Franklin Clark Fry
Encyclopedia
Franklin Clark Fry was a leading American Lutheran clergyman, known for his work on behalf of interdenominational unity.
, Pennsylvania. Following his ordination, Fry served as pastor for congregations in Yonkers, New York and Akron, Ohio.
In 1944, Fry was elected president of the United Lutheran Church in America
, one of the larger of many U.S. Lutheran denominations, which had been established in 1918 with the merger of three independent German synods. He expressed a wry ambivalence following his election, claiming that he "would much rather have a pastorate than squirt grease into ecclesiastical machinery."
Nonetheless, during his time as president, Fry became known among many church leaders as "Mr. Protestant," a moniker that captured his tireless work on behalf of greater unity among Protestant church bodies and made famous by the cover story on Fry in Time magazine. Seeing it as his mission to heal the Christian church's fragmentation into numerous splinter groups, Fry was a prime mover behind the formation of the Lutheran World Federation
in 1947, the World Council of Churches
in 1948, and the National Council of Churches
in 1950. Among his many activities with these groups, Fry presided over the constituting convention of the National Council of Churches, and he headed the policy-making central committee of the World Council of Churches. He described the World Council as a means to "hold Christianity together, to keep the means of communication open, to keep conversation going even if there is no success in our lifetime." Fry also became president of the 72-million member Lutheran World Federation
in 1957.
. From his position as head of the United Lutheran Church in America, Fry engineered a similar move in 1962, organizing the merger of his own church with three other independent bodies –- the Finnish Evangelical Lutheran Church of America, the American Evangelical Lutheran Church
, and the Augustana Evangelical Lutheran Church
–- to form the Lutheran Church in America
(LCA).
Fry was elected the LCA's first president, and served in that role until days before his death in 1968. The new LCA cut across traditional ethnic distinctions among Finnish, Danish, German, and Swedish Lutherans, and with 3.3 million members was the largest Lutheran church body in the United States. Theologically, the LCA was most often considered the most liberal
and ecumenical branch in American Lutheranism. In church governance, the LCA was clerical and centralistic, in contrast to the congregationalist
or "low church" strain in American Christianity.
In January 1968, Fry issued a stirring appeal to fellow church members to "unstop your ears" to the need for a "massive improvement in the lot of Negro
ghettos," warning of the prospects for "spiraling and spreading violence" if racial justice were not achieved swiftly.
Fry, as the Los Angeles Times
put it several years after his death, was "known everywhere for his brilliant parliamentarian tactics, his shortcutting of time-consuming wrangles, the pungency with which he cut through intricate debate snarls, and for his wit and incisive dominance of any situation." He was also known as a rabid fan of the New York Yankees
baseball club.
, president of the LCA's Illinois Synod, was selected to fill the remainder of Fry's term, and Marshall went on to win the office in his own right in 1970.
On June 6, 1968, Fry died at the age of 67. His funeral, held at St. Thomas Episcopal Church in New York City, was attended by dozens of church leaders from around the world. Fry is buried at Old Trappe Church
in Trappe, Pennsylvania
. His son, Franklin Drewes Fry, followed him into the ministry, was a leading clergyman in the ELCA, and died in 2006 at the age of 78. The Lutheran Church in America, meanwhile, followed Fry's ecumenical blueprint by merging in 1988 with two other Lutheran groups to form the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America
, today the largest and most liberal U.S. Lutheran church body.
Early years
Fry was born in Bethlehem, Pennsylvania, the son and grandson of Lutheran ministers. He attended Hamilton College in Clinton, New York, and the Lutheran Theological Seminary at PhiladelphiaLutheran Theological Seminary at Philadelphia
The Lutheran Theological Seminary at Philadelphia is one of eight seminaries associated with the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America , located in Philadelphia . It was founded in 1864 but traces its roots further back to the first Lutheran establishment in Philadelphia founded by Henry Melchior...
, Pennsylvania. Following his ordination, Fry served as pastor for congregations in Yonkers, New York and Akron, Ohio.
