Charter Day – Its Celebration
and Meaning
Rt. Rev. Brian W. Keith
Chancellor of the Academy of the New Church
Y
Bryn Athyn Cathedral, October 18, 2013
ou might wonder what you are doing here in the Cathedral this morning.
Why did you have to get up (perhaps earlier than you had wanted), march
over here, and engage in a wors hip service? And why do we plan all the rest of
the events of this weekend?
The celebration of Charter Day has deep roots. Its precursor was Founder’s
Day – an annual banquet held on November 3rd, the date of the granting of the
original legal charter for the Academy. Participants in the banquet were the 12
charter signatories, Academy Council members (like the Academy Board or
Corporation today), Academy administrators and teachers – no students or
alumni!
As the original founders began to enter the spiritual world, they extended
the celebration to all those associated with the Academy. The first such event
was held in 1917 – 97 years ago. That year November 3rd fell on a Saturday, and
the students were invited to plan the event. See if any of this sounds familiar.
They began with a service in the Benade Hall Chapel and Bishop Emeritus
W. F. Pendleton gave a talk on the meaning of Charter Day. Afterward they
gathered on the triangle outside for a flag-raising ceremony. Those participating
included, in addition to teachers and Corporation members, alumni and
students from the Elementary School through the Theological School. (This
tradition of including elementary school students continued into the 1950s.)
After a picnic lunch, there were sports in the afternoon, and that evening there
was entertainment and a dance.
Four years later, in 1921, when the Cathedral was completed, they moved
the service here, as a symbol of the interconnection of the Academy and the
Church. The students and faculty, followed by alumni and Board members,
paraded two-by-two from Benade Hall, with the alumni bearing aloft their
class banners. And the faculty and Board were even then seated in the choir
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