Given at Christ Church, Savannah on April 19, 1945
by the Rt. Rev. Middleton Stuart Barnwell, Fifth Bishop of Georgia

My Dear Friends :-
My Dear Friends :—There is no better address than this, for this is what Jesus called His disciples, and that is the relationship which I have sough to build between myself and my people during the past ten years: for it is ten years this Spring since I came, as your Bishop to you. I had been a bishop of the Church of God nearly ten years before that—in Idaho. As a bishop, this coming winter will be my twentieth year, and I think I have learned that the happiest and most useful relationship for Bishop or Priest is that of Friend to his people. It means trust,—and service—and love. And beyond this there is nothing else. And so I call you my friends. I have tried to be this to you ALL. And I think I shall continue to make this my supreme earthly objective. And so I come to report to you in regard to that tiny little spot on the surface of the earth which we call the Diocese of Georgia, and to consider from that little spot our responsibility to the world. These little things which we have to do here are of supreme importance, for they are our responsibility, and they have their place in the all-embracing plans and purposes of God. If we fail God in Georgia, we have failed Him in All! This is true of this little Diocese as a whole, and it is also true of the smallest Mission under OUR care. The work of the Church is NOT done by Bishops, but by you priests and laymen in your respective fields. You are the ones who actually PRODUCE changed lives and Souls redeemed. You are the ones who bring children to baptism and baptize them; you are the ones whose example counts, in the communities in which you live; you are the ones who prepare and present children for confirmation. If your community is to be redeemed, it is through you that this redemption is wrought. In the towns where you live the Church is no weaker nor stronger than you are. So do not ask me what I am doing with the Diocese of Georgia. Ask yourselves what you are doing with it. I can visit your town only once or twice a year, but you live there always. God does not look to me for a church in your town: He looks to you. YOU are the Diocese of Georgia, and this you should always remember. Our Church is sacramental. It has it’s outward and visible signs, and it has it’s inward and spiritual graces. These latter, I cannot measure, for they have their home in the hearts of priests and people, but I do see, and for the most part deal with the outward and visible signs, and for the most part they are encouraging. We shall glance at some of them briefly.

There are no vacancies in our white parishes now since the most welcome arrival of our host the Rev. Bland Tucker to take charge of Christ Church Savannah, though the Rev. Lee Belford, rector of St. Mark’s, Brunswick is somewhere in the Pacific. His place has been filled during the summer months by lay-readers and near-by clergymen, and during the winter by the Rev. W. Northey Jones, whose ministry is always a blessing to us. The interest of the congregation keeps up under these conditions. How long the war will last we cannot tell, and it may be that Mr. Belford will wish to resign soon so that his place may be permanently filled. This will work no hardship on Mr. Belford when the time comes to be mustered out, for there will be many places available to a man of his ability who is so greatly loved and respected by his fellow clergymen and the laity as well. For him, as he faces danger in the western Pacific, Our prayers-ascend to God. This same thing is true of Chapain Lawrence Fenwick in the European theatre of war, and Chaplain James Edden in Italy. These are men of sterling character and ability, and the whole Church and I hope this diocese, will be the stronger when they return. There is a vacancy in our local Colored parish of St. Matthews, and the vestry is now at work seeking a suitable man to take up this strong and promising work. The union of the parishes of St. Stephens and St. Augustins has worked out remarkably well. They are working happily together and worshipping in the old building of St. Stephen’s until such time as their new buildings will be ready at Anderson and West Broad Streets.

In the mission field we shall have four new men at work by early summer. Three of these men are graduating from Sewanee, and the fourth has been teaching at the State College for Women at Valdosta. He has passed his canonical examinations, and is ready for ordination. When these four men are at work, there will be no vacancies in the white mission field. In the colored field, there is a vacancy at St. Mary’s in Augusta, and this is a real problem, for the few people there are unable to pay very much on their minister’s salary, and almost the entire amount will have to come from our missionary funds. At this time I cannot say just how this problem is going to work out.It would be most gratifying to have our diocese so well staffed in times of peace. That this condition should exist in the middle of a world war is it seems to me, most remarkable.