Interdenominational work
United Lutheran Church in America
The United Lutheran Church in America was established in 1918 with the merger of three independent German-language synods: the General Synod , the General Council and the United Synod of the South . The Slovak Zion Synod joined the United Lutheran Church in America in 1920...
, one of the larger of many U.S. Lutheran denominations, which had been established in 1918 with the merger of three independent German synods. He expressed a wry ambivalence following his election, claiming that he "would much rather have a pastorate than squirt grease into ecclesiastical machinery."
Nonetheless, during his time as president, Fry became known among many church leaders as "Mr. Protestant," a moniker that captured his tireless work on behalf of greater unity among Protestant church bodies and made famous by the cover story on Fry in Time magazine. Seeing it as his mission to heal the Christian church's fragmentation into numerous splinter groups, Fry was a prime mover behind the formation of the Lutheran World Federation
Lutheran World Federation
The Lutheran World Federation is a global communion of national and regional Lutheran churches headquartered in the Ecumenical Centre in Geneva, Switzerland. The federation was founded in the Swedish city of Lund in the aftermath of the Second World War in 1947 to coordinate the activities of the...
in 1947, the World Council of Churches
World Council of Churches
The World Council of Churches is a worldwide fellowship of 349 global, regional and sub-regional, national and local churches seeking unity, a common witness and Christian service. It is a Christian ecumenical organization that is based in the Ecumenical Centre in Geneva, Switzerland...
in 1948, and the National Council of Churches
National Council of Churches
The National Council of the Churches of Christ in the USA is an ecumenical partnership of 37 Christian faith groups in the United States. Its member denominations, churches, conventions, and archdioceses include Mainline Protestant, Orthodox, African American, Evangelical, and historic peace...
in 1950. Among his many activities with these groups, Fry presided over the constituting convention of the National Council of Churches, and he headed the policy-making central committee of the World Council of Churches. He described the World Council as a means to "hold Christianity together, to keep the means of communication open, to keep conversation going even if there is no success in our lifetime." Fry also became president of the 72-million member Lutheran World Federation
Lutheran World Federation
The Lutheran World Federation is a global communion of national and regional Lutheran churches headquartered in the Ecumenical Centre in Geneva, Switzerland. The federation was founded in the Swedish city of Lund in the aftermath of the Second World War in 1947 to coordinate the activities of the...
in 1957.
Forming the Lutheran Church in America
In the early 1960s, the nation's many independent Lutheran church bodies moved progressively toward greater unity. A number of such bodies merged in 1960, for example, to form the American Lutheran ChurchAmerican Lutheran Church
The American Lutheran Church was a Christian Protestant denomination in the United States that existed from 1960 to 1987. Its headquarters was in Minneapolis, Minnesota. Upon its formation in 1960, the ALC designated Augsburg Publishing House , also located in Minneapolis, as the church publisher...
. From his position as head of the United Lutheran Church in America, Fry engineered a similar move in 1962, organizing the merger of his own church with three other independent bodies –- the Finnish Evangelical Lutheran Church of America, the American Evangelical Lutheran Church
American Evangelical Lutheran Church
The American Evangelical Lutheran Church was one of the many denominations formed when Lutherans immigrated to America. Originally known as the Danish Evangelical Lutheran Church in America , the predominantly Danish-American church was informally known as "the Danish Church."In 1872 Grundtvigian...
, and the Augustana Evangelical Lutheran Church
Augustana Evangelical Lutheran Church
The Augustana Evangelical Lutheran Church was a Lutheran church body in the United States that was one of the churches that merged into the Lutheran Church in America in 1962...
–- to form the Lutheran Church in America
Lutheran Church in America
The Lutheran Church in America was a U.S. and Canadian Lutheran church body that existed from 1962 to 1987. It was headquartered in New York City and its publishing house was Fortress Press....
(LCA).
