MY LITTLE CHURCH AROUND THE CORNER

Here is a book which is not only an autobiographical account of Dr. Ray, his opinions and philosophy which show him to be a true leader of his times, but also of his church which is more than a local landmark. Schooled in the South and New York where he decided to go into Orders, Dr. Ray grew up a man of many connections and many interests which are reflected in his book. In 1923, he became the third rector of the Church of the Transfiguration, which had been built in 1850 just off Fifth Avenue. The first rector was a New Englander, whose vision founded the church-adopted for it the high church principles of the Anglo-Catholic movement then surging in England and harbored Negroes within its walls during the Civil War days. After the war, he buried the actor for whom another Episcopalian rector had refused to conduct the rites, and it is this incident which gave Transfiguration the name by which it is known all over the country and abroad. Matching the interest of the Civil War days is the account of the breadline maintained by the church under Dr. Ray during the worst of the depression years, when among others Heywood Broun came to Dr. Ray's help. The book is peppered with names of the great in all walks of life- caught in very human moments-- among them of course brides and grooms, for people have come from all over the country to be married in the Little Church Around the Corner. It is a book which will undoubtedly fascinate many kinds of readers.