Rt. Rev. Henry Knox Sherrill, D.D., who, as Presiding Bishop,
is titular head of the Protestant Episcopal Church in the United
States, will arrive here by National Airlines Flight No. 451
at José Martà International Airport at 3:30 o'clock this evening.
The Presiding Bishop is coming here at this time to take part
in the celebration of the Fiftieth Anniversary of the consecration
of the First Episcopal Bishop of Cuba.
Cuba's first Episcopal Bishop was Rt. Rev. Albion Williamson
Knight, D.D., who was consecrated on Dec. 21, 1904. Rt. Rev.
A. H. Blankingship, D.D., who will receive the Presiding Bishop
tonight, is the Third Bishop of Cuba.
The office of Presiding Bishop in the United States as far
as the Church is concerned can be said to be the equivalent of
the Archbishop of Canterbury in Britain.
A full schedule awaits Bishop Sherrill in Cuba. On Friday
he will attend the 50th Annual Convocation of the Episcopal Church
in Cuba and on Friday evening he will be honored at a banquet
at the Hotel Nacional, for which almost five hundred reservations
have been made.
Henry Knox Sherrill, D.D., who was consecrated Bishop in 1930,
served as ninth bishop of the diocese of Massachusetts, until
June 1, 1947, when he became the twentieth Presiding Bishop of
the Episcopal Church. He is one of the youngest men to hold this
office.
Bishop Sherrill was born in Brooklyn, N.Y., son of Henry Williams
Sherrill and Maria Mills, November 5, 1890. Having attending
the Polytechnic Preparatory School, Brooklyn, and the Hotchkiss
School, Lakeville, Conn., (1907), he entered Yale University,
graduating in 1911.
In 1914 he was graduated from the Episcopal Theological School,
Cambridge, Mass., receiving the degree of bachelor of divinity.
He was ordained deacon July 1, 1914, and priest May 9, 1915.
Following ordination to the diaconate, he became assistant
at Trinity Church, Boston, continuing there until he went overseas
as a chaplain in the first World War with the A.E.F. Base Hospital
No. 6. Later he served as a Red Cross and U.S. Army chaplain
with the First Army in France until 1919. Upon his return he
was called to be rector of the Church of the Saviour, Brookline,
Mass., in 1923 he was called to Trinity Church, Boston, where
he was rector until becoming Bishop of Massachusetts. Under Bishop
Sherrill's leadership the diocese of Massachusetts became one
of the three largest contributors to the national Church, and
its communicant strength increased form 68,000 to 78,000.
On September 6, 1921, he married Barbara Harris of Brookline.
His consecration as Bishop of Massachusetts took place on
October 14, 1930, in Trinity Church, Boston. This day was also
the anniversary of the consecration of Bishop Phillips Brooks.
Bishop Sherrill has been a fellow of the corporation of Yale
University since 1934, and is a trustee of Boston University,
chairman of trustees of the Masters School, Dobbs Ferry, N.Y.,
trustee of the General theological Seminary in New York City,
trustee of the Groton School, and a former trustee of the Massachusetts
General Hospital.
From 1930 to 1936 he was a member of the National Council
of the Episcopal Church, representing the First Province. At
the General Conventions of 1934 and 1937 he served as chairman
of the Committee on Dispatch of Business of the House of Bishops.
In 1938 Presiding Bishop Henry St. George Tucker appointed him
assessor to the Presiding Bishop.
Bishop Sherrill is a fellow of the American Academy of Arts
and Sciences. His honorary degrees include doctor in divinity
from Yale, Harvard, Trinity, Philadelphia Divinity School, Princeton,
Columbia, Hobart, Seabury-Western Theological Seminary, doctor
of canon law from Union College and the University of Denver.
The Sherrills have four children: Henry Williams, Edmund Knox,
Franklin Goldthwaite and Barbara Prue. Henry and Edmund served
in World War II in the U.S. Army. They have a country home at
Boxford, Mass., north of Boston, which they occupy mostly during
the summer months. Bishop Sherrill enjoys gardening and is an
ardent baseball fan as well as an enthusiastic golfer. Almost
until he was elected Bishop of Massachusetts, he is remembered
as being a mainstay to the baseball team when Episcopal Theological
School alumni played the students. He still uses golf stories
to illustrate a point.
During the second World War, Bishop Sherrill was head of the
Episcopal Church's Army and Navy Chaplains. In connection with
this commission he flew to the Aleutians and made two trips to
the European war fronts, supervising the chaplains of more than
thirty Churches. He made a point of knowing personally every
chaplain going through the Army chaplains training school at
Harvard University. For this service he was awarded the Medal
of Merit (U.S.A.)
Bishop Sherrill was a member of the President's Committee
on Civil Rights in 1947.
In 1950 he was elected president of the newly organized National
Council of Churches of Christ in the U.S.A. He served for a two-year
term as head of this new co-operative body, the membership of
which is composed of 29 Christian Communions and ten interdenominational
agencies, representing approximately 31,000,000 church members.
Bishop Sherrill is the author of a biography of the later
years of Bishop Lawrence, William Lawrence: Later Years of a
"Happy Life." He wrote the article, "The Commonwealth
for the King, the Presiding Bishop's Lenten Book for 1955; and
"Why Go To Church," in the Faith and Life series of
the Pilgrim Press. In 1948 his Lyman Beecher Lectures at Yale
Divinity School were published under the title "The Church's
Ministry in Our Time."
THE RT. REV. HENRY KNOX SHERRIL, D.D. (left) Presiding Bishop of the Protestant Episcopal Church in the United States, is welcomed on his arrival here by National Airlines Wednesday evening by the Rt. Rev. A. H. Blankingship, D.O., Bishop of Cuba. The Presiding Bishop is here to take part in the celebration of the fiftieth anniversary of the consecration of the first Episcopal bishop of Cuba. (Photo by Gene Carrier)
Courtesy calls were made yesterday by Rt. Rev. Henry Knox Sherrill, D.O., Presiding Bishop of the Protestant Episcopal Church of the United States, on British Ambassador Sir Adrian Holman and the Canadian Ambassador, Harry A. Scott.
Bishop Sherill, who is here to participate in the celebration of the fiftieth year of the Episcopal Church in Cuba, was accompanied by the Episcopal Bishop of Cuba, Rt. Rev. A. H. Blankingship, D.D.
A great part of the day yesterday was spent by Bishop Sherrill in conference with Bishop Blankingship. He addressed the students of the Cathedral School, where he and Bishop Blankinship were received by the principal, Mrs. Oscar Casas, and a visit was also payed to the Episcopal Church Mission at Jesus del Monte.
Tonight Bishop Sherrill will be honored at a banquet at the Hotel Nacional for which there have been around 500 reservations. He will preach the sermon at the Holy Trinity Cathedral on Sunday morning and will preach in the evening at Matanzas. His schedule calls for him to return to the United States on Monday.