Letter – Liberal Christian Church to Department of Ministry (Pulpit Candidates)
Air Mail – Special Delivery June 7, 1947
Rev. Dan Huntington Fenn, Director
Department of the Ministry
American Unitarian Association
Boston 8, Massachusetts
Dear Mr. Fenn:
The Board of Trustees wish to thank you for the courtesy and recommendations you gave Mrs. J. V. Rogers while in Boston at the Convention. Mrs. Rogers is representative of the spirit of our membership as a result of Dr. Palmer’s ministry.
Last Tuesday I was elected by the Board of Trustees to succeed Mr. Orren Vogle whose work has called him to St. Petersburg, Florida. You will no doubt hear of him there because of his aggressive interest in our denomination.
It is the wish of our church to get a minister to succeed Mr. Palmer who will carry on his dynamic promotion of liberal religion. Above all at this critical time, we do not want a break to occur wherein our church will fail to have a minister for September 1 to take up where Dr. Palmer will leave off.
I do not have the time to spare to the responsibility as chairmanship of our Board but my keen interest in what is being done in the church will not let me rest until I do all in my power to see the church go forward without a break in ministers.
I and my wife joined the church at the beginning of Palmer’s ministry here because Dr. Palmer made clear the opportunity and responsibility of liberal religion under the banner of Unitarianism. You, Mr. Fenn, are doubtless in a position to keep the fire burning until we get results at the earliest possible opportunity. You are doing all in your power, I am sure. Please let me, as spokesman for the Board, encourage you to continue to do this.
July and August are vacation months with us. We want Mr. John Gill to candidate for us during this month or June. You are in contact with him, please communicate this to him. If he cannot come in June, when can he come? The congregation can be assembled at any time. We will pay any expense of his candidacy here. Could you give me his address and let me pursue personally any possible obstructions that might prevent him from giving us an early answer? By this I do not want to go over your office, I only wish to work with you and the forward movement of our church in order to effect something definite without delay.
Dr. Palmer announced he was leaving about three months ago and the progress the Board has made to date appears very disappointing and hard to explain to the membership. Can you give me a picture of the present state of affairs – what is being done and what can be done?
If Mr. Gill declines, we want Mr. Howard Watson to candidate. If he declines, what else can be done?
We are paying $2,500, you are paying $480, we are supplying parsonage. This appears to amount to about $3,500. We are trying to raise more. One man will pay $100 if others will pay $400 to make it $500. We are working on this. One individual states he will give $500 to keep Dr. Palmer here. It is our deepest regret that Dr. Palmer cannot stay but we are so grateful and happy over what he has initiated we want it continued. Possibly the individual can be persuaded to give to another minister.
Please help vigorously all you can. I know you are doing this. I am writing this from the hospital where the doctor tells me my mother is on her deathbed, but between times I am restless to aid the church because we know there is a real opportunity for a strong liberal church in Atlanta. We all feel that further delay in this matter might seriously cripple the future of our church. Please let me have at least a short note about the present state of affairs by return air mail previous to any developments that might be pending.
Fraternally yours,
Harry A. Bromley, Chairman
Board of Trustees
1017 Highland View, N.E.
Atlanta, Georgia
Physical Archive: UUCA Box: 26 Folder: 10
Citation: Unitarian Universalist Congregation of Atlanta Records, RG 026, Archives and Manuscripts Dept., Pitts Theology Library, Emory University, Atlanta GA