Bishop Joseph Blount Cheshire: His Life and Work

by Lawrence Foushee London

The Bishop was made a member of the Committee on Christianity and International Relations, which was to deal in particular with the League of Nations. He found the work of the committee very interesting, but later remarked that the American bishops on the committee found themselves in an embarrassing position, since the League of Nations had been made a political issue in the presidential campaign of that year.[55] Bishop Cheshire felt that this Lambeth Conference surpassed the two previous ones in the importance of the work accomplished and in the probable results. The Conference took much "wider and freer views" of the questions discussed. The Bishop observed that some of the speeches which were received with decided approval were strongly opposed to all that had been the traditional policy of the church.

Upon the close of the Conference Bishop and Mrs. Cheshire, accompanied by their friends, Dr. and Mrs. A. B. Hunter, spent a few weeks traveling on the Continent. The Bishop particularly enjoyed his visit to Switzerland, whose mountain scenery greatly impressed him. He always thought, however, that his North Carolina mountains were more beautiful and appealing than the more spectacular Alps. On one Sunday which the Cheshires and Hunters spent at Gletsch, Switzerland, the Bishop took his little party out into the country. In the presence of the great Rhône glacier with his "congregation" sitting on rocks about him, he read the Morning Prayer, omitting not one part of it.

In addition to his three visits to Europe, Bishop Cheshire made one other trip beyond the borders of the United States. In 1910 the Archbishop of the West Indies invited a number of American bishops to Jamaica to assist in the consecration of the churches which had been rebuilt on the island after the disastrous earthquake of 1907. Bishop Cheshire accepted the invitation and, as it turned out, was the sole representative of the American Episcopal Church. The consecration ceremonies took place in January, 1911. During his stay of about two weeks the Bishop participated in the consecration of five or six churches. Describing the ecclesiastical procession at one of the ceremonies, the Daily News of Kingston, Jamaica, commented: "There was then the stern Prelate of North Carolina just south of Mason and Dixon's line; Prelate of a vast domain many, many times the size of this island, and with a problem something like ours." This exaggerated description amused the Bishop a great deal. He enjoyed his visit, particularly riding about the island observing the customs and manners of the natives. He always took a keen pleasure in learning about new places and their people.

Turning now to diocesan affairs, we find Bishop Cheshire preparing to begin a long campaign to free St. Mary's School from its burdensome debt and to raise an adequate endowment for the institution. When he addressed the convention of 1912 he reminded the members that on October 15, 1913, he would complete twenty years as bishop of the Diocese of North Carolina. In his opinion, the most important work accomplished in this period was the establishment of St. Mary's as a diocesan school. The Bishop declared that he would like to celebrate his twentieth anniversary by paying off the debt on St. Mary's and by raising one hundred thousand dollars towards a permanent endowment. He wished, therefore, to devote much of his time for the next eighteen months to this end, and asked for the convention's support. The convention indorsed his suggestion and promised its co-operation.

At the convention of 1913 a special committee on an endowment for St. Mary's was appointed to work with the Bishop. Notwithstanding the efforts of Bishop Cheshire and the committee, very little money was raised by the anniversary of his consecration. Thus, the matter stood until 1916, when Bishop Cheshire proposed an exceedingly ambitious program. The plan called for raising fifty thousand dollars to retire the school's funded debt and to meet certain necessary expenses, one hundred thousand dollars as an endowment, and another hundred thousand for additions and improvements. It was further suggested that the dioceses of East Carolina, South Carolina, and the Jurisdiction of Asheville should be asked to co-operate in this endeavor. The convention adopted the plan, and the quota for Bishop Cheshire's Diocese was set at seventy-five thousand dollars.

The Bishop was untiring in his efforts to interest his people in the needs and promising future of St. Mary's. The program for raising the endowment was progressing well when the war disrupted its work, but the campaign was by no means abandoned. By the end of 1921 more than one hundred and forty-six thousand dollars had been pledged. Two years later the Bishop reported that St. Mary's School was free of all debt. The generous gifts to the school by Mr. Lawrence Holt and Mr. William A. Erwin, which followed shortly afterwards, gave the Bishop much pleasure and made him feel that the work which he considered the most important of his episcopate was now permanently established.

When America entered the World War in 1917, Bishop Cheshire felt that President Wilson was fully justified in asking Congress for a declaration of war. Of the conflict he observed that, while America as a nation had committed errors and evils in the past, he believed that as far as the present war was concerned, "we know that we have no selfish purpose or desires." The Bishop was upholding a cause which was brought close home to him, for he had two sons who volunteered and later saw service in France. He had very definite ideas on duty to one's country, and little patience with those pacifists who held that a Christian could not go to war. In his opinion, such an argument was no more valid than it would be to say that one should not protect one's home and family against thieves and murderers. "We owe everything that we are—" declared the Bishop, "all that we have to our Country. We owe her ourselves."[56] In the course of the war he gave voice to these views in many of his sermons.

When the Bishop heard that a camp for training soldiers was to be established in Charlotte, he called together the Episcopal clergy of that city for a discussion of the problem of caring for the needs of thirty or forty thousand soldiers who were expected there. They devised plans for keeping open the parish houses of the several churches for the use of the soldiers, and the best means of caring for their religious life. The Bishop addressed a letter to the people of the Diocese asking them to give every possible assistance to their friends in Charlotte in this great responsibility.

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As Bishop Cheshire was about to complete a quarter of a century as head of the Diocese of North Carolina, it was planned to celebrate the occasion with a special service in Calvary Church, Tarboro, on October 15, 1918. But when the time came for the celebration, it had to be postponed because of the influenza epidemic. It was finally held in Raleigh at the closing session of the convention of 1919. The Bishop delivered an address in which he traced the history of the Diocese during his episcopate. The convention then by a unanimous rising vote adopted the following resolution introduced by Dr. R. D. W. Connor: