LCV Spring 2013 - (Page 60)
and to settlement houses in the northern united states for
“not very religious.” the letter was written in July 1912
by rev. John w. moore, pastor at first mECs in new
field training.
orleans, and perhaps the historian thought pastors do
st. mark’s offered a variety of programs, including a
not lie.
night school, where instruction focused on English
st. mark’s had recently been placed under the aegis of
language classes; a sewing school, where students made
moore’s church. the reverend “reported” to the bishop
dolls and other items for orphans; a cooking school; and a
that ragland refused to have “the church introduced into
free health clinic for women and children. in a handbook of
her institution.” he wrote, “i told her last week that i
settlement houses published in 1911, robert a. woods and
albert J. Kennedy wrote that the aim of st. mark’s was to
expected to start a sabbath school. she said that she
would resign and that she did not want any church in st.
perform “Christian social settlement work,” which
mark’s hall. she takes the position that the church is a
included “endeavors to aid in the adjustment of the
decadent institution.” moore asked Candler to “correct
foreigner to american conditions; to secure adequate
this secularizing evil.” that moore had problems
enforcement of the law regulating the sale of liquor;
working with women is demonstrated by his hope that
better housing and sanitary conditions; more
“whilst i do not believe that you can work miracles,
adequate compulsory education provision; and
opportunities for wholesome play and
still some of these women might be won to sanity,”
recreation.”
and his comment, “i think that one year is all that
any man can safely endure under the dominion of
st. mark’s also included a house of
those the ungallant John
worship and became known as the
Knox called ‘the monstrous
“Church of all nations” because
Breed.’” he closed with,
25 nationalities were represented,
“Your hen-pecked
but italians made up the largest
St. Mark’s offered a health clinic
brother, J. w. moore.”
group. in 1909 deaconess
the truth was quite
margaret ragland was assigned
that openly served both blacks and
different. Joyner had led
as the first head resident at st.
weekly worship and
mark’s. the office of deaconess
whites on a first-come, first-served
regular Bible classes and
was created at the turn of the
basis without separate waiting
showed slides of
century as a place for single
religious paintings in
women to be in professional
areas or treatment rooms, a radical
service in a church that denied
the courtyard. worship
action in the Jim Crow South.
women full clergy rights until
was also conducted in
1956. deaconesses pioneered
italian. ragland’s
many of the justice ministries in
reports make clear that
she saw her work as Christian ministry and delighted
which methodists have engaged.
when people sought worship after being introduced to st.
a historian writing his dissertation in 1969 on
mark’s by way of its clinic or classes. Joyner saw
methodism and social action found a letter about ragland
deaconesses as partners in ministry and wrote, “we are
and st. mark’s in the papers of Bishop warren Candler. the
trying to preach the gospel by both word and deed,
researcher concluded that ragland and the ministry were
believing that the latter is as effective as the
former.”
it is surely no coincidence that two years
before moore wrote, mECs women had
begun a major push for voting rights at
church conferences. furthermore, in 1911
and 1912, the short-lived “men and religion
forward” movement, formed to combat
“over-feminization” of the church, was
flowering. while backlash to the women’s
demand for a larger role in methodism was
severe, the women were astute enough to
get moore replaced the next year. he was
supplanted by mary werlein’s brother, the
rev. shepard halsey werlein, an outspoken
supporter of women’s rights.
in 1923, the women opened the new st.
mark’s settlement house, deemed the finest
in the south, located at north rampart and
Promotional literature for St. Mark’s in the 1930s stated that its
health clinic served both black and white patients on a first-come,
first-served basis. The unidentified dentist would have been a
volunteer who worked an afternoon or a morning each week. Until
World War II, the women of St. Mark’s recruited enough doctors
and dentists to keep the clinic open six days a week.
60 Louisiana EndowmEnt for thE humanitiEs • Spring 2013
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LCV Spring 2013
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