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Pillars of the Church. Behind the bishop's reluctance to take tougher action, no doubt, was the fact that among Lovett's staunchest supporters is a group of Atlanta's richest and most influential people who also happen to be pillars of the Episcopal Church. An example is wealthy Lawyer Philip Alston Jr., a senior warden of St. Luke's parish. Since 1959 he has personally been responsible for raising more than $350,000 for Lovett's building program—including one gift of $100,000 that was contingent upon the school's remaining closed to Negroes.
Whether or not Lovett ever caves in to the pickets and desegregates, the diocese has already been bitterly divided by the situation, and it may take years for the ill will to dissolve. To one priest in the diocese, the Lovett School has become "the Little Rock of the Episcopal Church." It is in fact a small-scale but authentic Christian tragedy.
As their years of service and support for the diocese indicate, the supporters of the Lovett School are in many respects dutiful and loyal members of the church who simply cannot accept this one summons to obedience on the question of desegregation. Yet the Episcopal bishops have made it unmistakably clear that in 1963 the real test of Christian service is whether a man lives up to this specific application of Jesus' command, "Love thy neighbor."