Dear Editor,
I am very grateful for Bishop Ingham’s letter in response to my article on Bishop George Hills’ opposition to segregation, both for Bishop Ingham’s kind words and for the opportunity to expand on a theme I did not have the opportunity to discuss in my article.
In his letter, Bishop Ingham mentioned Edward Cridge, who served as the first dean of Columbia and rector of Christ Church Cathedral until a notorious feud with Bishop Hills led him to secede from the Church of England and join the nascent Reformed Episcopal Church in 1874. Insofar as Bishop Hills is remembered among BC Anglicans, it is usually in connection with this sad dispute. But on the question of segregation, at least, Bishop Hills and Edward Cridge were of one mind.
Even before the bishop’s arrival, Cridge had encouraged a policy of integrated worship. On his first Sunday in his diocese, before he had given any directions in relation to public worship, Bishop Hills noted in his diary that several Black people had been present in the cathedral congregation that morning.
In fact, while the debate over segregation raged in the wider community, Cridge championed the cause of integration from the pulpit, declaring to his flock that race was an “affair of supreme indifference before the Almighty” (quoted in Macdonald and O’Keefe, Quiet Reformers, p. 63). In taking up the cause of integration in January 1860, Bishop Hills was not so much initiating a new policy as reaffirming the status quo established by his dean.
BC Anglicans can be proud that, despite their later disagreements, Bishop Hills and Edward Cridge were united in their witness on this question of fundamental justice.
Sincerely,
Kieran Wilson
