William Temple: Defender of the Working Class

Today the Church remembers William Temple who served as the Archbishop of Canterbury for a very short time, from 1942 to 1944.  William was born in 1881.  His father, Frederick Temple, was a priest, served as Bishop of London and became Archbishop of Canterbury in 1897 and he died in 1902.

William was a sickly man.  He suffered from gout from the age of 2; he had bad eye sight and eventually went blind in his right eye at the age of 40. But William was intelligent.  He had the unique ability to reduce issues to their key points, and William often used this ability when dealing with persons and groups who disagreed with each other.  Once he boiled down an issue to its basics, those who were in disagreed were able to come to common ground. 

William was educated at Oxford and he applied for ordination in 1906, but was refused because his Bishop in Oxford thought that his faith was insufficient.  Shortly thereafter, the Archbishop of Canterbury interviewed William and decided to take a chance on him.  William was ordained a deacon in 1909 and a priest in 1910. 

 In 1916 William married Frances Anson; however, the couple was childless. 

 William Temple was known as a theologian, and considered to have been the most brilliant since St. Anselm who was Archbishop of Canterbury from 1093 to 1109.  William defended the working class; he said that in a Christian society:

          1.      Every child should find itself a member of a family housed with decency and dignity.

          2.      Every child should have an opportunity for education up to maturity.

          3.      Every citizen should have sufficient income to make a home and bring up his children properly.

          4.      Every worker should have a voice in the conduct of the business or industry in which he works.

         5.      Every citizen should have sufficient leisure—2 days' rest in 7 and an annual holiday with pay.

         6.      Every citizen should be guaranteed freedom of worship, speech, assembly and association.

Let us pray:  O God of light and love, you illumined your Church through the witness of your servant William Temple: Inspire us, we pray, by his teaching and example, that we may rejoice with courage, confidence and faith in the Word made flesh, and may be led to establish that city which has justice for its foundation and love for its law; through Jesus Christ, the light of the world, who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, now and for ever. Amen.

CALENDAR REMINDERS

Saturday, 10 November, we will have a second work day at the Community Garden. Following on Karen Lehr’s report to everyone in Church on Sunday, we have an opportunity to reach out to work with the Scott School in our Community Garden. Please keep this opportunity in your prayers.

 Thanksgiving in nearly upon us. Please remember St. Vincent’s House and bring a food donation for the food pantry and place it in the St. Vincent’s basket in the narthex of the Church.

We will have a pot luck lunch for our Thanksgiving celebration at St. Augustine’s this year.

Please remember everyone on our prayer list, especially all of those who are recovering after Sandy.

Your servant in Christ,

Fr. Chester J. Makowski

St. Augustine of Hippo Episcopal Church
Galveston, Texas 77550