High vs. Low

Had the traditional Man from Mars dropped last week into Philadelphia and then bounced over to Boston, and subsequently returned to Mars, there would have been one question to which he could have made no sane answer to inquisitive friends and relatives: " What is the Protestant Episcopal Church in the U.S.?" In Philadelphia, passing through Locust Street, he would have seen a pageant of dressed-up priests--a crucifix, bearing a shining cross of gold, torchbearers in red cassocks and cottas, priests in serried ranks followed by monks of the Order of the Holy Cross and the Cowley Fathers. To Mass-- High Mass-- they went, 700 strong, Had the Martian proceeded to the Witherspoon Auditorium, he would have heard them sing a song, Hail, Mary. Then he would have heard theological utterances; which, apparently to the satisfaction of all present, gave the coupe de grace to certain people variously styled as heretics and modernists. And he would have heard applauded a speech by one Father Joseph G. H. Barry, advocating reunion with an institution known as the Roman Catholic Church. " This, " said the Reverend Father, " is what it appears to me we can accept as a basis of negotiation: 1) A primacy of St. Peter and of the Bishops of Rome, jure divino (by divine law). 2) A jurisdiction differing in extent at different times, but in all cases allocated to the Bishop of Rome jure ecclesiastico (by church law). 3) An infallibility which is the expression of the mind of the Church through the Pope as its organ of statement and which is authenticated by its recognition by the whole Church." The Martian would have heard that six Bishops had associated themselves with the gathering, to wit: Weller of Fond du Lac, Webb of Milwaukee, Griswold of Chicago, Johnson of Colorado, the British Bishop of Honduras, " most gorgeous of all, " and Ethelbert Talbot, senior Bishop of the entire Church. Finally, he would have heard Dr. George Stewart, of Evanston, III, declare: " It is our duty to make it unmistakable that we are Catholic and not Protestant." (Cheers. Clapping.) Just as the Martian was deciding that the Protestant Episcopal Church was not Protestant, he was bounced to Boston. He would have found in session, The Church Congress, the proceedings of which were, by comparison, tame. Bishop Lawrence celebrated Holy Communion. Incense was not perceptible. Dr. Kirsopp Lake, of Harvard, said: "Bible and Church have frequently been wrong and their complete consent will prove in the end to have less power than truth and facts, for these alone are valid, authentic and infallible." No one threw bricks at him. Miracles, divorce, industry, eugenics, creeds, were all quite thoroughly discussed. All present were Protestants, protesting as they chose against whatever untruth or unrighteousness "is, and of a right ought to be, pro-tested."

The Martian, recording his adventure, might conclude: "And this indeed was a marvelous institution, for I could discover no manner of doctrine which it did not contain and exhibit."