It is also remarkable that all of this work in parishes and missions fields is so well supported, considering the strain on the incomes of the people from taxes and the high cost of living. Our income for diocesan work is greater than it has ever been, and so is our giving the National Church for it’s work throughout the world, with the exception of the few years which marked the special effort in launching the Nation Wide Campaign twenty-five years ago. There seems to me to be a growing interest in and loyalty to the Missionary work of the Church. I believe that this will be greatly increased when our men return from the Pacific theatre of war, for there they have had a chance to see and to experience and benefit from the work our Missionaries have been doing for the past seventy-five years. These men are also seeing at first hand in the case of Japan what happens to a nation which grows to material greatness without Christianity. National imperalism unredeemed by faith in God is a terrible thing. If we fail God in this, we shall ultimately be destroyed by the things we have made. It is my hope that our people are beginning to see that these things are true, and that they will give themselves more wholly in the future than they are doing today to the spread of the Gospel of Christ throughout the world.

I wish to record my own thankfulness, and I am sure that of you all for the coming of the Rev. F. Bland Tucker to take the place of Dr. Wright at Christ Church. He has already taken hold and manifested that fine leadership which we have a right to expect from a man named Tucker, and which contributed so largely to his success in the parish in Washington from which he came. We welcome him and Mrs. Tucker to our diocesan family, and at the same time record our thankfulness for our fellowship with Dr. Wright during his more than two decades of faithful service.

We record our gratitude to God for the fine progress which has been made at St. Michaels Church. Years ahead of schedule, this parish is now entirely out of debt with it’s new buildings entirely paid for. For the leadership which made this possible, our thanks and congratulations go out to Mr. Mueller.

I wish to record our appreciation of the work Mr. Kenneth Palmer is doing with the Church in Georgia, and the fine leadership being shown by Father Wm. Brady in the work of the Department of Promotion. Together with Mr. Palmer, he was responsible for the Georgia edition of the Living Church which appeared last January, and which brought our little diocese to the attention of the whole Church. I have had many words of appreciation of this enterprise from all over the Church.

I wish to record our appreciation of a gift of six hundred dollars from St. Thomas Church, Thomasville toward the salary of a missionary for Moultrie and Bainbridge. This is a gift over and above their normal missionary giving, because of their interest in the strengthening of our work in the south-western part of the Diocese.

The Episcopal Home for Girls is in better condition than it has ever been in physical equipment, financial support and number of girls being cared for. In the matter of admissions and also of outgoing children we are working in close relationship with the Children’s Division of the Family Welfare Society. We are deeply grateful for the interest in this Home which has spread and is spreading throughout the Diocese, and we ask for it your continued interest and prayers. We are especially indebted to the members of the Board of Directresses, a group of faithful and intelligent women, which for the past few years has been headed by Mrs. John Train.

The Dodge Home on St. Simon Island, while not strictly a diocesan institution is supported in part by the diocese. It continues to serve a limited number of boys. The entire confirmation class at Frederica last Sunday was composed of boys from this home. The Rev. and Mrs. Cousins continue to serve with faithfulness and efficiency.

Plans for the new St. Matthews Church in Savannah continue to progress. This project has been officially adopted by the National Council as the beneficiary of the Children’s Birth-day Offerings for this year, and has received much publicity throughout the Church through the national Church press. Considerable space was devoted to it in the Georgia Edition of the Living Church which appeared last winter, I have written letters to about a hundred of my friends in the House of Bishops, asking them to take a personal interest in this project in their own dioceses, and I have mailed twenty-five thousand leaflets describing this work to the more important centers of Diocesan life throughout the Church, and have under way the mailing of printing mats of the proposed buildings to every diocesan paper in the country. As a result of this we hope the Birth-day Thank Offering will be larger than usual, and so of more help to us. It ought to produce around ten thousand dollars.

I have been greatly disappointed in the response to the appeal sent out over the Diocese for a forward movement in the Diocesan mission field. We sent out over six thousand pieces of first class mailing matter to more than two thousand selected communicants, presenting this cause, and enclosing blank check and self-addressed envelopes, The response so far has been considerably less than three thousand dollars.

