Religion: The Test of Good Will

• Share

In Florida's well-to-do Palm Beach, St. Edward's Roman Catholic Church was badly down at heel. It owed a $47,000 mortgage, had been damaged in last fall's hurricane. In January, Catholic friends of Charles Francis Coe, longtime Satevepost fictioneer and editor of the Palm Beach Post-Times, asked for his help.

Said "Socker" Coe: "I don't belong to any church [but] it seems to me the time has come when we ought to get together and do something. I got the idea for an interfaith committee out of my head. I got on the telephone, and in about five minutes each with the three most prominent Catholics I knew, the three most prominent Jews and the three most prominent Protestants, I had the committee." Members included ex-Ambassador Joseph P. Kennedy, Builder Louis Horowitz, Theater Owner Messmore Kendall.

The All Faiths Committee gathered dresses, perfume, knickknacks, and jewelry that included a diamond necklace with emerald pendant. With white-dinner-jacketed Auctioneer Coe spurring on the bidding at a party in the Patio Restaurant, St. Edward's netted $47,200.

Temple Israel of West Palm Beach needed a new synagogue. Said Coe: "I didn't see why we couldn't help them, too. I'm for churches. They do a lot of good . . ." Last week he and his committee held a second auction, raised $65,000. Said Washington's visiting Rabbi Norman Gerstenfeld: "The real test of good will in a community is action." Said Socker Coe: "I believe a good deal of bigotry was broken down by the committee . . . There's a general attitude of friendliness that wasn't there before."