History along the Way: Stories beyond the Texas Roadside Markers

Chapter 13. Justice Is the Corporate Face of Love

205 Justice Is the Corporate Face of Love Worldeventsintheearlyandmiddleyearsofthetwentiethcentury, including the difficult era of the Great Depression and the monumental effects of two world wars, engendered social, religious, and political changes to the American landscape that combined to inspire countless people to become involved in civil rights and social justice movements. John E. Hines, through his leadership as bishop coadjutor and bishop of the Episcopal Diocese of Texas, and later as presiding bishop of the Episcopal Church in the United States, promoted widespread social and religious outreach in accordance with his support for the Social Gospel movement—a Christian response to social ills such as poverty, racial prejudice, urban blight, labor issues, and legal discrimination against the poor and dispossessed . His activist efforts left a legacyof educational, religious, and social change not only in Texas, but also throughout the United States and beyond. Born October 3, 1910, in Seneca, South Carolina, John Elbridge Hines was the eighth and youngest child of Dr. Edgar A. Hines and Mary Woodbury Moore Hines. Edgar Hines, a respected medical doctor, served on the local school board and community health board and, as an officer of the South Carolina Medical Association, helped found the South Carolina Public Health Association. Mary Hines, a prominent civic leader in her own right, was a founder of the South Carolina Federation of Women’s Clubs and served in various capacities in numerous civic and educational organizations. Her primary passion, however, was Seneca’s Ascension Episcopal Church, and she is credited with keeping its doors open at a time when the diocese considered closing it.1 His mother’s influence led toyoung John E. Hines’s confirmation 13 206 CHapter 13 in the church at the earlyage of nine in May 1920. Active in his local parish as well as diocesan-level camp activities throughout his youth, Hines also excelled academicallyand in athletics in the public schools of Seneca. Although he grew up in a racially segregated Southern community, Hines’s sense of social justice manifested itself early as he witnessed his father’s often unpopular struggles for adequate healthcare and equal rights for African American and poor citizens of Seneca and Oconee County. Skipping a grade because of his stellar academic performance, John Hines graduated from Seneca High School at age fifteen in June 1926. The following fall he enrolled at The University of the South at Sewanee, Tennessee , where he was the youngest student in the freshman class. He quickly became a leader at the university, serving as head of student government and editor of the school newspaper. As he had in high school, he excelled in sports as well as academics.2 By the time of his graduation from Sewanee in 1930, Hines had abandoned his initial plan to become a doctor and instead enrolled at Virginia Theological Seminary for graduate work in preparation for ordained ministry in the Episcopal Church. With a sterling academic record, he again became a leader of the student body and began to look beyond the walls of academia to observe firsthand the social ills brought into focus by the growing Great Depression . In a passage presaging his subject’s later civil rights activism , Hines biographer Kenneth Kesselus wrote: “Living near the nation’s capital, besieged by destitute protesters and the famed ‘Bonus Army,’ enhanced Hines’s understanding of the growing economic calamity. Washington also provided a social education for many Southern seminarians who had never witnessed racial integration . Hines later insisted that he, unlike some others, had no bigotry to overcome because of the positive attitude of his family. Influenced by his father’s views about racial equality, he said, ‘I never succumbed’ to racial prejudice.”3 Graduating from seminary in 1933, Hines moved to Missouri, where after his ordination to the priesthood he worked as assistant rector at the Church of St. Michael and St. George in suburban St. Louis. The Right Reverend William Scarlett, bishop of Missouri, soon proved to be an important and lasting influence on the young clergyman. An early and JustiCe is tHe Corporate FaCe oF Love 207 vocal proponent of the Social Gospel movement, Scarlett encouraged Hines to embrace the tenets of the movement as well, and his mentorship shaped Hines’s ministry.While serving in St. Louis, Hines met Helen Orwig (1910–96), to whom he became engaged in 1934. As the couple made plans for their wedding, they also visited Grace...