Religious Groups Are Asked To Join in PBH's Program; House Cabinet Opposes Step

Cornelius D. Hastie '52, Graduate Secretary of Phillips Brooks House, yesterday announced a plan to invite College religious groups of all denominations to use the House's facilities and endowment.

The invitation from Hastie, a second year divinity student, marks the first major step in 50 years to include religion as part of the House's traditionally secular program. Among Hastie's plans is the formation of a Protestant ecumenical society within the PBH superstructure. Such a group would include representatives of all Protestant sects.

The Graduate Secretary's proposal has already met with heavy opposition from the Phillips Brooks House Association Cabinet. But because Hastie's plans are concerned with the PBH building and not the undergraduate Association, the cabinet cannot directly block his plan.

Brooks House President Douglas W. Hunt '55 said last night that if the full cabinet votes formally to oppose Hastie he will take definite steps to limit the Graduate Secretary's program. The cabinent, expected to vote against Hastie, will decide the nature of its opposition at a special meeting called for next Monday.

Hunt, referring to the divinity student's plans for a Protestant ecumenical society, said last night that "this is not the time and Brooks House is not the place.

"Hastie believes that the advisor to this group should be the University pastor. In such a position, the pastor," said Hunt, "should play a large part in the organization of such a society. But since the University has not yet named a pastor, it seems unwise to form such a group at this time."

The announcement of Hastie's invitation to sectarian groups follows a trend of the past two years towards a more religion-conscious Phillips Brooks House. The first move in this trend came in early 1953, when the University declared the Chairman of the Board of Preachers the automatic director of P.B.H. Late the same semester, the University encountered considerable opposition from the Houses' undergraduate leaders when it named Hastie, a future cleric, to the post of Graduate Secretary.