After 208 Years, Historic Diocese Finally Gets a Cathedral
Episcopal News Service. January 24, 1992 [92016]
Barbara Ogilby, Communication Officer for the Diocese of Pennsylvania
After 208 years without a cathedral, 1,500 members of the Diocese of Pennsylvania jammed into the Church of the Saviour in West Philadelphia on January 12 for a celebration designating the 89-year-old, Italian Romanesque structure as a cathedral.
Although the church has functioned as an "unofficial" cathedral in recent years, the vestry of the parish and the cathedral chapter voted to designate the church a cathedral last fall.
Although one of the oldest and largest Episcopal dioceses in the United States (founded in 1784, with a current membership of about 74,000), the diocese has never had a cathedral. Some observers have credited a historic opposition to a cathedral in the diocese on the tradition of independence and self-reliance, and the dislike for the symbol of a cathedral in a "low-church" diocese.
In an address to the diocesan convention last November, Bishop Allen Bartlett, Jr., sought to quell concerns about the place of the cathedral in the diocese. Its mission, he said, is "not to glorify a place: it is to glorify God and serve God's people. It is to be a source of support for all of us in living our baptismal vows."
In his sermon at the celebration, Bartlett urged listeners to make a "passion for social justice" one of the hallmarks of the new cathedral. Noting that the new cathedral is located in the multicultural University City area of Philadelphia, close to the downtown financial and business districts, Bartlett reminded those present of the Gospel imperative to reach out to the community, especially those in need. "People in our whole region have a common task: to help save Philadelphia," the bishop said, referring to the city's ongoing fiscal crisis and its effect on social programs.
Bartlett challenged the diocese to capture a vision of a cathedral as something that can lift a diocese "out of parochial concerns to our unity in Christ."
In the early part of this century, Bishop Philip Rhinelander proposed building a cathedral in Center City, Philadelphia, but nothing came of the idea. In the 1920s, Bishop Thomas Garland made a diocesan cathedral one of his projects, and construction began at a site in the Roxborough section of the city, where a Lady Chapel was built. However, the project was terminated in the 1930s due to lack of funds.
Succeeding bishops did not see the establishment of a diocesan cathedral as a high priority for various reasons: finances were tight, and in the turbulent 1960s and 1970s racial unrest, the Vietnam War, and dramatic changes in society claimed the church's attention.