Episcopal Press and News
Dean Sayre to Retire After 25 Years
Episcopal News Service. June 23, 1977 [77222]
Washington, D.C. -- The Very Rev. Francis Bowes Sayre, Jr., Dean of Washington Cathedral since 1951, has submitted his resignation to the Cathedral Chapter to take effect on January 17, 1978. At their meeting yesterday (June 16) chapter members accepted his decision with regret.
Dean Sayre's quarter-century at Washington Cathedral has seen the completion of the vast nave, the installation of fifty percent of the cathedral's total stained glass (including the west rose window and the space window) and the construction of the west facade to the base of the twin west towers. The south transept and the central tower had also been constructed and dedicated under his aegis.
In addition, the dean has been a leading figure in social concerns. Among the first voices raised against the tactics of the late Senator Joseph P. McCarthy was his from the pulpit of Washington Cathedral; he took part in the civil rights struggle, including the Selma-Montgomery march; spoke against the war in Vietnam; went to the defense of an Anglican dean imprisoned in South Africa; worked on behalf of world refugees and for equal employment opportunities.
Dean Sayre came to the cathedral from an active ministry in Cleveland, Ohio, where he was rector of St. Paul's Church and Industrial Chaplain for the diocese.
For three years he was chairman of the United States Committee for Refugees, the coordinating group representing every agency concerned with the world's homeless and uprooted people.
President Kennedy named Dean Sayre to the President's Committee on Equal Employment, thus recognizing his efforts in the civil rights fight. Dean Sayre served on this Federal agency until its reorganization as the Civil Rights Commission.
Now the senior dean in point of service among American cathedrals, Dean Sayre was the originator of the annual meetings of Cathedral Deans. In 1975 he led the group to Rome where they had an audience with Pope Paul VI and became the first group to celebrate the Anglican Eucharist in the Vatican since the Reformation.
Dean Sayre has been associated with the National Council of Churches, the National Cultural Center, National Consumer's League, Leonard Wood Memorial (leprosy), the Presbyterian Ministers' Fund other church and civic organizations. In 1976 Dean Sayre was named Clergyman of the Year by the Religious Heritage of America, Inc.
He recently accepted appointment as a member of the Advisory Council of the Bishop for the Armed Forces (1972- ) and the Board of Directors of the National Space Institute (1975- ).
Son of the late Honorable Francis B. Sayre, former United States representative on the Trusteeship Council of the United Nations, and the late Jessie Woodrow Wilson Sayre, he was born in Washington on January 17, 1915.
He was graduated cum laude from Williams College in 1937. He entered Union Theological Seminary in New York City, transferring for his final year to the Episcopal Theological School in Cambridge, Mass.
After ordination, his first assignment was as assistant minister of Christ Church, Cambridge. In 1942 he entered the Navy as chaplain, serving for twenty-four months aboard the heavy cruiser USS San Francisco. Later, he was staff chaplain, Philippine Sea Frontier and he was discharged after four years service as Lieutenant Commander, USNR.
Dean Sayre holds the following degrees: A. B. and D.D., Williams College; M. Div., Episcopal Theological School; L.H.D., Wooster College (Ohio); D.D., Hobart College (New York); S. T. D. , The Queens University (Belfast, Northern Ireland); L.H.D., Lehigh University; H. L.D., Ursinus College (Pennsylvania); D.D., Wesleyan (Connecticut); D.D., Virginia Theological Seminary.