In 1994, Walter Cronkite was the subject of a short interview by Christian Century magazine. In it, he reflected on his background in the church.
Did you have a connection to the church when you were growing up?
I come from a Lutheran family that turned Presbyterian in my boyhood. That was primarily because of the convenience of the Presbyterian church in our neighborhood in Kansas City. When I was ten we moved to Houston and my father swung all the way from the Lutheranism in which he’d grown up to Unitarianism. He helped found the Unitarian church in Houston in 1927 or 1928. I attended that for a couple years until I got into a Boy Scout troop that met in an Episcopal church. The church had a wonderful minister who was also the scoutmaster. And I suppose you can say he proselytized me. At any rate, I was much involved with the church, and became Episcopalian — and an acolyte. Later, when I worked for a paper in Houston, I was church editor for a while. The Episcopal House of Bishops met in Houston one year, and I became intrigued by the leaders of the church — fascinated by their discussions and their erudition. For a short while I though about entering the ministry. But that was a short while. Journalism prevailed.
And we're all the better off since journalism prevailed. But your post has me wondering about the possibilities surrounding "Bishop Cronkite"....
Posted by: Dan Hays | July 22, 2009 at 11:55 PM
Yes, he made a greater contribution in journalism, though unfortunately and obviously not a lasting one. He'd have been a good bishop though.
Posted by: John Petty | July 23, 2009 at 11:27 PM