Here’s a match-up that may have you scratching your hair shirt. James Theodore Holly, pioneering African-American bishop and missionary versus Harriet Beecher Stowe, author and abolitionist. Two 19th century figures who had a major impact upon race relations in the United States and abroad.
Yesterday F.D. Maurice defeated David of Wales in a day that saw a brief technical glitch in the initial daily e-mail sent out to subscribers. “Yes, Virginia, there are Lent Madness gremlins.”
What’s that? You say you don’t receive these fantabulous e-mails insuring that you never miss a vote? Go to the home page and look on the right side just under the Voting 101 video — enter your e-mail address and voila! You’ll receive every match-up in your inbox at 8:00 am Eastern Standard Time.
Finally, as we enter into another exciting and occasionally heart-wrenching day of voting, remember that what we say about confessing our sins to a priest in the Episcopal Church also applies to engaging in Lent Madness: “All may, none must, some should.”
James Theodore Holly
James Theodore Holly was the first bishop of the Episcopal Church in Haiti and the first African-American bishop in the Episcopal Church. He was born in 1829 to freed blacks in Washington, D.C. Holly was self-educated and taught himself Latin, Greek, Hebrew, French, and Creole over the course of his life.
As a young adult, Holly devoted his time to the cause of abolitionism and greater inclusion of African Americans in the Episcopal Church. He also worked alongside Frederick Douglass and Lewis Tappan and served as an editorial assistant for The Voice of the Fugitive, an abolitionist newspaper in Canada. Although he was baptized and remained Catholic through his young adult years, in 1852—a year after he married his wife Charlotte—Holly was received into the Episcopal Church. Three years later, he was ordained deacon in the Episcopal Church and in 1856, a priest.
Holly founded the Episcopal Society for Promoting the Extension of the Church Among Colored People, a forerunner of the Union of Black Episcopalians. While a member, he passionately advocated for the Episcopal Church to make a public statement in opposition to slavery.
Emboldened by his belief that people of color could experience unique opportunities and freedom outside of the United States, Holly, his family, and a small group of emigrants left the United States for Haiti in 1861. During their first year on the island, many of the emigrants died, including Holly’s mother, his wife, and two children. Nevertheless, Holly went on to found Trinity Episcopal Church as well as a host of schools and health clinics. He was ordained the first missionary Bishop of Haiti in 1874.
Holly’s leadership and vision helped create a more culturally inclusive church in a period of great racial upheaval. Along with Holly’s dogged determination of a life of equality for all, his ministry expanded the geographical and cultural parameters of the Episcopal Church and served as a voice for the voiceless. At the time of his death in 1911, the Episcopal Church in Haiti had more than 2,000 members, fifteen parish churches, and fifteen ordained clergy. And today, the Episcopal Church in Haiti, with nearly 90,000 members, is the largest diocese in The Episcopal Church.
Collect for James Theodore Holly
Most gracious God, by the calling of your servant James Theodore Holly you gave us our first bishop of African American heritage. In his quest for life and freedom, he led your people from bondage into a new land and established the Church in Haiti. Grant that, inspired by his testimony, we may overcome our prejudice and honor those whom you call from every family, language, people, and nation; through Jesus Christ our Lord, who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, now and for ever. Amen.
Harriet Beecher Stowe
Harriet Beecher Stowe put pen to paper and changed the world. She actually wrote more than twenty books in her lifetime but is best remembered for Uncle Tom’s Cabin, which brought home the moral evil of slavery in graphically emotional terms.
Born June 14, 1811, Stowe was raised in a progressive and very devout household. She enrolled in a school run by her older sister and received an education in the classics, unusual for a girl at the time. At twenty-one, she moved to Cincinnati, Ohio (now known primarily as the headquarters city of Forward Movement, sponsors of Lent Madness) to join her father, who had moved there to serve as president of Lane Theological Seminary. There, she met Calvin Ellis Stowe, a professor at the seminary and fellow abolitionist. They got married in 1836 and had seven children. Their home became a stop on the Underground Railroad and Harriet continued with her writing and work as an abolitionist.
Stowe wrote Uncle Tom’s Cabin as a response to the passage of the Fugitive Slave Act of 1850. This law stated that if any former slave was captured in the North, they had to be forcibly returned South and returned to their owner, or sold.
By this time, Stowe and her family had moved to Maine, where her husband was teaching theology at Bowdoin College in Brunswick. Stowe would gather students and faculty to read over the chapters as she completed them. The book was published in June of 1851, when Stowe was forty-one years old. In a letter to an English Lord Chief Justice, “I wrote what I did because as a woman, as a mother, I was oppressed and broken-hearted with the sorrows and injustice I saw, because as a Christian I felt the dishonor to Christianity.” Initially, the novel came out in installments in the newspaper The National Era. She was paid only $400—considered a small payment, even for that time. When Uncle Tom’s Cabin was published in novel form, the book sold a staggering 300,000 copies in less than a year.
The book not only articulated slavery as intellectually wrong but also as emotionally wrong, with the effects of slavery played out in the tragic lives of its characters. And the book sparked outrage over slavery like nothing else had to that point. In 1862, Stowe went to the White House to meet with President Lincoln. Her son reported that Lincoln greeted her with “So you’re the little lady who wrote the big book that started this war.”
Stowe kept writing through the rest of her life, though nothing ever matched the success of Uncle Tom’s Cabin. And she kept fighting injustice. In her family’s summer home of Mandarin, Florida, she founded several integrated schools and promoted the ideal of equal education.
She died in Hartford, Connecticut, in 1896.
Collect for Harriet Beecher Stowe
Gracious God, we thank you for the witness of Harriett Beecher Stowe, whose fiction inspired thousands with compassion for the shame and sufferings of enslaved peoples, and who enriched her writings with the cadences of The Book of Common Prayer. Help us, like her, to strive for your justice, that our eyes may see the glory of your Son, Jesus Christ, when he comes to reign with you and the Holy Spirit in reconciliation and peace, one God, now and always. Amen.
Vote!
James Holly vs. Harriet Beecher Stowe
- Harriet Beecher Stowe (51%, 2,899 Votes)
- James Holly (49%, 2,733 Votes)
Total Voters: 5,630
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Oh, SEC, this is truly evil.
I cast my one vote for Holly in the hopes that this will give him some of the notoriety that Harriet Beecher Stowe already enjoys.
I agree with Bonnie – this is a toughie, but I’m a sucker for the lesser known and the under-represented. Besides, “Bishop of Haiti” has a saintly ring to it in any era, let alone being the first one during the mid 1800’s. That gets a big “wow” from me.
And besides, today is his feast day!
I wholly agree with your reasoning, Holly.
Oh thanks. That makes it easier. I am so torn.
Just read a HBS quote that I thought I’d pass on to make voting even more difficult…..
Re: Uncle Tom’s Cabin
“I didn’t write it. God wrote it. I merely did the dictation.”
