Episcopal Church Women: The First Hundred Years part 5

The years 1912–1922 were a time of almost constant change. Women marched for the cause of Woman [sic] Suffrage; the Titanic went down and the Woolworth Building went up; the country fought World War I and women, for the first time, were a large part of the work force; countless citizens died in the influenza epidemic; there were prolonged strikes and race riots; the Episcopal Church replaced general boards and commissions with a Presiding Bishop and Council, and (important to women) the United Offering became UTO (United Thank Offering).

At the beginning of the decade, the attention of the Auxiliary was still focused on the narrowly-defined concept of mission (praying for, studying about, giving to). It still divided Mite Box funds between Mission House and the Bishop; it still loyally supported the historic scholarships; and, for the UTO Ingathering at the 1916 Triennial, it amassed, penny by penny, $4100 in Blue Box money. Further, in the interest of revenue, it upped parish dues $2.00.

Certain ideas, which had been afloat for some time, were now implemented. For instance, the Auxiliary divided into deaneries and developed an educational department. The motto, which had been adopted in 1914, “Where there is no vision, the people perish,” (Proverbs XXIX:18) was still, however, printed on the cover of the yearbook and would continue to be there through 1958.

In 1917, the United States entered World War I—and the concept of mission enlarged again. Said the Auxiliary president, “So much is asked of women that old duties become irksome.” Nevertheless, women managed to do both war work and Church work, in a sense combining them as churches became centers for rolling bandages, making hospital dressings, gowns, etc. CPC sent hospitals literally thousands of magazines (many of them bought at newsstands, specifically for young soldiers, and sewed untold numbers of bedside bags for convalescents, stocking them with paper, pencils, stamps, etc. Incidentally, the United States government awarded Miss Densmore (sister of Frances) the War Cross for “this Outstanding War Effort.”

Despite the pressures of war, the Auxiliary cleaved to its prime duty— service to Christ’s Church and to missions. Indeed, it increased the amount of scholarship money, gave generously to the North Dakota Rectory Fund, and bought a car for the Bishop “for greater mobility.”

In those years, the Episcopal Church undertook a major restructuring, and the Auxiliary followed perforce. The Auxiliary to the Board of Mission then became the Auxiliary to the Presiding Bishop and Council, and again it widened its scope—this time to include social service and religious education as well as missions.

Adjusting to the new format was hard; suffice to say, the Auxiliary tried. It began by creating a Social Service Committee (for eleven months, the Auxiliary had paid a youth worker at the University of Minnesota and contributed to a men’s residence—Bishop Gilbert Hall). It also established a library which stocked every publication of Mission House and such religiously-oriented books as members would contribute. But, fundamentally, it still considered its major role that of giving to missions.