In Darkest California

The Episcopal Church is the richest per capita in the U.S.--but the wealth is all east of the Alleghenies. West of Nebraska (and excluding the Pacific Coast), the Episcopalian U.S. is mostly a missionary area. Episcopalians, who may know these facts but are not altogether aware of them, had their ears seized and shouted in this week, when the Rev. J. Lindsay Patton of Berkeley, Calif, not only declined his election as Bishop of San Joaquin but said the bishopric ought to be abolished.

"Before this district raises funds for the support of an episcopal establishment," he said, "it should pay a living wage to the clergy already giving their lives to its service." Rector Patton thought that the best thing to do was to absorb San Joaquin once more into the other Episcopal dioceses in California.

The San Joaquin see embraces almost a third of the enormous State of California, has a population of 770,344. But it has only 2,836 Episcopal communicants, and its eleven vicars average only $28.50 (top: $33.65) a week--"when they can get it." There is small chance of their ever getting better parishes, because no better parishes are there.

West of the Alleghenies, the Episcopal Church's membership is less than 1% of the population. Though Episcopalians in the East are thought fashionable, in the hinterland they are sometimes looked upon as a little queer.

Hitch to Mr. Patton's salary-raising proposal is that the Episcopal Church has never been very missionary-minded; since 1929 it has been less missionary-minded than ever. Few of its depression cuts in mission funds have been restored. The Episcopal Church has the highest average ministerial salary of any church in the U.S. ($2,960), but Episcopalians spend only 7%--less than any other church--for general work, including missions, and 85%--more than any other--in the local congregations themselves.

Thanks to the slump in Episcopal mission-giving, San Joaquin's aid from the national church has dwindled in the last decade to an amount that merely pays the bishop's stipend ($4,050 with a house and travel allowance) and part of the salaries of eight or ten clergymen.

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