If I hadn’t already vote for Harriet, that quote would have been the clincher. Thank you for sharing this.
Would James Holly have been better off leaving his wife, mother and children in a house of virgins?
That said, he got my vote because he does seem like someone who has had a great impact on our church, Hollys gotta stick together and I had to read Uncle Tom’s Cabin in college.
Very funny about the house of virgins.
lol
LOL! Normally I would not support putting women in virgin houses, but it might not have been a bad thing in this case. 🙂
I think a House of Virgins would be a wonderful place if we used the definition of virgin that says a virgin a woman complete unto herself, having nothing to do with whether she has been sexually active.
I agree. HBS was a wonderful figure, but Holly was more of the church in a “strange land.”
This is really not fair! Can I vote a half for each? Truly, amazing people of God.
Max Bailey, that’s exactly what I thought: “Can I vote a half for each?”
What are the LM rules for a regulation-contest tie? Some kind of sudden-halo overtime?
Great question. Perhaps the SEC might provide us with a link to the official LM rules and regulations. This would be the guidebook from which the “One Christian, One Vote” policy we are reminded of daily, is explained in great detail. Oh, mercy, the Official LM (2014, Tim/Scott) may be available in the Lentorium!
Love all you crazed Episcopalians and HUGE thank you to Tim & Scott for hosting the event!
It`s tough that you put these two up against each other. At least it wasn`t Frederick Douglas vs. Harriet Beecher.
Sallie! Don’t give the SEC ideas for next year!
A truly wrenching decision, but inspired by Bishop Michael Curry’s Crazy Christian Sermon from Convention, I’ll go out a limb and vote for Harriet. Glory, glory!
This is indeed a toughie, but my vote goes to a guy who can teach himself Greek and Hebrew!
A vote for James Holly. As a continuing education junkie myself, I admire his life of self education.
Both very worthy candidates, but I voted for Holly because of his stronger relationship to the church. It gives him the slight edge over a woman who was most certainly doing God’s work.
Note to Tim: clocks changed last Sunday, it’s now Eastern Daylight Time…
Whatever. I’m obviously still sleep deprived!
God is in the details…
Nice 🙂
Really SEC? Are you kidding? How these two could end up against each other in the first round is beyond me. Both are worthy candidates, but my vote goes to Holly because of his ties to the church and his work to expand it to those in need.
Yikes! I’m not sure my heart will withstand Lent Madness if this keeps up. Terribly torn, but Holly, because Haiti is our companion diocese.
I agree with your choice. I also voted for Holly as he made great sacrifices to bring faith and hope to the people of Haiti. He had such strength in the face of sorrow and loss. Both were great people but my vote went to Holly.
Our companion church and school, St. Paul’s is in Haiti. My vote will go to HSB as she is decidedly the underdog today, but I am very grateful for Holly and will remember him as the founder of the Episcopal Church in Haiti and directly responsible for St. Paul’s.
I think both of these people deserve my vote. I went with Harriet because she touched more people, but think that’s not the way to measure Christian witness.
Such a hard choice! Maybe the hardest one I’ve faced thus far this year. But I’m going to have to go with the author – to honor my daughter who writes, and who helps me to see the world in new ways.
I have a sneaking suspicion Susan B is my mother. If so, sorry Mom, but I voted for Bishop Holly. But it was indeed a very hard choice!
After reading Uncle Tom’s Cabin for the first time this past summer, I have to vote for Harriet. She’s a woman of strong faith who changed the world.
The obvious choice, Holly, gets my great admiration, but the ‘underdog’
Harriette Beecher Stowe wins my vote. What a woman! (Courageous enough to change the world from a grass-roots perspective — as a woman in the 19th century yet!)
I served as a missionary in Haiti, and witnessed first-hand Bishop Holly’s amazing spirit and grit in a very hard place. His legacy is a church that is considered the people’s church in Haiti, where there are more than 200 parishes, congregations, missions and preaching stations, along with more than 200 schools (often providing the poor with their only access to education), the best college predatory school, a university, dozens of medical clinics, a hospital, and a living faith that is incredible. The Diocese of Haiti brings hope in a land where there often is no hope, and is strong because it focuses on the people at all times. It is a living Gospel that is beyond inspirational. Bishop Holly sacrificed so much, in a country that today remains the poorest in the Western Hemisphere, in order to preach the Gospel through word AND deed. And yet he remains an unsung and barely known hero of the Church. Today is our chance to remedy that – And so I vote for him in gratitude for a life well-lived in service to our Lord..
I realize it’s probably auto-correct, but a college-PREDATORY school? Yikes! 🙂
Full of fraternities right out of “Animal House”?
Being a college professor, this made me laugh out loud. 🙂
Thanks for that witness.
Lauren, you made up my mind. Vote Holly!
I am voting for Bishop James Holly because of two little boys who slept on my couch one night. They were members of Les Petites Chanteurs from L’Echole de Musique Ste. Trinite. They were far from home, on tour to raise money to rebuild their school and cathedral. They were tangible proof that “the Living God” is known in the Episcopal Church in Haiti. I am grateful to Bishop Holly for giving me the chance to know these boys.
Though I love Holly’s story and am an advocate of continued education and missionary work which he did so much for, I have to go with Harriet. She did yes, a “little thing” in writing Uncle Tom’s Cabin, but that little thing was revolutionary and caused many people to open their eyes, even Lincoln saw it. To be a woman, with an education, who along with her family helped slaves on the underground railroad and in print. That saved people and probably put her family in danger many a time but for the right cause. I have to give my heart to a woman who risked everything for the right cause.
This is a tough choice. But, as someone who spends several weeks each year working in an Episcopal Church compound in Haiti, my vote must go to Bishop Holly. Mesi anpil, Pere Holly, for your work to establish the Episcopal Church among the rich, vibrant culture which is Haiti.
Today it is almost wicked to have to vote. I am so impressed by Holly and have known very little about him before today. Thank you for educating us about this awesome man who was self educated. I have always been in awe of Harriet Beecher Stowe but today I must give Holly a vote.
Two worthy opponents doing God’s work for sure, but on a purely human level, one gave birth to 7 children! Harriet got my vote.
An incredibly tough choice, but I’m glad someone early on raised the issue of the hypothetical house of virgins! I think one of our dear biographers cheated Holly a little by glossing over the loss of his family in his zeal for missionary work. Let’s find out what happened and what he had to say about losing his family as he established the Episcopal Church in Haiti!
Quote from Bishop Holly: He comforted me with a sense of His goodness; lifted up the light of His countenance upon me; and gave me peace by bringing to my spiritual apprehension that, as the last surviving apostle of Jesus was “in tribulation and in the kingdom and patience of Jesus Christ,” on the forlorn isle of Patmos, so, by His Divine Providence, He had brought this tribulation upon me for a similar end in this isle in the Caribbean Sea.