The committee sponsoring this appeal was composed of Messrs. Thomas Johnson, and Roy Breen, and Dr. John Train. These are busy men, and I had hoped that a simple appeal signed by them would be sufficient. All the detail of handling, printing and mailing, as in the case of the publicity for St. Matthews was handled through my office. This has entailed considerable labor, and so far has not produced satisfactory results. I think that I have made a mistake in the handling of this matter, and if we are to make any real progress toward the payment for the lot for St. Matthews, and the erection of new parish houses at Christ Church, Augusta, and St. Paul’s, Jesup, we shall have to adopt some other means. I hope that some suggestion for a new approach will come out of this council. I think that perhaps we need a committee at work in every parish and mission, personally seeking gifts and subscriptions, and we shall need an active chairman to head this diocesan organization. I have not worried over-much concerning this at this time however, for any building program is out of the question at present, and we shall have to fit our own diocesan effort into the plan of the General Church for a five million dollar reconstruction fund for the destroyed mission fields of the Church throughout the world which has the right of way next year. I would like however to raise enough in this diocese this year to finish paying for the St. Matthews lot on West Broad Street. This is a debt we owe which need not wait on the war’s ending. Perhaps one reason for our lack of success in this little piece of diocesan enterprise has been that the hearts and minds of our people have been filled with larger anxieties of the world, and so I want to turn now from considering the Diocese of Georgia as an end in itself, and consider it as a small part of God’s age-long plan for His people which is working out everywhere so tragically.

God is a Loving Father. We are His Children, and because He loves us, He has planned for us, happiness and peace. This divine purpose of His is inherent in this Father and son relationship. To doubt this purpose on the part of God is a rejection of that which is an essential phase of His character. If God be God, then He intends, and has intended from the beginning that His children should find happiness and peace by dwelling in love—with Him and, as a consequence, with each other. These simple statements are the bed rock on which all religion rests; on which all life rests, for unless these things are true then life itself is but a living death, and the underlying plan of life is one of cruel and hate, and some implacable demon holds us in the hollow of his hand. This it is impossible to believe.

God then, is a loving Father and we are His children, but we have been wayward and blind and unintelligent—and worst of all—selfish children. We should not quarrel with ourselves too much because of this, for these seem to be the natural characteristics of childhood. There are two little children quarreling over a toy. Each wants it for himself. It is only when they grow older that they discover there is a new and greater happiness in sharing.

Two hundred million little children, grow to manhood in body, but still little children at heart, quarreling over their toys! A little yellow metal which men call gold: a little rubber, a little tin, a little iron, a field of wheat a forest of timber; a little place in the sun! The tiny clutching. fingers and flying fists are replaced by ships and guns and planes and bombs and searing flame. The toys are bigger; the quarrel more terrible; otherwise the picture is the same.

When I was a little boy, there was a bully on our block who had a fearsome habit of putting a chip on his shoulder and daring the little boys and the timid boys to brush it off. We were afraid to do it, but we were often more afraid not to do it, for then we would be ashamed. And so we went through many a bruising, hopeless combat for the sake of our personal honor, while the bully of the block was maintaining his personal sovreignty; while we were striving to maintain our personal integrity. I remember one day, when I was not more than eleven, weighing all these things in my heart in my own boyish way; realizing how silly and futile it all was, and yet going ahead straight to my doom, because other boys were standing around watching. That was the pressure of public opinion. The thing was silly and essentially wrong and unjust, but it had to be gone through with because it had always been so. I was afraid of the bully, but I was more afraid of breaking with tradition, and of daring to stand alone for the first time for what in my heart I knew was a better way.

This was a little, childish tragedy which was being enacted all over the world by boys in every land. A few decades have passed, and we are men in body but still children at heart. The little bullies are united now and have become great nations, maintaining National Sovereignty; chips still on their shoulders. Little nations have marched to their doom for the maintenance of their personal integrity. We are afraid to change our ways because the world stands watching us. We dare not stand alone for the first time for what in our hearts we know to be a better way.

We are God’s blind and selfish little children; seeking our own ways because we really have no faith in Him. If we really had faith in Him, things would be different. He does not mean for us to be little boys forever. He is patient with us, and through all the years that have been He has been showing to us better ways of life and calling us to walk therein. He sent the prophets of olden time who called on us to do justice, to love mercy and to walk humbly with Him. He came Himself to be the way along which we walk tto truth and life. Through all the years since then His chosen messengers have come, pointing the way toward new freedoms, and the co-operative and loving life to which God has called us. Some we have burned at the stake; some we have hanged; some we have shot and some we have slain with our unbelief. And still the Son or Man looks upon His beloved city; “O Jerusalem, Jerusalem- Thou that killest the prophets, and stoneth them that are sent unto Thee; How often would I have gathered thy children together as a hen doth gather her chickens under her wing, and ye would not Behold your house is left unto you—desolate-”

We shall always be God’s children, but there is no reason that I can see why we should always be sub-adolescent. “I have no pleasure in the death of him that dieth,” saith the Lord. “Therefore turn ye and live!”

