| Dear Friends:
We would like to call attention to two events in May celebrating Frances Perkins’ Feast Day, taking place in the two churches where she was a celebrant. On Sunday, May 11 at St. Andrews Episcopal Church in Newcastle, an icon of Frances Perkins will be donated and blessed at church services that morning. At her church in Washington, DC, the Parish of St. Monica and St. James, there will be a High Mass on Tuesday, May 13 for her Feast Day as Public Servant and Prophetic Witness.
The Episcopal Church’s description for the Perkins Feast Day observes that she depended on “her faith, her life of prayer, and the guidance of her church for the support she needed to assist the United States and its leadership to face the enormous problems” then challenging the country. Rev. Charles Hoffacker, Frances Perkins Center board member and interim rector at the St. Monica and St. James Episcopal Church, has noted that while Secretary of Labor, she would make a monthly retreat at an Episcopal convent in Maryland. You can click here to read Rev. Hoffacker’s article entitled “The Saint Behind the New Deal” in the May issue of The Living Church magazine.
On May 16, 2010, St. Andrews held its first commemoration of Frances Perkins with a presentation by religion and ethics scholar Donn Mitchell, “Frances Perkins: Heart and Soul of the New Deal.” He explored the ways her work was dependent on her faith and on the teachings of the Anglican tradition and its commitment to social justice. He noted that her Episcopalianism encompassed the needs of all people in both their spiritual and secular lives. She was concerned about the moral welfare and moral improvement of all people, the whole community, whether seen locally or nationally.
Join us in celebrating Frances Perkins’ Feast Day on May 11 and 13.
Michael Chaney
Executive Director
Frances Perkins Center |
