New Bishop for Long Island

"You had better use this rector of yours while you can. You will not be able to keep him. He is one of the ablest young men in our church, and the whole church needs him more than this on parish."

This 1938 prophecy came true last week when the "able young man," so little known that he is not listed in Who's Who in America, was called to head the fourth largest Episcopal diocese as Bishop of Long Island. His name is James Pernette De Wolfe. He is eloquent and diplomatic, and he is still only 46. Presiding Bishop Tucker is 67, and the bishops of New York, Pennsylvania and Massachusetts, the only three Episcopal dioceses larger than Long Island, are 75, 80 and 51 respectively--so young Dr. De Wolfe is likely to play an increasingly important role in church affairs.

The man who in 1938 prophesied great expectations for Dr. De Wolfe was Dr. Frederic Sydney Fleming, rector of Manhattan's fabulously wealthy Trinity Church. He knew that between 1922 and 1934 the younger man had built up the congregation of St. Andrew's Church in Kansas City from 90 to 1,100 members, that since 1934 his Christ Church, Houston, had had just about the most meteoric rise in all the South. In 1940 Dr. Fleming asked Dr. De Wolfe to preach at Trinity's Lenten services. Bishop William T. Manning of New York came to hear him, promptly invited him to become dean of Manhattan's vast, unfinished Cathedral of St. John the Divine. Since he came to New York the fame of this successful, friendly Midwesterner has quickly spread.

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