To die the death which the world is dying today, or to turn to God and live; God made us free to choose our way, and when we choose wrongly KNOWING THE TRUTH—for He has taught it us; when, knowing the truth we choose wrongly because of national pride and over-weening arrogrance, and walk in the way of hatred and death, we have no right to complain of the injustice of God. We have been a stiff-necked people, and we are suffering for our sins. If we let these sins bind us and flog us, and bring us to the brink of ruin and death, God weeps over us but God does not constrain us. It is not God’s will but ours that we learn through blood and sweat and tears. We are in Gethsemane today of our own free choice. Need we stay? The answer is “NO.” There are two sorts of world in which we may live; a competitive world and a co-operative world. There is no third choice. But between these two, our choice is a free choice. The fallacy of our past position is that we have talked of God’s Fatherhood and human brotherhood, but have regarded them as unattainable ideals, and have lived in a world of competition because we have not dared to do more than dream of anything else. In a speech which the President prepared, but which he did not live to deliver, he said, “The only limit to our realization of tomorrow will be our doubts of today. Let us move forward with strong and active faith.” And in another paragraph of the same speech he said, “The mere conquest of our enemies is not enough. We must go on to conquer the doubts and the fears and the ignorance and the greed which made this present horror possible.”

Now this is not a preacher talking, but one, whom even his enemies conceded to be the most practical politician of the present day. Here is a man who walked with skillful steps through the maze of partizan New York politics to the Governorship of that great state, and through four successful national campaigns, out-smarting and out generaling the shrewdest adversaries the opposition could bring to bear, who with literally his dying breath told us that our victories must be those of the spirit; that our enemies were only incidentally Japanese and Germans, but basically doubt and fear and ignorance and sin.

Well, I ask you what are the weapons we should use—must use—against such enemies as these? You cannot kill doubt and fear and ignorance and sin with bombs and shells and flames. It takes the Power and love of God, made known to us through Christ, and made known to the world through us, and this is only another way of saying that it takes the religion of Jesus Christ actively at work; not merely dreaming of and hoping for harps and golden streets and angel choirs singing, though this certainly has its place, but religion tackling the problems of human sin—whatever they may be—however intertwined with nationalism and commerce and politics—problems of human pride and avarise which have brought us to the chaos and darkness of today.

As this kind of a Christian I was fighting twenty five years ago for the league of nations. As this kind of a Christian I am fighting now for Dumbarton Oaks and the San Francisco conference. Christianity is a religion of the other world and of this. It is God’s business to take care of the next world, for the simple reason that there is very little we can do about it anyway, except to prepare ourselves for it; It is our business to take care of this one, and this I think, is the best way we can prepare ourselves for the one that is to come.

Nothing perfect came out of the League of Nations twenty five years ago, though one thing of ghastly imperfection did come out of it and that was our refusal as a nation to have any part of it. We might have stayed out of life entirely, for that is imperfect too, but in that we had no choice. Sharing in life, we are bound to share in imperfection, for there is nothing perfect here. Dumbarton Oaks is imperfect, and I am very sure that the conclusions of the San Francisco conference will be imperfect too, but if we try to play the part of Pontius Pilate again, and stand aside and wash our hands of the blood of dying men, we shall again pay the bitter price—more bitter than the one we are paying now. Twenty-five years ago we washed our hands of the blood of them who died then, but we bathed them in the blood of those who are dying today. If we wash them of the blood of the men who are dying now, we are bathing them in the blood of our children. “Facts,” says Mr. Stalin; “are stubborn things.” I have lived long enough to see this thing work out through two generations. I have been looking over notes of sermons I preached twenty-five years ago, and I said then that this generation would pay the price if we failed. We failed and they are paying. God has given us another chance. If we fail now, our children will pay more terribly. And this horrible sequence wil go on until we learn the ways of God, or until, still stiffnecked—we bring ourselves to complete destruction. And if that, happens, let not the last living man cry out that God has forgotten us. The truth will be, that we have fogotten God. This world is going to live in God’s hand and in God’s way, or it is not going to live at all!

Some day, some time, there has got to be a generation of men who will dare to break with the past; who will dare to say that man is a fighting animal—yes—but NOT A FIGHTING ANIMAL ONLY, but also a Child of God; a generation—most of all—which will dare to shape it’s present day life in the light of that Eternal Truth.

