City Parishes Cooperate
Diocesan Press Service. May 6, 1964 [XXI-3]
One different aspect of the 'Inner City' mission of the church has been tackled by the cooperation of two New York City parishes.
A number of the nation's finest hospitals are congregated in Manhattan's fashionable east 60's and 70's. For years the Church of the Epiphany, situated in the midst of these institutions, has ministered to their growing patient population, as have several other Episcopal churches in the neighborhood. What began as answers to emergency calls developed into a volunteer chaplaincy involving 20 Episcopal and other parishes. Then a regular Protestant chaplaincy to East Midtown hospitals was created, supported by 11 local churches.
The realization grew that what was also needed was a ministry to the over 1,000 students and graduate students in the hospitals, the schools of medicine and nursing and the Rockefeller Institute which engages in research. The Church of the Epiphany, because of its locale, became the parish home of many doctors and students. But many more were not reached by the Church with a program attuned to those involved in the study of medicine and nursing.
This year St. James' Church on Madison Avenue some nine blocks from Epiphany offered to underwrite the salary and expenses of a student chaplain to serve the area's many medical schools.
Epiphany accepted and the post filled by the Rev. John Fletcher, rector of the R. E. Lee Memorial Church in Lexington, Virginia, who has for seven years been doing college work. He is at the same time studying for a Doctor's degree at Union Theological Seminary.
The new chaplain on the 'medical campuses' will be supported from proceeds of the St. James' Church annual Spring Festival which occurs this year April 30 and May 1. The program is on an experimental basis for three years. While the necessary funds come from St. James', the program will be administered by the Church of the Epiphany.