University of Virginia Library

Mitchell, Whitehurst Talk
On Religion, World Affairs

Mitchell

A Black priest in the Episcopal
Church, The Reverend Henry B.
Mitchell, will preach at the 11:00
a.m. service at St. Paul's Memorial
Church on Sunday. The reverend
Mitchell is one of four or five Black
Episcopal ministers in the diocese
of Virginia and is deeply concerned
with the role of the church in
today's society.

His sermon will be based on a
passage from the Bible taken from
the ninth chapter of the Book of
Judges entitled Jonathan's Fable and
he refers to his topic as concerning
the church's commitment to world
affairs. He is primarily interested in
destroying the pattern of "Sunday
Christians' and would like to see
the church actively involved in
current problems.

He objects to the hypocrisy of
the church which speaks out one
day of the week and excludes itself
from comment on secular days. He
wants to see a definite stand taken
by the church on issues confronting
today's communities such as the
problems of the Viet Nam War and
those of racial prejudice and
discrimination.

The Reverend Mitchell has
delivered sermons at St. Paul's in
the past and on Sunday he will be
exchanging positions with the
Reverend David Ward of St. Paul's
who will go downtown to preach at
Trinity Episcopal Church.

The Reverend Ward said that he
thought that the Episcopal Church
was no longer appealing to the
Black youth and that in his
experience the Black congregations
were from the middle class and
middle age.

Whitehurst

G. William Whitehurst, Republican
congressman from Virginia's
Second District and an alumnus of
the University, will address the University
Young Republican club
Monday night at 8 in the South
Meeting Room of Newcomb Hall.

Mr. Whitehurst, who was dean
of students at Old Dominion
College in Norfolk until his election,
is a freshman member of the
91st Congress. With his election
victory last November, he became
the fifth Republican on Virginia's
delegation to Congress, joining four
incumbent Republicans who were
re-elected on Nov. 5.

Mr. Whitehurst, a native of
Norfolk, has been an active public
servant for many years. In Norfolk
he has served on various committees,
including the Mayor's Commission
of Crime and Delinquency
and the board of the Ghent
Methodist Church.

During World War II, he served
in the Navy and was awarded the
Air Medal for his participation in
combat missions over Japan.

After the war, he attended
Washington and Lee University and
received his masters degree in history
from the University in 1951.

Mr. Whitehurst joined the department
of history at Old Dominion
College in 1950, taking a leave
of absence in 1956 to work on his
doctorate degree at West Virginia
University. He was appointed Dean
of Students in 1963.

From 1962 to 1968, he served
as a news analyst for WTAR-TV in
Norfolk and had a regular series of
broadcasts.