Ow. I thought that this one would be a no brainer, but bishop holly has a lot to recommend him! In the final analysis however, being the bluestocking that I am, my vote goes to harriet
Another tough one between two worthy candidates. This year’s pairings are already excruciating.
Had to vote for Holly because of the struggle for equality within the very institution that should have known better. We know that outside the church there is work to be done but I think it is hard to keep faith when the very body of Christ on earth is blind and yet he did keep faith and we grow because of it.
Very good point. You’r helping me make my choice.
You’re
Every major Protestant domination in the U.S. suffered a split during the Civil War. And both sides used scripture to justify their views. While many of the splinter groups have reconciled, there are still vestiges of those splits today! What makes anyone think that the church is immune from this kind of thing?
The “Vote” button still doesn’t work in the email that is sent out…I have to always (still!) click on the “Comment” button in order to get to a page where I can vote…this didn’t happen last Lent!!
I’m having the same problem with the “Vote” button and having to click on the “Comment” button.
That said, this was a tough choice.
I have that problem, too, but if you go to the very bottom of the page, there is a box that says “Having Trouble Clicking?” If you click on that link, another page appears. It looks like the original one, but it has buttons that let you vote.
You can’t vote directly from the email; you need to click on the title to go to the web site.
This is my third year. The “Vote” thing is not a button. So it doesn’t work for voting – you have to use either “Comment” or “See all Comments” to get to the Lent Madness website to vote.
Last night I watched “12 years a slave” an agony to watch but good to force us to remember and never forget what slavery was like. That said this match up is agony too. I want to choose them both but since I attend Trinity Episcopal Church in Oshkosh I have to vote for Bishop Holly. But Ms Stowe certainly deserves recognition as well.
I voted for Harriet because I read Uncle Tom’s Cabin as a child in northern England and it changed the way I look at the world. Equality became a passion for me from that point on.
Perpetua, your story is exactly why I’m voting for Harriet. Her book changed hearts and minds and lives, across this country and around the world, and helped end the sin of slavery in this country and fire the passion for equality. She and Bishop Holly were powerful allies. The Bishop’s work is no less remarkable. He brought comfort to so many even amid deep personal loss, and left a wonderful legacy of learning and light.
As a current resident of West Virginia, after hearing about Ms. Stowe’s utter disdain for the poor people of Appalachia (whom she called “poor white trash”), I wouldn’t vote for her on a bet. However, I’m very thankful that Bishop Holly is such a worthy recipient of my vote!
I don’t want to totally defend Mrs. Stowe, not having read these links thoroughly, but it appears she was quoting others when she used the term. See the relevant chapter of her book The Key to Uncle Tom’s Cabin at http://utc.iath.virginia.edu/uncletom/key/keyIII10t.html
and http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/White_trash.
I grew up in a very poor part of Appalachia, in north Georgia. When I read your comment, Julie Murdoch, my hackles rose. But thank you, Gretchen, for those links. She puts the term in quotes, as it was commonly used at the time. She writes with compassion for these poor. So said hackles have returned to normal (what are hackles??), and I feel better about Harriet. Which means I’m still wrestling with this one!!
ditto from this girl from Western North Carolina!
A really tough choice today. Had to vote for Harriet though. Her book was influential when written and even now.
I appreciated learning of Bishop Holly and his work in Haiti. The church and people of Haiti are certainly in great need today.
Again, another difficult choice. I ended up going with Bishop Holly for his important work in Haiti. After the most recent earthquake the Episcopal Church was an important source of relief for the country. Without his work, we would not have had the boots on the ground to help stem the suffering.
So hard today! Both brave, committed, grace – filled souls willing to answer God’s call in words and actions despite the mores of their days. Both stories will stay with me today as I consider my own willingness to step out and step up. Voted for Harriet as not only her actions but her words live on today as each new generation reads her book and hears with new ears the old story of human depravity and the ability of humanity to rise above sinful brokenness and speak (or write) a word of truth for this day and days to come.
Re: H.B. Stowe, you may be interested to know that just over the border in Ontario, Canada is the historic site known as Uncle Tom’s Cabin. Rev. Josiah Henson’s memoirs of his time receiving escaped slaves via the underground railroad was acknowledged by Stowe as the inspiration for her book. The Mennonites, Quakers, and Anglicans of Canada received over 30,000 people in “stations” between Nova Scotia and British Columbia; the majority came to Southern Ontario. The historic site is in Dresden, Ontario, near Chatham. Google it!
Hi Barbara!
That’s true. In fact, I’ve found more information from Canadian-maintained sites dealing with the American history around slavery and abolition than I’ve found American ones. (This was true when I was writing for Harriet Tubman last year as well.)
To me, that speaks volumes about how far to go we Americans have in acknowledging and dealing with the unpleasant realities of our own history.
I’m finding that reading the comments of others helps me make difficult decisions such as this one…but not this time!
Wow – this is a tough one. I will have to think about it for a bit. I didn’t vote on the day of the Egyptians, so can I have 2 votes today?? Just kidding.
Deep respect to Beecher Stowe for harnessing the power of story and using it so effectively against injustice. My vote goes to Holly today, though, for Haiti. Thanks to his CB and the commenters for bringing that story alive.
I would probably have voted for Harriet anyway, but having grown up in the Episcopal Church in Brunswick, ME, it would just be wrong not to vote for the hometown hero.
Tough choice; voted for Stowe, though she nearly lost my vote when I read about her family’s SUMMER home in Mandarin, Florida. Didn’t they know to spend WINTER there??!!
Maybe that was a form of penance.
I went with Holly, partly because our Diocese supports a school in Haiti and also because after watching “12 Years a Slave” this weekend, I can only admire a freedman who was able to survive and thrive in spite of all that could have happened and much that did.
Now I’m wondering, if Bishop Holly was born to free parents, was he a freedman? Perhaps I don’t have that quite right, but I trust you get my gist.
According to Wikipedia, “His parents were freed slaves of African descent and his mother was Roman Catholic. Holly was born and raised in Washington, D.C. and attended public and private schools.”
This is a toughie for Mainers. Having just renewed our companion diocese relationship for a third five-year term, the ties between many parishes in both dioceses are close and long-standing. Indeed Maine’s first bishop, the Rt. Rev. George Burgess, was sent by the House of Bishops to study the church Haiti just five years after Holly began his mission. Burgess died at sea near Port au Prince in 1866. But on the OTHER hand, Stowe wrote Uncle Tom’s Cabin just down the road at Bowdoin College. Wouldn’t it be great to have a second strong and fearless lay woman with ties to Maine win the Golden Halo? Yes it would. Personally I’m deeply torn with today’s match-up but, as the mother of a Bowdoin sophomore, I have say Go Stowe!
Heidi, I totally agree with what you have said. I have worked at Bowdoin and eaten at The Stowe House before it became a housing for the college. I also found out that HBS and I share the same birthday!!! A few years between us however!! I have never read Uncle Tom’s Cabin, but once Lent Madness is over I will be reserving this and reading it. Like you I say Go Stowe!!
