Religion: In the Churches

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In the following places the following churchmen made news last week:

¶ In Manhattan, the 117-year-old American Bible Society celebrated a century of service to China. Vice President John R. Mott recalled that in 1833 the Society sent $3,000 to Dr. Elijah C. Bridgman, first U. S. Protestant missionary to China, to print scriptures in Chinese. Since then the Society has spent $2,897,383 distributing nearly 70,000,000 volumes of scripture in China.

¶ In Manhattan. Monsignor Michael J. Lavelle, 77, rector of St. Patrick's Cathedral for 47 years, was appointed vicar general, second in rank in the archdiocese. Long Cardinal Hayes's handyman, Monsignor Lavelle has specialized in Catholic charities and education. In his youth he carried the train of Archbishop John McCloskey at his investiture as first U. S. Cardinal.

¶ In Manhattan, the Federal Council of Churches issued a "Summons to Spiritual Advance'' signed by heads of 30 Protestant denominations aggregating more than 27,000,000 members. Declaring that "we rejoice in every evidence that great social ideals of Christianity are being woven into the fabric of our national life," the statement urged that "alongside all plans for recovery that are made in our economic and industrial life there should be a nationwide effort for moral and spiritual recovery and advance."

¶ In Philadelphia, a joint committee of the northern and southern branches of the Presbyterian Church announced a plan of merger, to be voted upon by both in 1935. Retaining essential doctrines and governments of each church, the new ''Presbyterian Church of North America'' would embrace 2,200,000 members.

¶ In Garden City, L. I., Missionary Eli Stanley Jones addressed the 41st annual Foreign Missions Conference of North America (84 boards), which sent him and others touring the U. S. last autumn (TIME, Dec. 11). Said Dr. Jones: "I will go back to India heartened and convinced that the soul of the church is sound. . . . There is an undertone of craving for Christian unity. . . . We must get rid of the cleavage between denominations. No Christianity can compete with Marxian Communism and Islam that has race exclusiveness at heart."