously expended. I do not know where to go to find more satisfactory results for such a sum as the cost. The Ladies’ Aid Society has been largely instrumental in accomplishing this noble work.
(Source: The Rev. Gilbert Higgs, Parochial Report, Church of the Saviour, Jackson, 1886 Journal of Convention, p. 72)
On the second Sunday in December I held service in the afternoon in Cherry’s Hall, eight miles from town, and I have since then held service at the same place on the fourth Sunday of each month. The people living in the neighborhood of the Hall are intelligent and prosperous, and they seem to feel great interest in this effort to give them the services of the Church. On the second Sunday in January a Sunday-school was opened by a lady member of the Church with eight or nine pupils, and it now numbers about twenty, four of whom are children of the Church. Much, if not most, of the interest manifested in this little mission is due to the earnest, self-sacrificing spirit of the lady above mentioned, and if her efforts continue to be blest in the future as they have been heretofore, it may not be long before we shall be worshiping in a chapel of our own.
(Source: The Rev. W. J. Smith, Assisting Rector, Calvary Church, Tarboro, Mission Report, 1882 Journal of Convention, p. 172)
The sick and suffering poor of the parish and community have been systematically visited by ladies of the “Relief Society” and – as the above report shows they have collected and disbursed among the needy, during the past year $351.35, besides the Communion Alms ($235.38) which the Rector has used for the same purpose.
(Source: The Rev. M. M. Marshall, Parochial Report, Christ Church, Raleigh, 1883 Journal of Convention, pp. 116-17)
The value of enlightened female influence in promoting the welfare of the Church, is deeply felt and duly appreciated by the Rector of this Parish.
(Source: The Rev. Jarvis B. Buxton, St. John’s Church, Fayetteville, 1835 Journal of Convention, p. 11)
Last year I issued a call for a broader vision as we faced changes in the church – I heeded my own advice: I hope you have too! Because today we stand on the threshold of a new church – Post-Minneapolis. It is one we may not be comfortable with just yet, but there is an aura of excitement and expectancy as we begin to break out of our narrow confines and look to the future. This is not to say the change is without pain, heartache, or anguish – for these are very real and are present in the church. But traditionally churchwomen have been the innovators as well as the reconcilers, and we are called now to exercise both of these roles. I urge you to keep an open mind as you study and use the new proposed prayer book. It seems prudent and wise to use it before judging it… . Also in Minneapolis, the church changed a two thousand year old tradition by opening the priesthood and episcopacy to women. We know there is still a threat of division in the church as a result of this action. There is also great frustration on the part of many of the ordained women who are encountering dwindling support from the very bishops and clergy who voted to open the priesthood to them. They are a long way from the “Promised Land”, they are, in fact, in the wilderness. It is hoped that Episcopal Churchwomen will search for ways to be supportive of all women as they exercise their ministries, both lay and ordained.
(Source: Scott Tyree Evans (Mrs. J. Haywood), President’s Address, 1977 Diocese of NC’s ECW Annual Meeting, immediately following the Episcopal Church’s General Convention/ECW Triennial in Minneapolis, MN)
No minister in this Church in America can afford to neglect or discourage the Woman’s Auxiliary. No parish is in greater danger of losing its missionary spirit than the parish with a weak Auxiliary, and if a congregation loses its missionary spirit it has lost its life. Every parish branch combines in a wonderful way the conservatism and the aggressiveness of women. Let a parish get involved in local debt or excited over some great parochical enterprise and the chances are nine out of ten men will want to cut down on missionary gifts and, sad to say, in a majority of cases the congregation will be delinquent in its gifts to missions.
(Source: Editorial in “The Carolina Churchman,” the monthly newspaper of the Diocese of North Carolina, Vol. 3, No. 6, April, 1912)
[Note: The ministry once known as the Woman’s Auxiliary is now known as Episcopal Church Women.]
… But to estimate the helpfulness of the Auxiliary only on the basis of (financial asset) would be an error. We believe that if the missionary interest, the missionary prayers, the missionary information, the missionary inspiration and all expressions of missionary spirit in the American Church in this day could be taken into account along with finances at least ninety percent would have to be attributed to the Woman’s Auxiliary. The Woman’s Auxiliary has been the leaven of missionary life in our generation. It is the salt that that has preserved the missionary spirit for the Church.
(Source: Editorial in “The Carolina Churchman,” the monthly newspaper of the Diocese of North Carolina, Vol. 3, No. 6, April, 1912)
[Note: The ministry once known as the Woman’s Auxiliary is now known as Episcopal Church Women.]