Another tough choice. While Holly certainly did marvellous things for the church and is admirable in his accomplishments, Stowe did great things in the broader world. I’m going with sphere of influence.
Even though I was awed by the achievements of Bp. Holly I had to vote for the heroine of my childhood, Harriet Beecher Stowe. As a dyslexic child I credit the biography of her childhood and adulthood for being so fascinating that I taught myself to read. I probably read it 25 times or more. So some 65+ years later she gets my vote!
As somebody who worships and serves at St. Luke’s in New Haven, CT, my vote is naturally for Bishop Holly, who is a past rector of St. Luke’s!
Also it is Bishop Holly’s Feast Day!
Great match-up! But three things touched me as I read – our sister diocese is Haiti, I am in awe of those who can teach themselves multiple languages, and Holly served as “a voice to the voiceless”, which put me in mind of my son’s recent large ensemble composition, “For Those Without a Voice”. My vote went to Holly.
Anyone who can live an abolishonist’s life, write a bunch of books AND raise 7 kids is a saint in my book.
Patty, you are completely right!!! I am the mother of 3 girls. Harriet raised more than twice that number, AND was an abolitionist, AND a writer! I’m tired just thinking about it.
I wonder if Bp. Holly read Mrs. Stowe.
SEC!! This is so unfair. We’re going to have to whistle you for a flagrant foul and a technical for pitting these two much loved and much revered saints against one another.
Good match up. Very difficult choice. Although Holly was so accomplished, I had to go with Stowe due to her major wider impact on the” peculiar institution” of slavery.
This was a difficult one for me, as I hail from the Caribbean basin and am well versed with the plight of the Haitian. I had to vote with my heart.
My heart always starts with those who leave their comfort zone to live the Gospel life; and Holly was a true light. Historically my family was also part of the underground railroad in Ohio, and helped craft the 13th amendment (James Ashley). Stowe wrote and caught people’s hearts and imaginations with the horror of domination and cruelty of slavery. She raised children, started schools, modeled her faith and shaped/shamed a nation. Both have my support, Harriet has my vote.
Plus, she didn’t have Sesame Street either…..
I voted for Bishop Holly for two reasons: in the diocese of Southern Virginia, my mother’s home diocese and mine for several years during college, the importance of black Episcopalians and their contributions to the life of the diocese cannot go understated. Before it closed last year, St. Paul’s College (an Episcopal HBCU) in Lawrenceville was not only an amazingly positive influence during the 19th and early 20th centuries for Brunswick Co. and Southside Virginia generally, but it continued to be through the 21st, winding up being the largest employer in the county. Growing up in the diocese of SE Florida, the importance of the diocese in Haiti was easy to see and the importance the church has been in Haiti to this day is simply amazing. The man had to have the patience of Job (it certainly seems like he had the suffering of Job), but the good he did for the church both within and beyond the US is amazing.
fortunately for me this face-off happened on my day off. I was all set to vote for HBS but then I came to the realization that she DID start a war and, although the $400 seems trite, if invested at 5% interest compounded annually it would now be worth $1,083,244.37. I think HBS was laughing all the way to the bank. My vote goes for the Good Reverend Holly. He’s my Buddy!
I don’t think you know what the Civil War was really about It was fought to preserve the union not to stop slavery. HBS’s book was aimed at making people to understand the immorality of slavery. She was able to help the people of the world come to that understanding. As a woman in a time when women were most often held down, she went forward with her belief that all men should have the freedom to life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness. She spent her life teaching women who were not accepted in traditional schools and living her faith instead of just espousing it. She raised seven children at the same time. She was friends with Fredrick Douglass and Salmon P. Chase. They helped her make the case for the end of slavery. President Lincoln even commended her work. As for the $400 dollars she made for the book, it didn’t come all at once and I am sure it was spent taking care of her family. My church had a debate between the two last night. I was lucky enough to take the roll of Harriet. Our voters were overwhelmingly for Harriet.
That simply is not correct. Take a deeper look at events leading up to the Civil War. The violence and actions of people in both North and South were the result of arguments over slavery! Also take a look at the history of the Emancipation Proclamation and why Lincoln issued it, but waited to win a major battle before doings so. Yes, the Civil War was fought over slavery. You are simply mistaken and don’t know enough Civil War history!
Both wonderful saints, I’m voting for spunky Harriet because she is a white person who’s perspective of slavery via “Uncle Tom” ultimately changed the hearts of white people around the world, and who would probably be pissed at me for not voting for the brilliant Bishop of Haiti.
So, let me just say that this is truly a worthy Lent Madness Matchup! I paused over the vote button for a while, because what I read, in addition to what I already know about these two candidates, made it impossible to choose quickly. I voted for Bishop Holly because he embodies the true essence of what we, as either lay or ordained Christians, need to be about in bringing the gospel message into the real world, and being authentic about it. I found it hard not to vote for Harriet Beecher Stowe, too because she did the same thing, in a different path. In the end my vote went to the Bishop because, as a deacon, I love it when the Bishop leads by example!
Vote button in the email still doesn’t work. Have to click on Comments and navigate to voting page. Thanks for a great matchup!
Another tough choice. I voted for Harriet Beecher Stowe because she fought the good fight on home ground and went for the jugular. If, as Lincoln said, she “started this big war,” she used the pen, the weapon more powerful than the sword, and slavery was eventually abolished.
All honor to both “contestants” today, nevertheless. They both made significant contributions in the areas in which they served.
Go Stowe. What a woman!
I have to admit I have a definite bias towards Bishop Holly because of the fact that I am an active member of St. Luke’s Episcopal in New Haven, CT, where he served as Rector before going to Haiti (1856-1861). He was truly a man of God as evidenced by the fact that Haiti is now the largest Diocese in the Episcopal Church.
Yes, Lisa, yes!
Why oh why did you put these two together? This was one of the most difficult decisions I had to make, but after lots of re-reading, prayer and thought I had to vote for Bishop Holly. I so admire Harriet Beecher Stowe, and wish that I could have given her a vote also……, however, there is still much work to be done in Haiti.
Carolyn: How true. Our church in Altadena, CA supports St. Marguerite school in Haiti. They have so little, and we have so much. The children walk miles uphill to school every day-joyfully. We supply hot lunches, teacher salaries, school supplies, and our love and prayers. Their love of Christ and thankfulness for their abundance speaks to the work of Bishop Holly. It also speaks to how much more work we must do in Haiti. I voted for Bishop Holly, and recommend him to you.
A previous commenter used the word “excruciating” for this choice, and that’s right. But I’m going with Bishop Holly in honor of Dr. Chris Buresh, who has been in Haiti as much as possible for a busy emergency room physician, helping with the health recovery of Haitian people since the disaster ravaged the country. He, too, has faced death of those close to him there, but also the joy of seeing Haitians’ lot improve somewhat. In a sense, his modern-day crusade parallels Holly’s earlier work and inspires me to think about what more I could be doing in the world today.
