Saturday, October 31, 2009

On bishops past, present and yet to be


As we keep one eye on our friends in the Diocese of Minnesota -- who are this very day electing the 9th bishop of that diocese -- I was reflecting on yesterday's obituary of Bishop John Harris Burt from the L.A. Times.

Bishop Burt was buried yesterday in Marquette, Michigan. We (All Saints Church) were ably represented by both our rector and rector emeritus. And we (All Saints Church) continue to be blessed by the work and witness of John Harris Burt all these many years after he left us to go be Bishop of Ohio -- where he exercised a prophetic and visionary ministry that helped continue to move this Episcopal Church forward on that arc of history that we are told bends toward justice.

We need more John Harris Burts. All of us. The church we love and serve needs those who will lead us with vision and courage -- even when the cost of that discipleship is great. Because the world the church serves in Jesus' name needs that leadership. Needs that example. Needs that moral compass pointing to love, justice, peace and compassion.

We need bishops committed to guarding faith and unity -- but not to prioritizing institutional unity over incarnational faith. If John Burt had cared more about unity than justice he wouldn't have rocked the ecclesial boat over segregation in the 60's or women's ordination in the 70's or worker's rights in the 80's.

We need more John Harris Burts.

And so this morning my prayers ascend in thanksgiving for his work and witness. AND my prayers ascend for all those charged with the high calling of raising up new bishops to lead this church into God's future. Let us remember how we have managed to come -- as the great song names it -- "thus far on the way" with leaders like John Harris Burt. And let us pray that God will give us the grace, the courage and the wisdom to elect others to go and do likewise.

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John Harris Burt dies at 91; former rector at Pasadena's All Saints Episcopal Church


The retired bishop was a bold supporter of the civil rights movement and a friend of Martin Luther King Jr.
By Elaine Woo -- October 30, 2009 [source link]

John Harris Burt, a retired bishop who advanced a tradition of social activism at Pasadena’s All Saints Episcopal Church with his bold support of the civil rights movement when he was rector in the 1960s, died Oct. 20 at his home on Lake Superior outside Marquette, Mich. He was 91.

Burt died after a long illness, said his daughter Susan Burt.

A friend of the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr., Burt helped organize massive civil rights rallies in Los Angeles, including a 1963 event in South Los Angeles that attracted 30,000 people. He also was a vocal supporter of Cesar Chavez and the farmworkers movement.

Burt was one of four rectors "who really shaped All Saints to be a peace and justice church," said Rector J. Edwin Bacon, who currently leads the Pasadena church, one of Southern California's largest and most liberal.

It is known for its outspoken clergy and the strong stands it has taken against war, poverty and racial and ethnic discrimination over the last seven decades, beginning in 1942 when Rector Frank Scott stood in front of trains to protest the removal of Japanese Americans to internment camps during World War II.

Burt, who succeeded Scott in 1957, became known over the next decade for his courageous support of King.

In 1963, Burt sat in the first row behind the lectern at South L.A.'s Wrigley Field (later demolished), where King addressed what was then the largest civil rights rally held in the city. It raised thousands of dollars to support King's nonviolent crusade against racial inequality in the South, including a $20,000 pledge by entertainer Sammy Davis Jr., one of several celebrities who spoke at the rally.

In 1964, he again sat behind King as the great civil rights leader addressed 15,000 people at the Coliseum for an interfaith rally called "Religious Witness for Human Dignity."

His vocal backing of King caused some worshipers to leave All Saints; an anonymous caller threatened to bomb Burt's house. When a group of church trustees asked him to stop preaching about racial issues, "he said he was always open for people to come and share their dissent with him, but the pulpit at All Saints is free," said George F. Regas, who succeeded him as rector.

He believed that so strongly that he "felt obligated the next Sunday to preach on racial justice," Regas noted.

Burt was born April 11, 1918, in Marquette, where his father, Bates Burt, was a community activist and rector of St. Paul's Episcopal Church. John's younger brother, Alfred S. Burt, became a famous composer of Christmas carols, including "Caroling Caroling" and "Some Children See Him."

John Burt graduated from Amherst College in 1940. After postgraduate studies at Columbia University and a stint as a social worker on New York's Lower East Side, he entered the Episcopal Theological Seminary in Virginia and was ordained in 1943.

During World War II he served as a Navy chaplain in the Pacific theater. After the war, he served at St. John's Episcopal Church in Youngstown, Ohio, where he helped lead efforts to integrate swimming pools and housing.

In 1957, he arrived at All Saints in Pasadena, where he was active in civic matters as president of the Pasadena Community Planning Council. He also was president of the Southern California Council of Churches and vice chairman of the United Nations Assn. of Southern California.

In 1967, he became the eighth bishop of Ohio. An early advocate for the ordination of women, he vowed to resign as bishop if the Episcopal General Convention failed to approve the ordination of female priests in 1976. The measure succeeded, and in early 1977, Burt ordained the first of eight women he would elevate to the priesthood during his 17-year tenure as bishop.

In 1978, he helped found a coalition of ecumenical and political leaders to keep steel plants open in Youngstown, with proposals that included allowing workers to buy the mills. The effort failed, but his advocacy earned him the prestigious Thomas Merton Award, which had previously been given to activists Dorothy Day, Joan Baez and Dick Gregory.

After retiring in 1984, Burt remained active in the ecumenical movement as president of the National Christian Leadership Conference for Israel from 1992 to 1998.

He is survived by his wife, Martha; four daughters; six grandchildren and five great-grandchildren.

5 comments:

Mitchell said...

Did you think that he would support the LGB movement in the Episcopal Church today or did he?

SUSAN RUSSELL said...

My crystal ball is in storage and while I don't make it a habit to presume to read other people's minds, I imagine -- given his strong stands for justice, compassion and equality during his rectorate and episcopate -- he would be on the right side of history for LGBT folk.

And the point of your question?

Mitchell said...

The point of my question comes from my interest in sexuality vis-a-vis Christianity. It is a very interesting topic.


I would guess that your right. It is just that he is a "Christian Minister", so historically most Christian ministers have not been kind to LGB people, or a more tolerant view of sexuality in general.

SUSAN RUSSELL said...

Historically they havent' exactly been out front on sexism, either ... but thankfully John Burt and others of his generation helped shift that somewhat.

Bryant Dennison said...

Thanks for the remembrances of John Burt. I was ordained by him in the Diocese of Ohio in the early 70s. I remember especially his leadership on civil rights and with the ordination of women. He also gave the best Confirmatins sermon I ever heard.

Bryant Dennison