Church Center Dedicated

Diocesan Press Service. May 10, 1963 [X-25]

NEW YORK, --- The new, national Episcopal Church Center, 815 Second Avenue, was dedicated Monday, April 29.

Presiding Bishop Lichtenberger laid the cornerstone. Also taking part in the dedication ceremonies was the Church's highest ranking layman, Clifford P. Morehouse, president of the House of Deputies.

The ceremony took place under the arcade that runs the full length of the Second Avenue facade. In the cornerstone the Presiding Bishop placed six foundation symbols: a cross, the Holy Scriptures, the Book of Common Prayer, the Constitution and Canons and the Journal of the 1961 General Convention, the United Thank Offering Box which belonged to the founder of the special women's offering, and the lists of memorials, thank-offerings, and other gifts in addition to lists of contributors to the building.

From the arcade the procession moved inside the lobby of the 11-story edifice. After a stop at the ceramic mosaic map of the world--which symbolizes the world-wide work of the Church--the entire Center was blessed at the building plaque in the lobby.

The procession then moved into the ground-floor, one-and-a-half story Chapel of Christ the Lord. Here, the chapel and its memorials were dedicated. The ceremonies were concluded by a solemn "Te Deum," the traditional hymn of Thanksgiving.