Went with Stowe today, because I am a huge believer in the unique power of fiction to cast light into dark corners of society in a way that shows us that which is illuminated before we realize we are standing in the corner as well.
Great job! Another tough one. Bishop Holly got my vote but I was hovering over the vote key for a bit. I suspect that HBS will win the day.
As a Catholic, I love how this whole Madness is a daily lesson about holy men and women ,some who are new to me, who are shining examples for us all. Sadly, I never heard of Bishop Holly before this morning but I was impressed with his biography. I learned more about HBS as well. This is a wonderful Lenten activity. I’m voting daily!
Did someone say today’s choice was going to be easy? NOT! I want to vote for them both. But since I have to choose one, I’m voting for Stowe. I love that a “little woman” can have such a big impact. And that she published “the big book” after 40! Even better. You go girl!
In honor of several dear friends who are priests today because Bishop Holly paved the way, my vote goes to this great man. As others have said, he did an amazing work for God, has left a marvelous legacy and deserved to be lauded and better known! Thank you SEC for shining light on the ones who are lesser known!
Voting for Holly anyone who can teach himself all those languages – wow (maybe I need to commit to improving my Spanish) — tough decision though.
I admire HBS, but there is something a little obnoxious in giving her so much credit for writing a popular novel in the melodramatic style of 19th century America. She did well by doing good. I don’t fault her, but I cannot see that she was a saintly person. She had a good nose for the right cause at the right time.
However, because Frances Perkins won last year, I do predict that HBS will win this year. She’s not my personal favorite, but in my aspiration to pick the church ministry that will receive the bracket contributions, I have picked her.
I voted for Holly. I refer to Rev. Stanley’s comments to support the success of his work.
Another tough one. I am voting for Holly since his evangelism is what the Church needed and needs.
This is a tough one. I think I’m voting for Harriet, since she did so much to change the world, and did it as a woman (living in the 1800’s no less) and mother of seven children!
As all the matches have been difficult, I agree that a woman in the 1800’S was an amazing feat. No doubt that Holly had many personal losses and kept his faith, but I standby my HBS vote.
Had to vote for Holly – I am a member of the Diocese of Alabama, and the Diocese of Haiti is our companion diocese. There are some wonderful Episcopalians serving the people of Haiti, and I just had to salute Holly’s establishment of the church there!
I voted for James Holly. I was surprised to see the voting so close…are people voting for HBS or the “idea” of HBS? From the descriptions, James was much more active in spreading the mission and word of God and the church. “Along with his dogged determination of a life of equality for all, his ministry expanded the geographical and cultural parameters of the Episcopal Church and served as a voice for the voiceless.” — I think that’s worth voting for!
Surprised no one picked up on parenthetical comment that Cincinnati is PRIMARILY (caps mine) is known as the HQ for the Forward Movement
That’s probably because it’s absolutely true. Is there anything else we should know about Cincinnati?
That’s exactly what I came up with in the end. It was a hard choice, but Holly did the greater good I think. So I voted for Holly.
Regarding the thoughts about Holly being more active in spreading the gospel….I tried to keep firmly in mind how darn near impossible it was to be taken seriously as a woman and to actually even remain safe for voicing, let alone publishing, any thoughts that were controversial. Think of the tortures that women went through not much later for trying to be able to vote. I don’t know if there is a biography of HBS, but her societal beliefs and the publicity they generated could not have been easy. Regardless, this was a really tough decision to make, but I stuck with Harriet.
Not a peep about Harriet’s church affiliation? Born and raised in New England, her father was the famous preacher the Rev. Lyman Beecher. The fact that she was a Congregationalist in her faith formation concerning freedom and individual rights should have gotten a passing mention.
And the Congregationalists merged with the Christians; the Congregational Christians merged with the Evangelical and Reformed Church, and the United Church of Christ was born–my father was a UCC minister.
Thanks for saying that, Katherine. My thinking exactly.
This was a very hard one. In the end I voted for the person of color, Holly. The fact that he stayed in Haiti after so much loss amazed me.
As a lover of literature and a Cincinnatian I feel compelled to vote for HBS.
As someone who works with Bishop Holly’s former parish, St. Luke’s in New Haven, I have the pleasure of seeing the legacy of his zeal for mission every week!
Citizen’s of New Haven and Connecticut, I urge you to vote for a man who has done so much for us here in the Nutmeg State!
I did, Rick 🙂
Agreed, a verrry tough choice here, but having read Uncle Tom’s Cabin recently I have to go with HBS. People will read that book for the next century and never forget the evils of slavery that still exist in many forms.
Betsy, thanks for pointing this out ! Slavery does indeed still exist ! The next time you go to any fast food places and see those employees working their butts off for lousy pay, that is slavery! Thanks for letting me vent. I know I’m off topic here, sorry sec.
I agree with Bonnie’s comment. I initially thought HBS would be my vote, as I did not know of Holly. After reading his bio, and learning of his humility and sacrifice, my choice was made clear. Holly is definitely a saint in my book.
I’m just glad to know that Forward Movement gives Cincinnati a reason to be on the map. However, Bishop Holly is a true saint of the church.
For once, I’m glad it’s such a close race. Both are champions of under-served humanity. Today I had to go with Bishop Holly, mainly because through Lent Madness I learned about another saint. And that’s what LM is really all about. OK, mostly; the rest is trying to find an acronym for “the Episcopal Society for Promoting the Extension of the Church Among Colored People”–ESPECACP? Worse than PBFWR!
For those of you who are just getting started with Lent Madness, “house of virgins” refers to Antony of Egypt.
Vote strategically. If Holly can beat Stowe and Alcuin and Antony can beat Basil, we can have a great day debating houses of virgins versus bringing your family along to the mission!
Touche!
I don’t know how you are supposed to decide who to vote for on this one! They are both worthy! Having written on Dred Scott (an article I tried to get published on the 200th anniversary of the Dred Scott decision. While the publishers very much liked my article, there was sadly a glut of such articles and it never got published), I am only too well aware of the history of slavery in this country. It is easy to say that people “know” the evils of slavery, but the fact is that people in the 19th century did not! Both abolitionists and Southern slaveholders invoked the name of God and scripture to justify their point of view. Harriet Beecher Stowe’s book shockingly disturbed people out of just accepting slavery as a fact of life! That is not to say that Holly was unimportant or to discount his work as an abolitionist. Merely, that it is wrong to discount Stowe’s book. It did, in part, as Lincoln said push this country to a war that was ultimately over the slavery question! Frederick Douglass called the Dred Scott decision “a beacon of light” on the whole issue of slavery and freedom for all mankind. Holly’s association with Douglass is also significant to me. In the end, I had to figuratively flip a coin, and voted for Harriet Beecher Stowe, but it was that difficult a decision.
