THE HISTORY OF ST. JOHN’S EPISCOPAL CHURCH
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expansion program by a bond made on 19 March 1886 between Marion Isabel Smith and the parish for $96,000 at five percent interest per annum, to be paid in five years. The same loan was extended in 1891 for another five years, this time owing to Marion Isabel Sheldon, who had re-wed. It was again extended to the year 1909, at which time a mortgage was made by the East River Savings Bank in the amount of $30,000, presumably to satisfy the obligation to Marion Isabel Smith, the same lady, by that time in her third marriage. It is this same $30,000 debt that worried the parishioners so much, and which had to be paid off before Saint John’s Church at Brooklyn could be consecrated, which it was finally twenty-two years later.
In 1887 the Reverend George F. Breed became the eighth rector and pastor and served until 1903. During these sixteen years Park Slope was extensively built up by the wealthy classes and became known as the Gold Coast of Brooklyn. Doctor Breed initiated a periodical entitled The Parish, published monthly by Saint John’s Guild, a parish-council type group of leaders from all the guilds and organizations. It was printed by the Orphans’ Press, operated by boys from a nearby home, who were often praised for their skill and accuracy.
These magazines were bound in hard cover each year. One copy, published in 1900, was found in the rectory and gives us a glimpse into the spiritual tone and the functioning of the parish and the hard-working people who labored for their church, as indeed they still do to this day. There were, for example, eighteen teachers and 356 children in the Sunday School, with a nursery staff to care for infants during the principal Mass of the day. Various articles illustrate the strong Prayer Book background of the parish and diocese. For example, an article by The Right Reverend Abram N. Littlejohn. the first Bishop of Long Island, is entitled "Catholic Dogma: Its Nature and Obligations." Easter Day is referred to as "a day of Holy Obligation, when the Church requires every communicant to receive the Blessed Sacrament." And that meant, as indeed it does in canon law today, that every confirmed person must receive Holy Communion during Eastertide in order to remain an active communicant of the parish and in the Anglican Communion.
Also during this time Saint John’s became noted for its music, especially for its boys’ choir. It was composed of both men and boys and numbered thirty-one persons, including twenty sopranos, three altos, four tenors, and four bassos. The choir belonged to the Choir Guild of the diocese. Elaborate musical services were given at the "mother church," Saint Ann’s on the Heights, once or twice a year. Saint John’s choir entertained twice a year on Sunday afternoons at Saint Giles Home for Crippled Children and at Saint John’s Home for the Aged until 1960.
There were also references to "Orphan House," operated by the Church Charity Foundation, which also published a magazine, The Parish. In 1900, it provided shelter for thirty children ranging in age from fourteen to eighteen years. They were duty-bound to attend church here each Sunday and sat in the South transept. Rather naturally, these benches were known as orphans’ pews. We also learn that there was an urgent need for a parish building, as there were only two rooms available for the work of the parish. This project had been in the planning stages for some ten years. The Sunday School then numbered 349 children with fifteen teachers. Add this to the thirty-one choir members, an Altar Guild, and clergy help, and you will realize at once the need for more than two rooms for work space. The organ itself required a team of men and/or boys to pump the bellows, and that too had to be done in the unfinished basement area. But that dream of another building for a parish hall or parish house never materialized, and perhaps with today’s cost of maintenance and repair of property, it has been a blessing in disguise.
When City Park, near the Brooklyn Navy Yard, was constructed it contained a cemetery. Bodies were removed to The Evergreens and, to compensate the churches, which had some claim to the ground, plots in the new cemetery were assigned to each denomination. The Deeds of Acception or Rejection of them were not clearly defined. In Doctor Breed’s time, however, the Honorable Edwin M. Grant was clerk of the vestry and also by chance city comptroller. He secured a ruling which gave the Episcopal space in the Evergreen Cemetery equally to Saint John’s and Saint Ann’s as the two original Episcopal churches in Brooklyn. Some graves were given away, others were sold. The proceeds from these sales became known as "the
cemetery fund" in this parish, and still, today, there are some graves there available for burial rights.
Some parishes have bylaws in addition to, but never in violation of, diocesan and national canons or laws governing the Episcopal Church. One such set of bylaws was adopted by the parish for the vestry of Saint John’s Church and became effective on 16 March 1897. No pre-existing parish laws have turned up, nor is there any indication why it was deemed important in that year or period. Reading them though, it might be reasonable to suppose that they came about simply in the interest of good business. By canon law and age-old tradition each parish has two elected wardens and a given number of vestry-men. By custom, and not by law in this country, they are referred to variously as Senior and Junior, Priest’s Warden and Parish Warden, or Rector’s Warden and People’s Warden. In this parish they are called Warden without designation as such labels seem to have no real meaning in this country. Articles Six and Seven of the bylaws are worthy of note because they dictate policy so different from parish administration and practice in this generation:
Article Six: For opening the church for any special service, the charge will be ten dollars for a day service, and fifteen dollars for an evening service, which shall be paid to the Treasurer. This charge may be remitted at the discretion of the Rector. Article Seven, Section One: All pew rents shall be enclosed in a printed envelope addressed to the Treasurer which accompanies the bill, and deposited in a box at the Church door provided for that purpose or handed, or sent, to the Treasurer.
Article Seven, Section Two: If the rent of any pew or sitting shall remain unpaid for six months the said pew shall be deemed as vacant.
Article Seven, Section Three: All pews unoccupied at beginning of Service are at the disposal of ushers for use of visitors.
The New Century, World War I and the
Depression
From 1903 to 1911 the Reverend Frank D. Page served as the ninth rector. He and Mrs. Page were both from the South, and entertained with truly-Virginian hospitality. They were also the first to raise children in the rectory. During this time, several new organizations were formed in the parish. Doctor Page was very concerned about the church debt and succeeded in reducing it greatly as well as making plans for canceling it entirely. Various repairs to the fabric and property were necessary from time to time and somehow the money was always found. For example: it became necessary to replace the old-fashioned, pot-holed tar sidewalk, but the vestry did not have the means to meet the cost of about $1,500. In this instance, an anonymous donor not only came to the rescue, but supplied enough additional funds to install a beautiful new ceiling in the church.
Although the designation of assistant priest, supply priest, or assistant rector is now common parlance, the title curate applies to an ordained priest who assists in the "cure" or "care" of the parish. There were many assisting clergy from the very beginning, but the first to be named curate of Saint John’s, which necessitates, of course, provision for housing and stipend was the Reverend William Alonzo Swan, who accepted curacy under Doctor Page in 1900. It must have been a happy and unselfish pastoral arrangement, for Father Swan performed nearly all the baptisms between that year and 1907.
The spirit of the nation itself, at this time, was one of courage and national advancement. It was characterized by the rough-riding President Theodore Roosevelt, who is remembered as the man with the "big stick." At the same time, the rest of the world was finalizing petty wars and engaging