Ice No Deterrent to 1,560
Diocesan Press Service. March 8, 1965 [XXX-14]
Why would 1560 persons risk icy, slushy highways to attend an Agape Dinner in observance of Christian Unity Sunday, Jan. 24 ?
This question still preys on the mind of the Rev. Wilfred F. Penny, Episcopal priest in Pottstown, Pa., and originator of the Dinner. "It was one of those rare occasions when a wet snow had frozen and the whole country-side became a slick, glassy, and icy surface. Walking was hazardous, driving very dangerous. It was impossible to shovel one's way from house door to street, " he said.
In the face of these conditions people still persisted in attending the dinner - more, in fact, than the Sunnybrook Ballroom could accommodate at the originally quoted price of $2 per person, for they had to rent extra chairs, tables, silver, dishes, etc. And a traffic jam resulted on nearby streets according to a local paper.
The program, and dinner were jointly sponsored by local Roman Catholic churches and the Pottstown ministers association and featured Bishop John J. Graham, auxiliary bishop of the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Pittsburg and the Rev. Dr. James E. Wagner, vice president of Ursinus College, as speakers.
Both asked for more personal dedication toward the cause of Christian understanding.
In describing the Ecumenical Movement Bishop Graham told those assembled that it is "not a way of compromise, it is not an attempt to minimize doctrinal differences, nor is it an agitation of firm belief. But it is a quest for truth and conformity to the divine will."
During his presentation, Dr. Wagner talked of the divisions within Protestantism and, evaluating Protestant reaction to the Vatican Council, stated that "... as we have watched the proceeding of the Vatican Council, (we) have seen that the Roman Catholic Church is not the rigid, unyielding monolith Protestants have suspected it of being. Rather, it is evident that within the Roman Catholic Church there is a great deal of room for free and vigourous discussion and for sharply divergent points of view; values which are precious in the Protestant tradition."
Those who attended represented 31 churches in Pottstown and vicinity.