Purpose

The purpose of Episcopal Connections is to strengthen the life and faith of The Episcopal Church and the Anglican Communion by offering its members and others opportunities for education, training, enrichment, discussion, and fellowship. 

Founded in 1887 as The Church Club of New York, Episcopal Connections brings people together from different parishes, in fellowship, to discuss and deepen their understanding of the issues of the day, including those in theology, social justice, the arts, and more. To that end, Episcopal Connections supports and hosts a series of ministries and monthly events including: the Liddell Award for Young Adult Service, Episcopal education, attention to issues such as human rights, charitable endeavors, and other mission-related activities.

Membership is open to all interested people who support our mission. Episcopal Connections is a lay organization formed of members of the Episcopal Church and other denominations in full communion with the Episcopal Church. Clergy may join as associate members. Associate members also include laity of other faith traditions. Membership is represented throughout the United States of America, with particular emphasis in the tristate metropolitan area of Connecticut, New Jersey, and New York.

Episcopal Connections and the Church Club of New York are classified as an integrated auxiliary of The Episcopal Diocese of New York. Membership and associate membership is open to all interested people who support its purpose.

History

Condensed from Ronald B. Young’s supplemental materials to The History of The Church Club of New York.

Beginnings

Now known as Episcopal Connections, the Church Club of New York was founded in 1887 by a group of committed laymen as a forum for theological education and social interaction. They sought to give the laity a voice in the affairs of the diocese, separate from individual parishes.

Prominent members, including J.P. Morgan, who was senior warden at St. George’s Church, were instrumental in funding a number of diocesan projects in the late 19th and early 20th centuries, including the Cathedral Church of St. John the Divine.

Our Gilded Age-to-Jazz Age early heyday was one of white-tie dinners at the Waldorf-Astoria and an annual series of theological lectures by American and British scholars.

World War II and After

During the war years, the group maintained its activities, including the annual dinner, but the menu was reduced “to complete simplicity.” Events attracted important speakers for these wartime dinners, including Viscount Halifax, British Ambassador to the United States, in 1942.

Members were prominent in the affairs of the national Episcopal Church. In 1940, General Convention adopted a flag and seal, designed by William M. Baldwin. The proposal to adopt them had been spearheaded by Clifford Morehouse, editor of the The Living Church and a member of the Church Club.

Not by Bread Alone

Programs in the 1940s and ’50s did not consist only of formal dinners. Education of the laity remained central to the mission, such as a series of round-table events during which a speaker would introduce a topic followed by a discussion. Professor Powel Mills Dawley of the General Theological Seminary spoke on the ecumenical movements. Another event featured discussion of the 1946 General Convention and the Church’s new marriage canon, which liberalized the regulations with respect to remarriage after divorce.

Chosen Forum for Bishops

Bishops in the 1950s and ’60s used Episcopal Connections events to make important public statements, intended for both the diocese and the wider civic community. Bishop Horace Donegan even referred to the annual dinners as “a diocesan family gathering.”

In January 1953 Bishop Donegan caused a public sensation when he told the an Episcopal Connections gathering that New York City “has fallen on evil days.” The city, he said, was tolerating sub-standard housing. There was overcrowding in the public schools and problems with the Board of Education. Police protection was inadequate, especially in Morningside Heights around the cathedral, and there was an extensive waterfront racket that controlled the docks.

Bishop Donegan urged that all faiths join in the fight to curb the city’s evils. The New York Times, The World-Telegram and Sun and the Herald Tribune all carried editorials praising the bishop’s appeal. The result was an interfaith council that investigated the causes of municipal deterioration.

A year later, Bishop Donegan addressed his remarks to the role of the Episcopal Church in contemporary society. He told the members and guests that the Episcopal Church must face change. The church must adjust to the changing ethnic make-up of New York City even if it becomes necessary “to sacrifice much that is time honored.”

Eminent Guests

In the 1960s, dinners were awash with visiting bishops, archbishops, and primates. Dr. Fisher, the retired archbishop of Canterbury then ennobled as Lord Fisher of Lambeth, was the guest of honor at a dinner at the Pierre Hotel in 1962. Fisher’s pithy humor was very popular with the audience. A few years later, Presiding Bishop John Hines was the guest. In 1966 there was a special dinner at the University Club to hear the Bishop of London, Robert Stopford. And a year later, Michael Ramsey, the archbishop of Canterbury, returned to address assembled members and friends.

Women Join In

One important change faced in an honorable and gracious manner was the issue of membership for women. The debate crystallized in the early 1970s. Peter Megaree Brown, elected President in 1972, believed that the membership would benefit greatly in vitality in spirit if women were admitted. But the issue remained divisive, as the Church Club had been a gentlemen’s enclave since 1887.

President Brown urged the Trustees to begin a full and frank discussion of the subject. They took up the task over the next few years and examined all the arguments. The vote was put to the membership at its annual meeting in 1975. Arguments were made, a vote taken, and proxies mailed. The meeting produced only two negative votes.  When the final tally was counted the membership had voted overwhelmingly in favor of admitting women by the margin of 227 to 13.

Women quickly become an important part of the membership, participating in all aspects of its common life. By the end of the twentieth century almost half the membership were women, and in the first decade of the next century, the group elected Grace Allen as its first woman president.

Prominent Visitors

Archbishop Carey was the guest at the annual dinner in 2000, speaking about the role and contribution of the Episcopal Church in the Anglican Communion: “Let me say without hesitation that your church has been an enormous support to the work of the Communion. It has assisted me in my leadership, and has enabled the structure of our communion to bring cohesion and solidarity with our brothers and sisters around the globe.”

The Most Rev. Robin Eames, Archbishop of Armagh and Primate of All Ireland addressed the 2004 annual dinner. Eames had been intimately involved with the peace process in his troubled homeland, and he had become the designated troubleshooter of the Anglican Communion.

Eames’ addresses the membership dealt the latest crisis in the Anglican Communion – the issue of sexuality. Nonetheless, he was hopeful for the future of the communion. He said, “The real progress towards peace in my country came when people stopped shouting at each other and began listening to each other. And I believe that within the world Anglican family we may have to learn that again tonight.” He thought the communion had a “pretty good future” because he believed in the distinctive Anglican contribution to the global Christian message.

Looking Ahead

The group has now passed its 138th year and is known as Episcopal Connections, continuing its purpose as a significant social and education organization for active Episcopalians in the New York region. It has continued to engage the church issues of the day and to serve the Church by helping to form an educated laity. Recent speakers have included Lord Bishop of London Sarah Mullally (2022), Bishop of Dover and Bishop in Canterbury Rose Hudson-Wilkin (2023), Archbishop of York Stephen Cottrell (2024), and Archbishop of Cape Town and Metropolitan of Southern Africa Thabo Makgoba (2025).

The Episcopal Church of the twenty-first century is radically different from the Episcopal Church of the late nineteenth century. The membership of Episcopal Connections is quite different in character from that of the early period, and now reflects the openness and diversity of the current Church itself. Throughout its history, the organization has balanced the value of tradition with engagement with the contemporary church and society, and it will continue to grow and change to support the work of the Church here on Earth.