[Magdalen] A Note Re CofE and TEC History

[Jim Guthrie]

From: James Oppenheimer-Crawford

> Morgan couldn’t see why anyone would join any church other than TEC <g>.


​>>For all its faults, I kind of agree with Morgan.I also think it fascinating that in the late 19th Century, Morgan engineered the 
calling of some of the most liberal, radical priests (in the context of that 
time making the most radical of our time seem like moderate conservatives.

On wag at the time suggested Morgan's idea of Fire and Brimstone that made a 
sermon a **sermon** would be one directed at him and his friends <g>.

According to his son-in-law, Edward Latterlee, Morgan would check to obits on 
the NY Papers each morning at breakfast. If there was a funeral in an Episcopal 
Church and Music was going to be part of it, he'd leave meetings mid-way, or 
leave appointments cooling their heels at his office while he went to the 
funeral.

And if the organ was not up to snuff in his opinion, he'd buy the parish a new 
one. His only requirement was that they sing "Nearer My God to Thee" using his 
preferred tune (there were several popular at the time). In fact, one of his 
last acts was to finance the 1916 hymnal (which he did not live to see) with the 
aim of replacing the hodge podge of hymn tunes applied to the GC-approved texts 
(there were five hymnals in common use in TEC) and you know that every tune in 
that hymnal had Morgan's stamp of approval.

Long before Yogi Berra, he seemed to have practiced "You need to go to their 
funeral or they won’t come to yours."

There's also evidence that Morgan's daughter was a lesbian -- living in Paris, 
helping support her friend Gertrude Stein at some point, for example.

I  maintain that Morgan remains the most important and influential Episcopalian 
in the history of the Church.

Cheers,
Jim

PS it should be noted that one of the common favorites at Chinese Take Out 
joints )I forget which -- Chop Suey?) was actually invented by a Morgan Chef at 
an Episcopal GC -- I believe in Richmond in the 1880s as the entrée for the 
"Mission Night" dinner.