The History of St. John’s Episcopal Church Page 6
THE HISTORY OF ST. JOHN’S EPISCOPAL CHURCH
                                                                      PAGE 6
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well as women within its membership.  Today this group is primarily concerned with providing fellowship activities for its members with some minor activities to raise funds for special parish projects.
At the same time Mr. William S. Limond, Jr., who later became the superintendent of the Sunday School, was instrumental in training young minds in the church’s catechism. Miss Mitchell took charge of the very young children for many years, meeting in what is now the William Limond Guild Room.  Despite the poverty of the time the ministry continued to flourish as people were married and babies were baptized, children were instructed and all were nourished by the fellowship and sacraments of the Church.

World War II and New Challenges

The Second World War, with all its tragedy, also brought with it a prosperity which lifted the nation out of the doldrums of that terrible depression. No one who lived through those war years will forget the blackouts and brownouts, nor the air-raid wardens, who were selected from the citizenry of communities throughout the land. The Civil Defense Department used the boiler room at St. John’s as a storage place for stretchers, blankets, canes and crutches, battery-powered lights, and hard hats. The undercroft itself was labeled an air-raid shelter and the equipment remained in place there until the early 1960s. It is interesting to note that the parish Burial Records do not include any burials during the period of the war (December 1941 – 1945) which included people who died as a result of injuries suffered in combat.  While this is not so strange when we consider that in those days the bodies of those killed in action were buried in cemeteries near the battlefield, it is odd that so far no plaques listing those killed in action have been discovered and no items are inscribed as memorials to such people.  Further research is being conducted which might result in an update in further revisions of this history.  However, there is no doubt that the war impacted the life of this parish as it did communities throughout the nation.  Sons, brothers, husbands and no doubt women as well went off to serve the nations defense.  Others no doubt worked long and hard hours in the many war industries here in Brooklyn and also in the nearby strategically important Brooklyn Naval Yard.  Times continued to be hard and people here rose to meet the challenges as they did throughout the nation.
Even though the Depression came to an end the sacrifices and demands of the war made it impossible to make any major improvements to the property. Throughout this period the rector endured not only a pitiful stipend, but also a rectory which was not refurbished, remodeled, or repaired in any way. After 21 years of dedicated ministry in the midst of economic depression, war and epidemic, Father Pierce left Saint John’s to go to a smaller parish in Vermont in 1950.
The church was faced with a serious problem in calling a new rector, for the position was an important one, and yet there was so little to recompense a man for his labors, monetarily speaking. It was due chiefly to the efforts of Doctor Victor Grover, who lived just a few doors from the church, and the aforementioned Mr. Limond, that the vestry was persuaded to find funds to meet a salary of $4,000 per year. Even in 1950 dollars, this was a pitifully small sum. But the Reverend Howard G. Clark accepted the call and became Rector in 1950. He was a man of great religious fervor, an organizer, and a planner. His accomplishments were basic and necessary, and it is difficult to realize how many good things were wrought in the space of the five years of his ministry here. He began immediately to repair and refurnish this wonderful and aging house of worship and its adjacent rectory.
He befriended a wealthy man named William Greve, who assisted and encouraged him in his aspirations and was indeed a generous contributor to the work done here. The old church boiler was beyond repair, and money had to be found at once to replace it. A rather clever device was employed which fascinated the participants and procured the necessary funds. This is how it worked. Every adult parishioner was given a brand new one dollar bill and was asked to put into practice the Bible parable of the talents. Each person was told to multiply the dollar by any means and to return the proceeds on a given date. At that gathering each one was to produce his profits and explain how they were earned. Mr. Greve volunteered to match dollar for dollar. It was an enjoyable evening and a profitable one too. The exterior of the church and rectory were also in a very sad state of disrepair and needed desperately to be re-pointed with mortar. As a matter of fact, bricks on the west wall, where the Rose Window is, were so loose they could be removed by hand and were. As in the case of so many basic repairs, this was expensive, and yet does little to increase the attendance at worship in the parish.
Inside the church, the old cloth-covered wiring was a serious threat to life and property. The total cost for that undertaking was $16,000, which included the ornate iron lanterns hanging inside and those over the doors on the outside. To top it off, the old slate roof had to be replaced. The cost of a new roof is one thing, but the cost of removing slate is still another. In addition to these more mundane, but necessary repairs, Father Clark installed-the chapel altar.  It is still housed in the north transept and is now called the “Lady Altar” since a lovely statue of Our Lady is now in position over it.  Originally it had a dossal curtain behind it, covering an existing window (which has subsequently been closed up to provide a niche for the statue of Our Lady). A cabinet maker in the parish made the altar itself, and the first dossal curtain made of deep red velvet with gold brocade trim was a gift from Saint Paul’s Chapel of Trinity Church, Wall Street, and originally was used at the Blessed Sacrament Altar there. A polychromed wooden
crucifix of Christ the King was given by the Women’s Auxiliary as an altar piece in 1952. However, the rector received a barrage of discontent about the corpus or body clad in Eucharistic vestments, and that part of it was removed soon after. The cross has been gold-leafed and now hangs in the vesting sacristy. A wooden polychromed tabernacle, which houses the Blessed Sacrament, was given as a memorial. It also was embellished with a gold silk brocade veil. The altar was used for weekday Masses, and there was an eight-day candle supplied, which always signifies the presence of the Holy Sacrament in the church. This same tabernacle is now placed in the sacristy and is used as an ambry or receptacle for the holy oils. It is also used on Maundy Thursday for the Altar of Repose, and on that occasion, is graced with a white silken veil and a golden crown. An extremely-heavy wrought-iron communion rail and credence table were installed at this Chapel Altar.  
