v$N . „ X yy-'^j:' •in FOR MEtHQB*ST FAMILIES (7 FEp < Rehobeth Church near Union, W. Va., first Strother's Meetinghouse, built near Gallatin, Methodist church (1785) west of the Alleghenies, was Tenn., hosted Methodism's 1802 Western Conference. dedicated in 1786 by Bishop Asbury. Here, too, he Moved to Scarritt College campus, in Xashville, it ordained Methodism's first deacon in the West. now houses the Tennessee Conference Museum. METHODISM: IxCf C^V*\4*4> A LOG CABIN church or chapel on the frontier dif- colonists did not have the knowledge, and lived in fered little from a log cabin home; in fact, homes often brush and bark shelters. Immigrants from the great became churches when Methodist circuit riders ar- forests of northern Europe, however, built the first rived. Built to withstand weather, time, or Indian cabins as early as 1638, and taught other colonists how attack, a number of those early log chapels and meet- to hew, square, and notch the logs, how to chink be- inghouses still stand today, some as official shrines of tween the cracks with moss, clay, or mud. So, long be- The Methodist Church. fore the American Revolution, log cabins had become All it took to build a log cabin was some trees and a standard housing on the western frontier. few simple tools—plus the know-how. The first English The earliest known Methodist log meetinghouse (no longer standing) was built bv Robert Strawbridge, an Irish colonist and carpenter, on Sam's Creek, Md., in the mid-1760s. This house, 24 by 24 feet in size, was replaced later bv a larger and better house at another site. Bv then, it is said, Strawbridge's fervor had ac- counted for nearly half the Methodists in the colonies. Within 50 vears after Strawbridge's first meeting- house, Methodism forged across the Mississippi and pressed on through the plains, replacing logs with sod or stone. But main' of the cabins stand today—re- minders that Methodism, from humble and rustic beginnings on a long-lost frontier, always has shared the American dream. Strawbridge's first meetinghouse in Maryland, built in the mid-1760s. gave way to a better house on Pipe Creek in 1783. Asbury credited the area with "the first society in Maryland—and America." Together /February 1965 McKendree Chapel, erected near Cape Girardeau, The John Evans House, near New Windsor, Md., Mo., about 1819, is protected by chipboard and canopy. may have been Robert Strawbridge's preaching place Named for Methodism's first American-born bishop, before lie built a log church (below, left). it was possibly first west of the Mississippi. Evans belonged to the society there. Acuff's Chapel (1786) was the first in Tennessee. The 1964 General Conference named it a Methodist shrine. J*. S L Don't think of it as losing a coffeecake. Think of it as gaining big sticky smiles from little boys you love. And a feeling you've done something special. Very special—when you bake it by hand . bake it by heart . bake it with Fleischmann's Yeast. FROSTY RAISIN-PECAN CAKE Scald milk; stir in sugar, salt, margarine. up dough to form 16-inch roll; seal edge. Cool to lukewarm. Dissolve yeast in Place, sealed down, in greased 10- Vz cup milk V2 cup sugar warm edge water in large warm bowl. Add lukewarm inch tube pan. Cover; let rise in warm V2 teaspoon salt milk mixture, eggs, grated orange peel, draft-free place until doubled, about 1 V2 cup (1 stick) Fleischmann's Margarine 2Va cups flour. Beat until smooth. Measure hour. Bake at 350°F. 30 minutes, or until 2 packages Fleischmann's off 1 cup of batter; to this add prepared done. When cool frost with confectioners' Active Dry Yeast raisins (see below) and pecans. To rest of sugar frosting. Makes 1 round cake. V2 cup warm water (105°-115°F.) batter beat in IV2 cups flour. Cover both 2 eggs 4 teaspoons grated orange peel mixtures; let rise in warm draft-free place To prepare fruit: Place raisins in pan with 3% cups unsifted flour until doubled, about 1 hour. 2 cups cold water. Cook until water boils 1 raisins cup cooked chopped Turn out larger portion of dough onto rapidly for 1 minute. Drain and chop. V2 cup chopped Planters Pecans floured board; roll to 10 x 16-inch rec- (Dates may be substituted for raisins. Re- Confectioners' sugar frosting tangle. Spread with fruit-nut batter. Roll move pits from dates before chopping.) VATICAN II: The Record So Far The News: Since October, 1962, the Roman Cath- olic Church has been struggling painfully and pub- licly in Vatican Council sessions to restructure both its inner life and its attitudes toward non-Catholics. Although progress has been great, many issues still have not been resolved. As the third session drew to a close late last November in Rome, Pope Paul VI declared that one more Vatican Council session would be