Fry was elected the LCA's first president, and served in that role until days before his death in 1968. The new LCA cut across traditional ethnic distinctions among Finnish, Danish, German, and Swedish Lutherans, and with 3.3 million members was the largest Lutheran church body in the United States. Theologically, the LCA was most often considered the most liberal
Liberal Christianity
Liberal Christianity, sometimes called liberal theology, is an umbrella term covering diverse, philosophically and biblically informed religious movements and ideas within Christianity from the late 18th century and onward...
and ecumenical branch in American Lutheranism. In church governance, the LCA was clerical and centralistic, in contrast to the congregationalist
Congregationalist polity
Congregationalist polity, often known as congregationalism, is a system of church governance in which every local church congregation is independent, ecclesiastically sovereign, or "autonomous"...
or "low church" strain in American Christianity.
In January 1968, Fry issued a stirring appeal to fellow church members to "unstop your ears" to the need for a "massive improvement in the lot of Negro
African American
African Americans are citizens or residents of the United States who have at least partial ancestry from any of the native populations of Sub-Saharan Africa and are the direct descendants of enslaved Africans within the boundaries of the present United States...
ghettos," warning of the prospects for "spiraling and spreading violence" if racial justice were not achieved swiftly.
Fry, as the Los Angeles Times
Los Angeles Times
The Los Angeles Times is a daily newspaper published in Los Angeles, California, since 1881. It was the second-largest metropolitan newspaper in circulation in the United States in 2008 and the fourth most widely distributed newspaper in the country....
put it several years after his death, was "known everywhere for his brilliant parliamentarian tactics, his shortcutting of time-consuming wrangles, the pungency with which he cut through intricate debate snarls, and for his wit and incisive dominance of any situation." He was also known as a rabid fan of the New York Yankees
New York Yankees
The New York Yankees are a professional baseball team based in the The Bronx, New York. They compete in Major League Baseball in the American League's East Division...
baseball club.
Death and aftermath
Fry resigned midway through his second four-year term as LCA president, and only days before his death of cancer, when it became apparent that he had not long to live. The Rev. Dr. Robert J. MarshallRobert J. Marshall
Robert James Marshall was an American clergyman and religious leader who was president of the Lutheran Church in America in the 1970s, at the time the largest Lutheran church in the United States...
, president of the LCA's Illinois Synod, was selected to fill the remainder of Fry's term, and Marshall went on to win the office in his own right in 1970.
On June 6, 1968, Fry died at the age of 67. His funeral, held at St. Thomas Episcopal Church in New York City, was attended by dozens of church leaders from around the world. Fry is buried at Old Trappe Church
Augustus Lutheran Church
Augustus Lutheran Church, built during 1743-1745 in Trappe, Pennsylvania, is the oldest unchanged Lutheran church building in the United States in continuous use by the same congregation....
in Trappe, Pennsylvania
Trappe, Pennsylvania
Trappe is a borough in Montgomery County, Pennsylvania, United States. The population was 3,509 at the 2010 census. Augustus Lutheran Church, built in 1743, is the oldest unchanged Lutheran church building in the United States in continuous use by the same congregation...
. His son, Franklin Drewes Fry, followed him into the ministry, was a leading clergyman in the ELCA, and died in 2006 at the age of 78. The Lutheran Church in America, meanwhile, followed Fry's ecumenical blueprint by merging in 1988 with two other Lutheran groups to form the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America
Evangelical Lutheran Church in America
The Evangelical Lutheran Church in America is a mainline Protestant denomination headquartered in Chicago, Illinois. The ELCA officially came into existence on January 1, 1988, by the merging of three churches. As of December 31, 2009, it had 4,543,037 baptized members, with 2,527,941 of them...
, today the largest and most liberal U.S. Lutheran church body.
Works about Fry
- United Lutheran Church in America: Mr. Protestant; an informal biography of Franklin Clark Fry. Philadelphia 1960.
- Robert H. Fischer (ed.), Franklin Clark Fry: A Palette for a Portrait (Springfield, OH: Lutheran Quarterly, Wittenberg University, 1972).
Works by Fry
- Franklin Clark Fry, Mission in South Africa (Geneva: World Council of Churches, 1961).
- Franklin Clark Fry (ed.), Geschichtswirklichkeit und Glaubensbewährung: Festschrift für Friedrich Müller (Stuttgart: Evangelisches Verlagswerk, 1967).