The Very Rev. Allen
James Hitchcock on the Passing of Bishop Pike's Celebrated Convert
In mid-September 2013, two voices from the past were briefly heard again in St. Louis. The St. Louis Post-Dispatch reported, in terms that could only be called gushing, the death of J. C. Michael Allen, who from 1976 to 1998 was dean of Christ Church Cathedral of the Episcopal Diocese of Missouri. The gush was not, of course, over his death, but over St. Louis's good fortune in having once had him as a spiritual leader.
The reporter consistently referred to the former dean as "the Very Rev. Allen," which was itself odd in a day when so many clergy liked to be known simply as Bob or Mike. But the use of the rather stilted title confirmed the desired impression that the dean had indeed been a man of stature.
THIS ARTICLE ONLY AVAILABLE TO SUBSCRIBERS.
FOR QUICK ACCESS:
James Hitchcock is Professor emeritus of History at St. Louis University in St. Louis. He and his late wife Helen have four daughters. His most recent book is the two-volume work, The Supreme Court and Religion in American Life (Princeton University Press, 2004). He is a senior editor of Touchstone.
Get six issues (one year) of Touchstone PLUS full online access including pdf downloads for only $39.95. That's only $3.34 per month!
Get a one-year full-access subscription to the Touchstone online archives for only $19.95. That's only $1.66 per month!
bulk subscriptions
Order Touchstone subscriptions in bulk and save $10 per sub! Each subscription includes 6 issues of Touchstone plus full online access to touchstonemag.com—including archives, videos, and pdf downloads of recent issues for only $29.95 each! Great for churches or study groups.
Transactions will be processed on a secure server.
more on conversion from the online archives
more from the online archives
21.10—December 2008
Early Christian Teaching on the Incarnation & Redemption by Patrick Henry Reardon
30.6—Nov/Dec 2017
on C. S. Lewis, Brideshead Revisited & the Middle Things by Ben Reinhard
calling all readers
Please Donate
"There are magazines worth reading but few worth saving . . . Touchstone is just such a magazine."
—Alice von Hildebrand
"Here we do not concede one square millimeter of territory to falsehood, folly, contemporary sentimentality, or fashion. We speak the truth, and let God be our judge. . . . Touchstone is the one committedly Christian conservative journal."
—Anthony Esolen, Touchstone senior editor