When that day comes, all things will be made new. There shall be a new heaven and a new earth. No more sea to divide us. We shall see the holy city come from God, as a bride adorned for her husband. We shall hear a voice saying, “The Tabernacle of God is with men, and He will dwell with them, and they shall be His people, and he shall be their God. – – And God shall wipe away all tears from their eyes, and there shall be no more Death, neither sorrow nor crying, for the former things are passed away! Even so, Come Lord Jesus.

The Grace of our Lord Jesus Christ be with you all.—Amen.

SUMMARY OF CONFIRMATIONS-1944
Americus, Calvary ………………………………………………….. 1
Augusta, Atonement ………………………………………………….. 10
Augusta, Christ ……………………………………………………………. 14
Augusta, Good Shepherd …………………………………. 39
Augusta, St. Paul’s ……………………………………………. 21
Benevolence………………………………………………………………. 3
Brunswick, St. Mark’s .. ………………………………………… 4
Darien, St. Andrew’s ………………………………………… 2
Frederica, Christ ……………………………………………….. 5
Jesup, St. Paul’s………………………………………….. 2
Moultrie, St. John’s………………………………………………. 3
Sandersville, Grace …………………………………….. 22
Savannah, Christ ………………………………………………. 23
Savannah, St. John’s …………………………………………… 56
Savannah, St. Michael’s ……………………………………….. 15
Savannah, St. Paul’s ……………………………………………. 15
Thomasville, St. Thomas’ ……………………………. 14
Valdosta, Christ ………………………………………………………. 2
Waycross, Grace ………………………………………………….. 6 237

Albany, St. John’s ……………………………………….. 4
Augusta, St. Mary’s …………………………………………………. 3
Brunswick, St. Athanasius’ …………………………………………… 17
Burroughs, St. Bartholomew’s ………………………………….. 7
Darien, St. Cyprian’s ……………………………………………. 6
St. Simons, St. Ignatius, …………………………. 3
Savannah, St. Matthew’s ………………………………………… 14
Waycross, St. Ambrose ……………………………………………. 2 56
Total ……………………………………………….. 293

CLERGY DIMITTED
March 15, 1945—The Rev. Frank S. Doreinus, Priest, to the Diocese of Texas.

CLERGY RECEIVED
April 2, 1945—The Rev. Francis Bland Tucker, D, D., Priest, from the Diocese of Washington

POSTULANTS FOR HOLY ORDERS
March 20, 1944—Toussant Vincent Harris. Dec. 21, 1944—Edwards Kneale Williams

CANDIDATES FOR HOLY ORDERS
July 27, 1944—Edward Irwin Hulbert, Jr.
July 27, 1944—William Turner Brown, Jr.
April 18, 1944—Clifton Huntington White.
Oct. 31, 1944—John Saxton Wolfe, Jr.
April 18, 1944—Reuben Archer Torrey, 3rd.

CLERICAL CHANGES
Dec. 1, 1944—The Rev. David Cady Wright, D. D., resigned as Rector of Christ Church, Savannah and retired from the active ministry.
Oct. 1, 1944—The Rev. Elliott L. Guy was transferred from St. Matthews, Savannah to St. Marys Church, Augusta.
March 1, 1945—The Rev. Elliott L. Guy resigned from the St. Mary’s Church, Augusta.
March 15, 1945—The Rev. Frank S. Doremus, resigned as Vicar from St. Paul’s Jesup and St. Andrew’s Church, Darien and removed to the Diocese of Texas.

CLERICAL RESIDENT
Jan. 1, 1944—Bishop 1; Priests 30             31
During 1944 and 1945:
Received—Priest   2                                      33
Demitted—Priest 3                                       3
30
Of whom 6 Priests are retired and 1 Non-Parochial       7
In active service; Bishop 1; Priests 22                              23

PARISHES AND MISSIONS
January 1,. 1945:
Parishes: White 12; Colored 2                                   14
Organized Missions: White 14; Colored 8              22
Unorganized Missions: White 10 ; Colored 1         11
Mission Stations: White 3                                          3
Chapel of Institutions: White 1                                 1
Parochial Missions: White 2; Colored 1                  3

BUILDINGS During 1944:
St. Augustine’s Church, Savannah, option on sale.
Church Buildings ……………………………………………….. 53
Rectories…………………………………………………. 26
Parish and School Houses ……………………………………… 22