Any person who can continue in ministry after losing their wife, children and mother-in-law, has my vote. Holly lost neither faith nor heart, and often one or both, go in the face of such a challenge. And all those churches then and now! Talk about yer fruits! Love Harriette, gotta vote for Holly!
Two fine members of that great cloud of witnesses, but I voted for Stowe. Part of it is the collect: she “enriched her writings with the cadences of the Book of Common Prayer.” Part of it is her saying, “As a Christian I felt the dishonor to Christianity.” Part of it is the realization that Stowe was one of the group of people who ultimately persuaded Lincoln that he must speak out about slavery and not simply defend the Union if there were to be any justice from the war. Add the underground railroad and founding integrated schools in the south? She breathed the gospel and lived it flagrantly and that makes her very Holy Woman.
What does that mean, “enriched her writings with the cadences of the BCP”? Literally, or what?
Pretty much literally. It’s the way you talk when the language appeals to you or when it is comfortably familiar to you. Spanish-natives like worship in Spanish because the cadences are those that most fully express what they feel. Likewise, those for whom the PB is appealing and regularly used, tend to show it in their use of language. Henry Beecher (Harriet’s brother) did something similar when he left his father’s Calvinist language behind in favor of the “decadent appeals to the senses — music, decoration, and a joyous frivolity” — that marked the Episcopal Church in his time and place. Not sure we would think of it quite that way, but the idea is that people adopt the cadence that allows them to put fervor into what is most important to them. That is why “like” and “fer sure” and “tots” seem so jarring just don’t do anything for old fuddie-duddies like me.
I humbly beseech Scott Gunn not to include any more pictures of cats in Lent Madness communiques. Cats, as we all know, so heavily populate the internet as to cause both distraction and attraction. I’m pretty sure it was the photo of Morris that did St. David in.
If only the whale in the graphic had been toying with a ball of string…
I think the collect for HBS should be amended to say “inspired millions” as it did – including me in eighth grade. I have to vote for the woman and writer who made such an impact on me at a young age so many years ago and so many years after her death.
I am very thankful to the extensive Episcopal commitment to parishes and schools in Haiti so its Holly for me.
Voted for Harriet.
Seemed like Holly didn’t want to “fight” for his freedom in the US and left for Haiti thinking it might be easier there. Unfortunately, he paid a very high price for this freedom.
I just discovered that today is Holly’s feast day! Coincidence???
A couple of caveats: Holly was not the first Black Episcopal Bishop, but he was the first Black consecrated by Episcopal bishops; he was consecrated as bishop of the (then independent) Anglican Orthodox Church of Haiti. He did become a bishop of TEC later when the Dominican Republic was added to his purview as an Episcopal diocese (and I believe Haiti also became an Episcopal diocese at about the same time).
In any case, I had the privilege some time ago of serving as Interim Rector of his original parish, St Luke’s, New Haven, where his heritage is still remembered, so he gets my vote
Bishop Holly did not benefit from the pleasure of seeing his wife, two children and mother live but persevered in doing God’s work. For those who struggle to make a decision as to your voting choice, the cardinal rule is still this: MADNESS..as in the raison d’etre for the name LentMadness. You’re (we’re) supposed to struggle in making a final decision. That’s the agonizing fun here ! What’s that called? Two words that really contradict one another? Memory black-out today!
oxymoron?
Dear Friends: I have not yet decided for whom I will give my vote. But, I have copied the biographies on Google Translate into Haitian Creole and sent them to our administrative priest (Pere Fruitho Michaud) for our partnership school at St. Cyprien, Haiti. I am thankful for belonging to a community of people who believe in love, mercy and responsibility for our fellow travelers on this planet paradise.
I’m having a hard time choosing today. Frankly, I’m disturbed that Bishop Holly was an active Mason in addition to his church work.
Could you provide a link or reference where you see that he was a Mason?
I am not finding that in any research I’ve done on him.
Thanks!
http://satucket.com/lectionary/James_Holly.htm
I have one question on this: Why?? (puzzled look upon my face)
I had to vote for Holly. The work he did in Haiti resonates today as they rebuild their country.
Bishop Holly received my vote today, mainly because I think he deserves a bit more notoriety. I thought Stowe might be the runaway vote today with her powerful addition to literature and US history, but I’m glad it is close. Both are quite admirable.
This was a tough one for me. They are both very deserving of the golden halo. I voted for Holly because nearly everyone knows HBS and what she accomplished, but Holly deserves recognition for what he did. I missed knowing about his Masonic affiliation – which does make me a bit uneasy – but back in the day, I understand lodge memberships enabled men to make connections that would further their good causes. Maybe still so today.
James was amazing bit Harriet gets my vote. She is just such an icon for that time of life and she was so helpful to so many.
I too would appreciate a reference to HBS’s use of BCP cadences.
Tough choice. As much as I admire HBS, I have to go with Bp. Holly because of the tremendous witness that the Diocese of Haiti has today. All that resulted from the ministry and vision of one man, who went ahead with his ministry despite the initial lack of support from the Episcopal Church as well as the U.S. government.
What a tough choice! There is so much to admire about each of the contenders. In the end, I’m voting for Bishop Holly, because HBS is already so well known, and I think the Bishop’s life and work deserve more public acclaim.
What a dilemma! As I read Holly’s bio, I was convinced nothing would keep me from voting for him. Then I read HBS’ bio, and felt a kindred spirit. I think I’ll decide using the “dilemma method” of theological reflection taught in EfM (Education for Ministry…oh just google it). My mentor would be so proud (sniff).
This was a very hard choice. Bishop Holly’s Haitian mission laid a foundation for the Episcopal Church there. But Harriet Beecher Stowe used her talents as a writer to shine a bright light on the sin of slavery in this country. I think both of these saints would fall into the Bishop Curry category of “Crazy Christian.” I cast my vote for the lay woman.
Tobias Haller has written a wonderful icon of Bp. Holly for this his feast day – http://jintoku.blogspot.com/2014/03/bishop-for-new-world.html
How intriguing that this pair seems to have sparked the greatest number of comments, so far. My 4th grade teacher read Uncle Tom’s Cabin to us many years ago, & it left a great impression on me, as well as so many others. However, Bishop Holly won my vote, with the fact of his self-education, particularly as an African-American in the early nineteenth century, his dedication to the church, his mission to Haiti. Such an impact, such courage!
This was a real tough one. I only just read “Uncle Tom’s Cabin” this past year and it had such an impact on me. But I feel that I had to vote for Holly considering how much has grown out of his works, not to mention the terrible personal losses suffered in his first year in Haiti. He definitely had the power of the Holy Spirit working thru him to carry on his mission.
