The Bishop of New York: the Personal Papers of Activist Bishop Paul Moore
The Papers of the Right Reverend Paul Moore, Jr. (1919-2003), which he donated to The Archives of the Episcopal Church in 2002, represent a major donation by a prominent American leader, who believed strongly in the Church’s role as a vehicle of conscience and a moral force in society and civic life. Moore’s personal papers, which span the years 1937-2003, document a life of progressive involvement in social justice, civil rights, public policy, and peace. The researcher will find evidence of the earliest experiences of a lifelong education, beginning with parish ministry, through his episcopate, and into an active retirement, when, even in his last years, he continued to speak on behalf of the oppressed in the most forgotten places of the globe.
Aware of the benefits and limitations of a privileged upbringing, Paul Moore's world view was dramatically altered by his combat experiences in World War II, and by his exposure to the philosophy of the "slum priests" of the Oxford Movement. Of his activism, Moore said, “I always had at the very guts of my belief that we are all children of God – that you couldn’t go to church and worship at Mass, the Eucharist, and ignore Christ’s presence in the poor.” He was ordained in 1949, and his earliest parish postings in inner-city neighborhoods laid the groundwork for a life long activism in areas of racial justice, urban ministry, and political enterprise. Moore became dean of Christ Church Cathedral in Indianapolis in 1957, and was ordained bishop suffragan of Washington, D.C., in 1964. His vocal support for the civil rights movement and opposition to the Vietnam War in the 1960s brought him national recognition prior to his election as bishop coadjutor in New York in 1969.
As diocesan bishop from 1972 to 1989 and into his retirement, Moore continued his activism within the Church and in the political arena. He also found time to restart construction on the Cathedral Church of St. John the Divine, which had ground to a halt in 1941. With Cathedral Dean James P. Morton, Moore’s vision for the Cathedral gave it new life, and the space became a popular setting for music, dance, art, and cultural festivals. He was passionately dedicated to the vibrant life of cities, and was particularly influential in bringing a new civic attention to the plight of New York City during the worst of the urban crises of the 1970s. At the time of his death, he was active in the Timor Project to protect human rights in East Timor and had spoken out against the war in Iraq.
The Moore archive, which was sought by several institutions, consists of 46 cubic feet of material touching on the Bishop’s personal and public life. One will find correspondence with Moore’s extended network of friends and colleagues, sermons, drafts of his autobiography and other writings, resource materials on his involvement in social action, photographs, scrapbooks, and journals. The collection will be opened upon completion of a survey and appraisal of the collection, and an inventory, which is expected within the year. The papers are a fitting memorial to the life of a man who by word and deed had a talent for making the Gospel come alive in any number of Christian and non-Christian environments, and who was comfortable with and accepted by all sorts of humanity. His activism and influence earned Bishop Moore popular tenure to the title of ‘The Bishop of New York,’ which stayed with him throughout his retirement as a tribute to a leader who could make his presence felt in the nation’s center of power much in the tradition of his predecessors, William Manning and Horace Donegan. The Moore Papers contribute to the Archives’ preeminent position as a center for the study of 20th century leadership in issues of Church and society, social justice, and civil rights, and complement the papers of Walter Righter, John Shelby Spong, Michael Yasutake, John Morris, and Daisuke Kitagawa.