The Very Rev. Francis B. Sayre Jr., who as dean of Washington National Cathedral for 27 years oversaw much of its completion and used his pulpit to confront McCarthyism, racial tensions and the Vietnam War, died Oct. 3 at his home on Martha’s Vineyard, MA according to the Washington Post.
Sayre, whose grandfather was President Woodrow Wilson, was appointed to the cathedral in 1951 and quickly became a leading national voice of conscience. As the church’s fifth dean, he also presided over daily operations and focused on finishing the massive Gothic structure whose cornerstone had been placed in 1907.
Dean Sayre commented to the Washington Post in 1977:
“Whoever is appointed the dean of the cathedral, has in his hand a marvelous instrument and he’s a coward if he doesn’t use it.”
From the pulpit, he denounced the tactics of Sen. Joseph R. McCarthy at the Wisconsin senator’s peak of influence investigating Communist influence in government and Hollywood. He called McCarthy part of a crew of “pretended patriots” and also chided the American people for letting demagogues achieve prominence.
“There is a devilish indecision about any society that will permit an impostor like McCarthy to caper out front while the main army stands idly by,” he said in a 1954 sermon.
Read more about his life here. A voice of conscience for the church and the world, stilled. Rest in peace and rise in glory.