convened. When it begins, possibly next fall or early in 1966, the 2,300 prelates who consti- tute the council (most of them bishops) will face The Vatican Council's third session some of the stickiest questions of the historic pro- ended toith Pope Paul's celebration of the mass ceedings. Among them are: in crowded St. Peter's Basilica. • A declaration on religious liberty. Protestants believe that an unequivocal statement is needed if dialogue between Catholics and Protestants is to be sive majority by refusing to intervene when the con- meaningful in years to come. servatives blocked a vote on a statement concerning • A declaration on the Jews. Non-Catholics—and religious liberty. He made 19 changes in the schema many of the Catholic bishops themselves—hope for on Christian unity after it had been passed by the a forthright statement that the Roman Catholic full council. And he proclaimed the Virgin Mary as Church does not hold the Jewish people responsible Mother of the Church—a title the bishops had de- for Christ's death. A preliminary declaration to this cided not to give her. effect was approved before the third session ended. "There undoubtedly was disappointment and re- • A massive schema, "On the Church in the Mod- sentment among the progressive majority," says Dr. ern World." The bishops are tackling a comprehen- Walter G. Muelder, an official Methodist observer at sive statement on a wide range of social concerns, in- the council and dean of Boston University's School cluding birth control (the preeminent problem for of Theology. "But I do not feel that it is as serious many Catholic families), nuclear weapons, and racial in the long run as some commentators have indicated. discrimination. The Pope is in the very difficult position of having to handle questions of procedure and of historic Background: As a result of actions taken at the moment at the same time." First Vatican Council, which ended in 1870, power The Pope has said that the declaration on religious came to be concentrated in the Curia, the central liberty will be brought before the council early in administrative group of the church, located in Rome. the fourth session. Now the pendulum is shifting toward decentraliza- Protestant observers seem to agree that the third tion—more authority in their own areas for the session ended on an uncertain note. Nevertheless, bishops. Just how far it will swing depends on what although there is discomfort over the Pope's ac- Pope Paul will allow. The new statement of eollegi- tions, they point out that his record in behalf of ality, which gives the bishops increased power in progressive principles is a good one. relation to the Pope and Curia, had hardly been Some observers feel that his actions at the end of hammered out by Vatican Council II when the Pope, the third session came because he felt he had to at the end of the third session, reasserted his ulti- remind the bishops of his ultimate powers. Earlier mate powers in no uncertain terms. in the session, the council had harshly criticized and During the last 72 hours of the 10-week session, overwhelmingly defeated a statement on missions, he angered and disheartened many in the progres- after Pope Paul had taken the unusual step of ap- jebruary 1 965 \ Together " peaiing at the council to ask the several levels, and for Roman Catho- gressive majority confronting the con-l bishops to approve it. Instead, they lics it now means that they are joining servatives, who hold central positions directed that it be rewritten. the ecumenical movement—although, of power. And, as Robert Doty wrote like the various Protestant denomina- in The New York Times, the final re- The Record So Far: The bishops tions, they will persist in their own sult will be determined by Pope Paul spent most of the first session in 1962 theological convictions. As the bishops learned in the waning exchanging views and exploring prob- The Roman Catholic Church, says hours of the third session, says Mr. lems. That in itself, say observers, was Methodist observer Robert E. Cush- Doty, "You cannot fight city hall, es- important and one of the aims sought man, dean of Duke University's Divin- pecially when it is called infallible.' by Pope John XXIII when he called ity School, now accepts ecumenism Dr. Albert C. Outler, an official Vatican II into session. More easily, "not as a Catholic invitation to the Methodist observer at Vatican II anc he could have issued papal pronounce- many to return to the one, but as a a professor at Perkins School of The ments to cover the changes he wanted, movement of the whole of Christen- ology, Southern Methodist University, and the church waters would have re- dom toward what Paul VI described takes this look into the future: mained much more calm.