Religion: A People's Cathedral

Magisterially perched on the cliffs of Manhattan's Morningside Heights, the Episcopal Cathedral of St. John the Divine was founded 100 years ago and grew to be the largest Gothic church in the world. In the long process of construction−the choir arising around the turn of the century, the nave and west front after World War I−the builders expressed an ecumenical vision in the form of special chapels honoring Italian, Spanish, Irish and other ethnic patron saints. But the church was never finished, and it may never be.

Today, on the heights overlooking Harlem, St. John the Divine stands surrounded by an even wider variety of ethnic New Yorkers: blacks and Puerto Ricans, Jews, Cubans, Japanese, some dozen others. It also stands, in its granite splendor, like a monumental island of wealth and power in a sea of urban debris. To overcome that image, the cathedral is now being recast in the role of its great medieval counterparts, to become, in the words of its new dean, the Very Rev. James P. Morton, "a holy place for the whole city."

Since Morton took over the post last fall, the cathedral's deeds have been as good as his resolve. When St. Patrick's Cathedral, cluttered with scaffolding during restoration, could not welcome Labor Organizer Cesar Chavez to New York, St. John's did−with both Roman Catholic and Jewish officials in attendance. Last winter angry Indian leaders stood in its pulpit to argue the issues dramatized at Wounded Knee. On Inauguration night last January, New Yorkers crowded St. John's for a "Vigil for the Peace" that featured prayers, poetry, dance and drama. Continuing a musical exuberance that has included an anniversary Mass for Hair, the cathedral's vaulted nave has lately reverberated with Harlem soul and songs from Godspell as well as the traditional Bach organ recitals. But Morton has begun long-lasting projects too:

≫ The cathedral backed an ambitious pilot program to encourage the poor to rehabilitate, and ultimately own, their own apartments. With an initial seed-money loan from St. John's, a group of poor, racially mixed tenants took over a nearby city-owned tenement, stripped the shabby interiors and are building modern apartments to replace the narrow, cold-water flats. The city is providing money for building materials and such necessary professional help as plumbing and electrical advisers. In return for their "sweat equity," the builder-residents will make payments as low as $80 per month and ultimately own the building as a cooperative. The city now plans more such projects.

≫ The cathedral has become the official home for some ten independent organizations, ranging from the Puerto Rican Dance Theater to the Thomas Merton Life Center, an ecumenical group devoted to nonviolence.

≫ A "non-seminary," the Cathedral Institute of Theology, will begin classes next fall for laymen and women as well as Episcopal ministerial candidates. Headed by Cathedral Canon and Theologian William Johnson, the institute will offer both academic and practical courses on evenings and Saturdays.

≫ Another academic venture sponsored by the cathedral is the Schola Musicae Liturgicae, a consortium of Catholic, Protestant and Jewish seminaries and musical institutions for the study of sacred music and allied arts.