Holly it is for me. I sat up at keyboard when I read that he so courageously and successfully implemented the emigrate to Haiti strategy that I thought was merely a shameful pipe dream of our racist abolitionist leadership in the 1860s. I learned in Doris Kearns Goodwin that Lincoln favored foreign colonization to resolve rampant fears of the chaos that was expected following black emancipation. See the article on Lincoln and proposed foreign colonization by freed African Americans at
http://www.mrlincolnandfreedom.org/inside.asp?ID=34&subjectID=3
see p20 where we are informed us of the outcome of the 1863 Lincoln admin’s scheme to colonize Haiti:
“a ship-load of colonists was collected from among the contrabands about Fort Monroe, and during that month the Ocean Ranger sailed for Ile A’ Vache with colored emigrants variously stated to number from 411 to 453 persons about one-third of whom were women and children.”
After [fraudulent promoter] Kock was dropped from the project, “a group of honest contractors began the export of negroes, receiving fifty dollars for each American negro deported, on official certificate of his having been landed in Hayti,” wrote Lincoln biographer William E. Barton. “After about eighty thousand dollars had been expended, it was found that the region set apart for this colony was wholly unsuitable, and the negroes were brought back at the expense of the original agents who had given a fraudulent description of the country.”
What’s happening with the voting software? When I press “Vote” nothing happens!
Well, now that I just posted a problem it became unstuck and took my vote!? It is neck to neck…. Go Harriet!
I believe Bishop Holly was also the first Bishop of La Iglesia Episcopal Dominicana, because originally Haiti and La República Dominicana, being on the same island, were served by one diocesan structure. It was after his time that they became separate institutions. And it should be recognized that he went to Haití not simply for his own freedom, as another commentator viewed it, but in hope of building a free republic for all African descendants in the Americas. You could argue that he personally had a pretty decent life in academic and church circles even in the US, but he was more concerned about the future for the African diáspora than for his own privileges. Had it been only for himself, he could have relocated to Europe, where he received greater respect than in the US.
Voting for Bishop Holly mainly because I suspect, as much as I admire her, he had a much harder life than Harriet.
I’m a United Methodist with some Quaker ancestry, including my great-grandparents Thomas and Mary Catherine Stafford. Owning a large farm in central North Carolina, they didn’t believe in slavery. Instead, they employed free black workers on their farm. I don’t know where they found them, whether they bought them and set them free or what. But I do know that they provided housing and other necessities for them, and built a church and a school on the place for them. My great-grandmother taught them to read and write and whatever else she could, in defiance of laws of the time that made it illegal to teach a black person to read and write. When the War Between the States started, my great-grandfather and his cousin fled to Indiana or Illinois for the duration; their Quaker faith would not permit them to fight, so they were in danger from their neighbors. They traveled at night and hid in the daytime to escape capture by both sides, the North who would have considered them spies and the South who would have considered them traitors. I know nothing of their experiences in what is now the middle West. I do know that the privations of this period wrecked their health. Fortunately for our family, they did return, much the worse for wear, after the war. My grandmother was born in the post-war era. She was very active in the Prohibition movement and was a suffragette. Anyway, how could I not vote for Harriet?
Very interesting reasoning. Maybe the SEC should look into your family for some saints for Lent Madness 2015.
Fascinating story! Thank you so much for telling it to this community.
My first intention was to vote for Harriet but after finding “Facts about the Church’s Mission in Haiti” written in 1897 by Holly and seeing this quote I felt compelled to vote for him.
I had come to Haiti to bear a pure Gospel testimony to a nominally Christian people whose knowledge of Christianity had been received from a church which had also fallen away from its original purity.
Well, I voted for Bishop Holly, but this was a tough one. One thing that swayed me is that the write-up on HBS didn’t seem to talk a whole lot about her faith, except for her family background. That was the tie-breaker for me. I sure wish we could have read more about her amazing faith, because it must surely have been very strong for her to do all she did. Hmmm…just like Anna Cooper–whose write-up mentioned religion/faith exactly none. But I’m not bitter about Joseph losing. Nope. Not at all. You have to let these things go. After what he did for Jesus…nope. Let it go.
A lot of tough match-ups this year. If this one brings anguish, wait until the Wesley brothers face off against each other! Fie! Still, maybe because I so recently watched a video of Bishop Curry’s GC sermon, Stowe it is for me.
This is the hardest of all so far. In the end I voted for HBS because of the way women were discounted in so many ways and how she worked in various ways to change society. This still has me gritting my teeth and praying my TMJ doesn’t go crazy!
This was a difficult decision, but I voted for Bishop Holly
I voted for the Bishop in honour of my grand daughter who went to Haiti on a mission trip while in high school .Two memories stand out.A year later the Episcopal priest she came to know in the town of Janette up in the mountain,came to Milwaukee to visit with the Diocese and asked them to find Ashlie so he could renew their friendship,So they visitted at her after school job at the PicknSave grocery store.Second story,every time the group went by bus down to Port au Prince the leader did a head count.He kept coming up 1 person short.The villagers would ride in the back of the bus so he only counted the white kids.Ashlie who happens to be Black always sat with the villagers!
In the middle of reading a wonderful new 2014 biography of Harriet Beecher Stowe subtitled “A Spiritual Life”, by Nancy Koester, there is no doubt in my mind that she should go all the way. The effort it took to write while mothering small children is no small thing, and what she felt called to write moved the conscience of the church as well as the nation.
Yes, a difficult choice. It seemed to me that Stowe had “friendly environments” in which to work. Also, getting Bowdoin faculty and student critiques of each chapter of Uncle Tom’s Cabin must have been very useful. Rev. Holly seemed to have had to work in more hostile environments and rely more on his own strengths (and God’s). That’s why I voted for Holly.
Harriet Beecher Stowe was vilified for her book. She did not have a “friendly environment” in which she worked. She was hung in effigy and there were other violent incidents involved in the publication of Uncle Tom’s Cabin!
Harriet’s family was well educated and lived well. Everyone knows of her writings/ but Bishop Holly is new to me (many if the saints are) and yet he educated himself and worked so hard where so many are still so poor. Harriet Beecher Stowe did great things but certainly did not have as difficult time getting her word done. By the way, there is a new book being released soon about Isabella Beecher, the youngest sister in the Beecher family. The book’s name is “Tempest Tossed, the Spirit of Isabella Beecher Hooker, ” written by Susan Campbell. I have heard the author speak and the book sounds wonderful.
Thinking of our mission in Haiti, I needed to cast my vote in favor of Holly. A difficult choice
Uncontemporary though Stowe’s sensitivity and style may seem to us now, the impact of Uncle Tom’s Cabin–as Lincoln recognized–helped Americans end one of the darkest aspects of our history.
As a proud Haitian-American, I cast my vote for James Holly as he may very well by why my mother’s family are Episcopalians.
Mmm, rough one. I am going to argue that Stowe herself would want us to vote for Holly, staunch ally that she was.
Just had to vote for Bishop Holly since my church has a direct connection to his legacy in Haiti, the Sisters of St. Margaret, who are on the front lines of continuing the care of the poor and teaching the young and feeding the hungry. Great women all who might not have a mission there if Holly had not had the courage to move the church to new frontiers.
