Cathedral & Church

"As a strong believer in adequate preparedness, it is my conviction that the real strength of the nation rests on the religious sentiment of the citizens. The capital of the nation is the strategic point at which to make a demonstration of our common Christianity."

These, spoken in Washington, last week, were the words of famed General John Joseph Pershing as he prepared to act as host at a dinner for the members of the national and executive committees of Washington Cathedral.* At the dinner, it was announced that $800,000 had been given for work on the choir and the crossing of the new edifice. General Pershing, as chairman of the national committee, assumed formal leadership of the campaign to raise $6,800,000 immediately and $30,000,000 ultimately with which to make the cathedral a "U. S. Westminster Abbey." He spoke further:

"To try to build a worthy nation without faith in God is impossible. I welcome you tonight, therefore, not only as friends, but as co-workers in an enterprise which seems to me of vital importance to the future of our country--the hastening of the day when it can no longer be said that in Washington, the capital of the United States, there is no adequate expression of the religious faith of the people."

Having so spoken, General John Joseph Pershing entrained for Manhattan; at Manhattan embarked for Europe, for, as he has said, "My chief interests are the building of monuments in France to the memory of the service of American soldiers in the War, and assisting to build this great cathedral to the glory of Him to Whom we owe all our greatness. Many cathedrals unfortunately, have been destroyed in wars, and I, for one, should like to have a hand in building a cathedral."

Contemporaneous with General Pershing's utterances was the announcement of plans for another National Church in Washington, this one not to be a U. S. Westminster Abbey or even a cathedral. Instead, it will be the largest U. S. cruciform church; it will be called the National Presbyterian Church. The Rev. Charles Wood, D.D., president of its incorporators, revealed that a site had already been chosen, that the church would be 290 feet long and 150 feet wide, that its steeple or tower would rise 222 feet above the ground.

*Two of the guests were Andrew William Mellon, Secretary of the U. S. Treasury, treasurer of the national committee for the Cathedral, and onetime (1922-27) U. S. Senator George Wharton Pepper, highly active executive chairman of the national committee.