The Radio Pastor

Radio Record, Volume II, Issue 13, 23 November 1928, Page 7

The Radio Pastor

HEN the Rev. S. Parkes Cadman arrived at New York from England on the Majestic recently, he did so because he had been "called" to the lareest church ever conceived by man. The congregation of this celebrated English-born divine will number many millions, every Sunday, scattered all over the United States between Florida and Alaska. Dr. Cadman’s official title is now "National Radio Pastor," and he receives a stipend of £5000 a year. His ministry is non-sec-tarian-Protestants, Catholics, and Jews are all represented on the executive and financial committees organising this great movement of moral and intellectual appeal to the multitude. Such appeal will ultimately be made so that the wide-scattered audience will not only hear but (by means of television) will also see the minister. Arrangements for the broadcast and far-sight services are in the hands of the Federal Council of the Churches of Christ in America, representing upwards of 30,000,000 worshippers. Dr. Cadman’s addresses, delivered on Sunday afternoons, are broadcasted by forty stations. He continues his past custom of answering questions sent to him through the post by his hearers. His service, which lasts ninety minutes, comprises music by a symphony orchestra recruited from the best musicians in the metropolis, with a choir of first-class singers. Actually present at-each service are about 300 persons of prominence, invited by ticket to the studio auditorium of the National Broadcasting Company. Dr. Cadman is president of the Federation of Protestant Churches in America, which includes 28 denominations. He has been called the "American Solomon." Realising from the first the religious educational possibilities of wireless, he has every Sunday for the last five years been broadcasting services to 5,000,000 listeners. His replies to questions from listeners-in are reproduced in over 100 newspapers. During his recent visit to London, Dr. Cadman delivered a series of striking lunch-hour addresses at St. Martin-in-the-Fields, also broadcasting from 2LO. "There is to-day," Dr. Cadman told a newspaper representative, "far more real religion in the world and more silent heroism and self-sacrifice among the millions of the workers than people imagine."