Heirlooms of UCN History #35
by Will Frank
The die was cast. The American Unitarian Association had reaffirmed that the Rev. Harry Lutz would leave Norfolk. Maybe a different minister might help the Unitarian Church of Norfolk get out of the doldrums. Now it was Lutz’s job to tell the congregation.
Lutz kept the secret to himself during the cheerful and hopeful annual meeting on May 1. Two days later he wrote to the congregation:
I hereby resign as minister of the Unitarian Church of Norfolk, Va., to take effect on August 31st, in accordance with the suggestion of the American Unitarian Association in a letter of Dr. Walter R. Hunt, Secretary, dated April 27.
It is with profound regret that I do this. These four years of service as your minister have been exceedingly happy ones and our relations have been most congenial; but I must make way for the further advance of the movement in Norfolk as projected by the association and will be proposed to you for consideration. My whole-hearted interest will continue for the promotion of our cause, and it will have my earnest cooperation in any way I can serve.
With highest esteem of you each and all, and with all best wishes for your happy and prosperous companyhood in the coming years, I am
Most sincerely yours,
Harry Lutz.
On May 5, after the worship service, President Darden called the congregation together and read the letter. The reaction, wrote the secretary, was of “astonishment and regret.” Voice after voice spoke of the progress of the church and in favor of retaining Harry and Mary Lutz in Norfolk. They all thought the AUA had made a mistake. Since the AUA had bought their building and was paying most of the minister’s salary, the AUA and not the congregation was in position to call the shots. All wanted to implore the AUA to reconsider.
Darden called Lutz, who was elsewhere in the church, into the meeting to give his advice. Lutz, reported the minutes, “said that he had been asked by the A.U.A. for his resignation. He said the people and the church here had become very dear to him and he would be happy to stay if they reconsidered, but that he did not think they would. He said that the A.U.A. is doing and would continue to do what they thought was best for our mutual interest. He said that they had expressed their appreciation of the work done here by both Mrs. Lutz and himself and advised us to accept any change they saw fit to make and to give them all the cooperation possible.
The next day the board sent a diplomatically couched letter to Walter Hunt at the AUA calling attention to the “increased church life and activity ” and expressing the view of the congregation that “Mr. and Mrs. Lutz have affection and high regard of the whole church body; and, furthermore, it is felt at this critical time in the life of the church, the withdrawal of Mr. and Mrs. Lutz would be the loss of a very vital factor in the growth of our church and church school.” The church would accept the judgment of the AUA, but asked it to reconsider the resignation.
Walter Hunt at AUA was deluged with personal letters from members of the congregation pleading for retaining the Lutzes in Norfolk. Yet statistics showed the church not growing. Further, its dependency on the Lutzes might be part of the problem. Hunt replied that the resignation was firm, but that the AUA had positive plans for Norfolk.