Bishop's Dilemma

The Rt. Rev. Thomas James Garland, Bishop of the Episcopal diocese of Philadelphia, is a shrewd, hard worker, not without a sense of humor. Born in Ireland, he has lived in Pennsylvania more than a quarter-century. His long toil in the vineyard has thinned and dried him. His diocese is wealthy.

Last week Bishop Garland had this statement to make: "They all seem to be afraid of hard work. It rather amuses me. I have borne the burden of the work here for the past six years. I am 62 and they are all younger men than I. The diocese has not lost standing. I am still Pennsylvanian enough to say if they have refused, let them refuse.'''

The bishop was talking about four men to whom he had unsuccessfully offered the position of Bishop Coadjutor.

The Rev. Dr. Henry Knox Sherrill, rector of Trinity Church, Boston, was Bishop Garland's first choice. A graduate of Yale, aged only 38, Dr. Sherrill is popular, attractive. During the War he was an A. E. F. chaplain. Offered the Philadelphia position last May, Dr. Sherrill graciously explained that he preferred to stay in Boston.

Second was the Bishop of Spokane, the Rt. Rev. Edward Makin Cross, tall, slender and grey-eyed. Last week he was 49. Bishop Cross sent his regrets to Philadelphia because--he preferred to remain in Spokane.

Third was Dr. Russell Bowie, rector of Grace Church, Manhattan. Smooth-faced, brown-eyed, athletic, this churchman, too, seemed to prefer the diocese in which he found himself, and declined.

Fourth and last was Dean William Scarlett of Christ Church Cathedral, St. Louis. He, having considered the offered post for more than a month, followed what seemed to have become a precedent. His regrets to Bishop Garland were published last fortnight.

It was perhaps no wonder that Bishop Garland was vexed by such persistent bad luck, but it seemed hardly fair to charge the four decliners with fear of hard work. Each is industrious in a busy diocese. A bishop coadjutor helps a bishop and succeeds to his position after his death, retirement or removal from office. Herein he differs from a bishop suffragan who also helps a bishop but does not necessarily succeed him. The yearly salary of the Philadelphia bishop coadjutor is $10,000, plus $2,500 for maintenance of a house.

Inevitable was the parallel between Bishop Garland and Bishop William Thomas Manning of New York. Both are bishops of wealthy Eastern dioceses. Both have had troubles, recently, in managing their churches. The Manning troubles centered about the resignation of Dean Howard Chandler Robbins (TIME, Jan. 14). Many Robbins-supporters believe that the Dean resigned because Bishop Manning, with whose high-church views Dean Robbins did not entirely hold, was "autocratic." Bishop Garland in Philadelphia is not "high church." But last week, many a Philadelphian, pondering the parallel, wondered if it was not a fear of "autocracy" that was keeping potential young coadjutors away from Philadelphia.