This chapel dedicated to the Blessed Sacrament was consecrated by the Right Reverend James P. De Wolfe, Bishop of Long Island at the time. The leaflet for that service, held on 16 September 1951, expressed the hope that the seven windows above the chapel would some day, God willing, be filled with stained glass to represent each of the Seven Sacraments. This prayer and dream came true some fourteen years later. The chapel was open to the public all day long for meditation and rest. Would that it could be today!  
Fr. Clark was also interested in the ministry to children and helped to form a chapter of the national Brotherhood of Saint Andrew for teenage boys who met weekly in the undercroft. The big event of the year was a George Washington’s Communion Breakfast held in the diocesan church of Saint Ann. In many ways their activities resembled those of the Boy Scouts with the added practice of prayer and devotion.
The Girls Friendly Society was also founded around the same time.  It is well known to many Episcopalians who come from other parts of the Anglican Communion and its activities may be compared to that of the Girl Scouts. Saint John’s girls delighted in performing a play each year or a show composed of various skits. Then too, there was a Y.P.F. (Young People’s Fellowship) for older teenage young ladies and gentlemen, which met weekly on Fridays or Sundays. After the business of the day was completed, it was dance time. At one point in the 60s the group attracted so many young people from the neighborhood that it had to be limited to thirty-five active members. There were more than one hundred others who wanted to join. Perhaps its popularity had something to do with the fact that there was a juke-box dance held every Friday night, open to all the youngsters of the community!
All this was accomplished with God’s help and the generosity of the people of the congregation and the community.  As a result of the huge amount of work done on our buildings in this period and the needs for further improvements which were discovered, a building fund was initiated. Ever since a special envelope for each month is distributed with the regular weekly offering envelopes to provide funds for Building Care. This fund continues to be a very important part of the church’s operating expenses inasmuch as it does provide funds for the constant repairs needed to the building.
All these things received Father Clark’s attention and care, and no doubt added to the true happiness he and Mrs. Clark found during their five years here. The rectory was also a rather busy place, for they had five young daughters. Upon meeting Father Buck for the first time, Mrs. Clark made a comment which he will never forget. She said, "We love this rectory because it always sings." The combination of a devoted priest, an untiring go-getter, and an excellent parish administrator endeared him, his religion, and his good works to the parish and the community at large. It has been said, lightly and in very good spirit, that Mr. Greve, who came to the rescue when the parish was strapped for money, was Saint John’s angel. If that is true, it is because he esteemed the ministry offered by Fr. Clark so highly.  Father Clark left Saint John’s to become Dean of the Cathedral in Harrisburg, Pennsylvania in 1955. He later joined the staff of the Philadelphia Divinity School and he eventually was made executive director of the Episcopal Church Building Fund. He died at an early age in the springtime of 1975.
In the year that Father Clark left, the Reverend Donald James Gardner was elected and came to Saint John’s as thirteenth rector. He continued to foster the progressive and exacting work so ably undertaken by his predecessors, especially in regard to the youth programs. A highlight each year for the children was Cathedral Day when Bishop De Wolfe invited all Sunday School children of the diocese to meet with him in Garden City on the cathedral grounds. That day always concluded with devotions in the cathedral and the bishop’s warm greeting and blessing from the main steps, at which time he awarded banners to deserving Sunday Schools for their attendance during the year. Like the Brooklyn Sunday School Union, mentioned above, this too disappeared a few years ago and is also relegated to memory.
The lovely old brownstones of our neighborhood were beginning to show signs of age and in many cases neglect by time Fr. Gardner arrived here in 1955. Many were becoming apartment buildings and rooming houses, which increased the population of Park Slope but at the same time altered the character and social life of the neighborhood. The church and rectory were deteriorating along with the other buildings in the community and  were sorely needed plaster and paint and those other things that are needed to restore old buildings to their former greatness and beauty. It was with this task that Father Gardner and the vestry busied themselves. They established an Interior Decoration Fund, which eventually reached the sum of $21,000, part of which was spent on needed repairs to the Rectory while most went to redecorate the Church worship space.