Year of Grace

Thrice a day these prayers I say,

Thrice a day my pence I pay.

Those lines appeared on penny banks distributed among Chicago Episcopalians during the year past. Devised by Bishop George Craig Stewart, the "Bishop's Pence" campaign was supposed to induce people to say grace at meals, give 1-c- to the Church as a thank offering after each one. It was calculated that, if each of Chicago's 37,069 Episcopalians did so, the offering would revolutionize diocesan finances, yield more than $400,000 a year.

Last Sunday ended the first year of Bishop's Pence. Out of the banks, it was estimated, 2,700,000 pennies had jingled, as token of 2,700,000 prayers of grace in Chicago homes. Half the $27,000 had been returned to parishes, for such uses as a new roof over St. Martin's and a debt liquidated for St. Bartholomew's.

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