Dr. Charles R. Lawrence, II, Church Leader and Educator
Episcopal News Service. April 9, 1986 [86074]
NEW YORK (DPS, April 9) -- Dr. Charles Radford Lawrence, II, recently-retired president of the House of Deputies, and a long time Church leader, social activist and educator, died April 3 at his home after a long illness.
More than 500 friends and colleagues from all over the country joined his family, Presiding Bishop Edmond L. Browning and New York Bishop Paul Moore, Jr. at the funeral Eucharist in the Cathedral Church of St. John the Divine here April 7.
Lawrence served as president of the House of Deputies of the General Convention from 1976 until his retirement last year. He was only the third lay person -- and the first black -- to hold the Church post. He was also the first black senior warden in the 279-year history of New York's Trinity Parish.
Upon hearing of his death, Browning said: "I Join with the Lawrence family in grieving the death of Charles Lawrence. Charles was a giant in the life of the Episcopal Church, the Anglican Communion and in the lives of countless people, including mine.
"Charles was first and foremost a husband and father. His love and devotion to his family gave us all inspiration, and he reached out, embraced and incorporated many of us into his extended family.
"Charles was a Christian. He integrated his faith into every aspect of his life. The record of his commitment to the good news of Jesus Christ is written boldly not only within the profession and institutions in which he served but upon the hearts of those countless individuals to whom he ministered.
"Charles' death causes a vacuum in our lives. However, as one would expect, he has not left us without comfort. He has filled our remembrances with rich memories and a lasting attachment to his great human spirit.
"I thank God for the privilege of having had Charles Lawrence as a friend and companion."
A passionate concern for social Justice and racial equality guided his academic and Church careers. He was an early advocate within the Episcopal Church for the Sullivan Principles which seek racial equality in the workplace by American firms doing business in South Africa, but later campaigned for disinvestment when he became convinced that the Principles were not an effective tool for change. He was presiding at the Episcopal Church's 1985 General Convention when the Church voted to divest its portfolio of stock in firms continuing to work in South Africa.
As president of the 900-member House of Deputies -- one of two houses of the Church General Convention -- he guided that cumbersome body more with avuncular affection than a quick gavel and tried to see that all points were heard in its debates.
Bishop John M. Allin who as Presiding Bishop from 1974-1985 worked closely with Lawrence, said of him: "I will be grateful always that I had the opportunity to share leadership with Charles. He made the word 'colleague' a reality and not just a pleasantry and I thank God that he lived his life out fully sharing his faith, his zeal and his joy to the end."
The Very Rev. David B. Collins, who served as vice-president of the House of Deputies under Lawrence and succeeded him this year added: "His death is a great loss to the Church. No one will be able to take Charles Lawrence's place in the life of the Church. As one closely associated with him for a dozen years, his dedication, commitment, and loving courtesy were a marvel to me. The Episcopal Church is a better Church and a holier Church and more whole because of Charles Lawrence."
Born May 2, 1915 in Boston, he spent his infancy, childhood and early adolescence at Utica Institute, Miss., where his parents were teachers. He received his B.A. degree in 1936 from Morehouse College, Atlanta, and his M.A. degree from Atlanta University in 1938. His Ph.D. degree in sociology was received from Columbia University in 1952.
While at Morehouse College, he was elected to Phi Beta Kappa.
After teaching and serving as a co-executive for the Southern Field Council of the National Student Y.M.C.A., Lawrence was instructor in social science at Fisk University from 1943-1947, and he was also research associate at the Institute of Race Relations and associate editor of a university publication.
From 1948 until his retirement in 1977, he was at Brooklyn College of the City University of New York as professor of sociology, chairman of the department of sociology (1966-72) and chairman of the social science group (1957-64).
He also served as visiting professor or lecturer at Morehouse College; Colgate-Rochester/Bexley Hall/Crozer, Rochester, NY; Union Theological Seminary in New York City; Christian Theological Seminary; and Jackson College, Miss. He also held Joint visiting appointments at Randolph-Macon Woman's College and Haverford College with his wife Margaret Morgan Lawrence, M.D., an educator and psychiatrist.
The widely-known educator and sociologist had been senior warden of Trinity Parish of New York City and at St. Paul's Church, Spring Valley, N.Y. He also had been a vestryman at Trinity. He received the Bishop's Cross for Distinguished Lay Service to the Diocese of New York in 1963.
In 1976, Lawrence was co-chairman, with Bishop Paul Moore of New York, of the Presiding Bishop's Consultation on Church in Society. Dr. Lawrence served as a lay deputy from the Diocese of New York to every General Convention from 1967 through 1985. In 1973, he was chairman of the House of Deputies Special Committee on Ordination of Women to the Priesthood and Episcopate.
Since 1981, he had been the Episcopal Church lay representative to the Anglican Consultative Council and a member of the standing committee of that guiding body of international Anglicanism.
Lawrence also served as a member of the Joint Commission on Ecumenical Relations and the General Board of Examining Chaplains. He was a consultant with the Department of Christian Social Relations and Joint Urban Program of the national Executive Council of the Episcopal Church and has been a member of the Diocesan Council and Interparish Council.
His trusteeships include General Theological Seminary, Bexley Hall and Colgate Rochester Divinity School and the American Church Institute for Negroes. He has been honored for his work by the General Theological Seminary, Bard College, Morehouse College, Seabury-Western Theological Seminary, St. Paul's College, Berkeley-Yale Divinity School and Virginia Theological Seminary.
In 1947, Lawrence was a Kent Fellow of the National Council on Religion in Higher Education. He was a General Education Board Fellow, 1947-48, and a Julius Rosenwald Fellow, 1939-40 and 1942-43.
He has published many articles in professional, religious and cause Journals and chapters in a half-dozen books. He was a member of several professional organizations.
In addition to his wife, he is survived by a son Charles R. Lawrence, III of San Francisco, two daughters, Dr. Sara Lawrence Lightfoot of Boston and Mrs. Paula Lawrence Wehmiller of Swarthmore, Penn., and five grandchildren.