Today’s matchup was a toughie! In the end I voted for Holly in honor of the bishop but also because Holly is the name of my husbands seeing eye dog Holly. Both were/are amazing servants. What a choice.
Getting tired of the efforts to vote via the reminder emails. Hoping people review comments to learn how to remedy their confusion.
Yeah….maybe it’s time…….
First time I haven’t voted yet by this time of the day. I’m swinging toward Bishop Holly, but the following quote from wikipedia breaks my heart a little and makes me want to vote for Harriet:
Following Calvin Stowe’s death in 1886, Harriet’s own health started to decline rapidly. By 1888 the Washington Post reported that as a result of dementia she started “writing Uncle Tom’s Cabin over again. She imagined that she was engaged in the original composition, and for several hours every day she industriously used pen and paper, inscribing long passages of the book almost exactly word for word. This was done unconsciously from memory, the authoress imagining that she composed the matter as she went along. To her diseased mind the story was brand new and she frequently exhausted herself with labor which she regarded as freshly created.”[20] Modern researchers now speculate that at the end of her life Harriet was suffering from Alzheimer’s disease.[21]
Aw,man, that’s sad. We’re going through that in our family right now. Really sad.
A united vote for Harriet from Hope and Skye. They thought it was cool that she visited the White House and met Honest Abe.
My son actually told me that Harriet was in the lead. Since I’ve yet to pick a winner all lent, I felt I owed yet another losing vote to Holley. I think he might rally, my son thinks I’ve doomed him.
Oh Man! I thought I knew who I was gonna vote for. Then I started reading these darn comments. It was Ms. Stowe all the way. But I had to go w/ Bishop Holly. Not only is he more of the Church, but his legacy and mission are alive and working as we write all this stuff. I know that could also be be said for Harriet, but as I read the comments there is more of a past tense to the comments.
Had to vote for Bishop Holly as I was an Episcopal missionary in Port au Prince Haiti with the Sisters of St. Margaret (Sister Joan Margaret) at Ecole St. Vincent for Handicapped Children. Without Bishop Holly would the Episcopal Church been able to spread it’s faith and humanitarian work?
Gee, I’ve got connections on all sides! But I’m choosing the one whose life and gifts most closely challenge me and for today, that was Harriet Beecher Stowe.
I had to go with Stowe. I’ve had a renewed and special fondness for her since I preached a sermon about her a couple of summers ago.
Bishop Holly for me. I was very impressed with his self-education, and his legacy being the largest diocese of the Episcopal Church. But what really clinched it for me was the decision to pick up and go someplace else in search of better opportunities away from the historic evils of slavery as practiced in the US.
Wow, really difficult choice today! I voted for Holly, but feel guilty not supporting Stowe!
So I have not been on top of Lent very well thus far, and hadn’t kept my promise to read, mark, learn and vote daily on these illustrious webpages. But God’s mercies being new every morning, I trusted that the empty slots on my bracket would be forgiven, and logged on earlier today. Spotted HBS first. “Oh, wow! A childhood heroine of mine! A strong and courageous woman! Someone who did what she could to face down cruelty and injustice! An author who published her first book at 41! (though already 12 years beyond her, it still helps my hope spring eternal…). This one will be a no-brainer!” Some additional reasons: at one point, it looked like my family and I would be heading to the parish that’s not a stone’s throw from where she was living when writing the Uncle Tom’s Cabin (and which reportedly housed a station on the Underground Railroad, a fact about which I figured Mrs. Stowe would have been well aware). I’d walked on the village green, imagining HBS walking there in her own day, and praying that I could be as courageous and true to my convictions as she was. That I could work hard at encouraging the parish, inspired by her witness, to be equally brave as well. “What was the equivalent scourge in our time, and how could we respond faithfully? Etc., etc.” And finally, I learned a few years ago that I had married into the Beecher Stowe family, that Harriet was actually a kinswoman of mine, by matrimony if not by blood (though why my husband took such a long time before it occurred to him to mentioned this VERY COOL FACT remains one of the many mysteries of married life…).
So I figured my vote was a done deal. But then my eye found the second name: “Bp. Holly?! You guys have got to be kidding! THESE two, and THIS early in the brackets?! You’re killing us here. I remember now why this annual exercise is so excruciating for those of us who are constitutionally averse to forced choices. Geez, Louise!” I’d known of Bp. Holly for some time, and anyone who knows our church in Haiti knows what a disproportionate impact it’s had on the life of the entire nation. That with faithfulness, courage and great personal sacrifice, James Holly, as a missionary, had midwifed a living church that now transforms so many lives not only in Haiti, but in the American church from which it sprang. I’d known all that in recent years (though sadly, and tellingly, not in my earlier years), but then I had the great privilege of serving as interim at St. Luke’s, Whalley Ave in New Haven, CT for 10 months, where Holly was rector, and I felt an even deeper connection to, and respect for him. Have his photo pinned on my office bulletin board even now, as a reminder to pray for the amazing people of that parish, and as a reminder of his witness. St. Luke’s is breathtakingly full of history and courage related to the agonies of race in this country. To name just two examples: its first Treasurer was W.E.B. DuBois’ grandfather, Alexander. I nearly stopped breathing the morning I found the first parish register and was able to run my finger over his signature! Another momentous signature in the registers of this faithful congregation that sent Holly (and others of its members) to Haiti, this one in the 20th c.: that of bride Constance Baker Motley, whose signature also stood alongside that of Thurgood Marshall’s on the law suit that forced “Ole Miss” to admit James Meredith. She’s the beautiful woman in the iconic photo of Meredith walking into the registration building, but till my time at St. Luke’s, I had no idea who she was, let alone that she was a fellow Episcopalian. (Perhaps her story will become better known and a future generation will find her on a Lenten bracket.)
So…in the end, I finally had to turn my back on kinswoman Harriet, and vote for Bp. Holly. I think she’ll forgive me. And now I have certainly used up more than my due allotment of “Comment” space for this entire Lent Madness, so will refrain from waxing on in any later brackets. But at least want to add here an enormous “THANK you!” to all the very smart, wickedly funny and remarkably talented people who are bringing us Lent Madness once again for 2014. That includes everyone from the SEC to the CB’s to the people who write both smart and funny comments each day. I learn from and am blessed by all of you!
Both our saintly contenders of today were abolishionists. And, well known for their work. Both were sincere christians. However, it was Bishop Holly who evangelized for Jesus Christ. His efforts in Haiti eventually procuced the largest diocese in the Episcopal church. Vote for Bishop James Holly!
Uncle Tom’s Cabin had a huge impact on me when I first read it as a teenager, but my vote goes to Bishop Holly for his tenacity, his commitment to education and for the Church in Haiti, a country that I pray for regularly but will now pray for in a more informed way.
So frustrated – have only been able to vote once so far. What is going on?