William White (Bishop of Pennsylvania) - History

History

Rector of St. Peter's and of Christ Church for 57 years, White also served as Chaplain of the Continental Congress from 1777 to 1789, and subsequently as Chaplain of the Senate. White was the only Episcopal cleric in Pennsylvania who sided with the American revolutionary cause, while the other ordained priests remained loyal to the British.

The Bishop took an active role in creating several charitable and educational institutions. In 1785 he founded The Episcopal Academy, to educate the sons of Philadelphia's Episcopalian residents to become to leaders in society. He also was one of a group of prominent Philadelphia philanthropists who, in 1820, convinced the Pennsylvania legislature to fund the Pennsylvania Institution for the Deaf and Dumb,founded by David G. Seixas, now known as the Pennsylvania School for the Deaf. He served the school as president for the next 16 years. He also participated in prison ministry in Philadelphia, becoming the first president of the Philadelphia Society for the Alleviation of Miseries of Public Prisons, which attracted the participation of numerous Quakers. In 1795 Bishop White raised funds to create a school (built on Race Street between 4th and 5th) for black and Native American children. He also helped to create a Magdalen Society in Philadelphia in 1800 for "unhappy females who have been seduced from the paths of virtue and are desirous of returning to a life of rectitude." This was the first institution of this kind in the United States. (See also: Magdalen Asylum)

He was a member of the American Philosophical Society, along with many other prominent Philadelphians, including Benjamin Franklin. White was not remarked for his oratorical skills. Instead, he gained the esteem of the Philadelphia community through his ongoing charitable works, especially during the outbreaks of yellow fever in that city throughout the 1790s, because he remained to tend the ill when many other wealthy inhabitants fled to the countryside. He was a trustee of the University of Pennsylvania from 1774 until his death. During his tenure as trustee, he also served as Treasurer (1775–1778) and President (1790–1791) of the Board of Trustees.

He was the author of "The Case of The Episcopal Churches in the United States Considered". In this pamphlet he laid out the foundational thinking for the polity of the emerging Episcopal Church. Among the innovations he proposed (and which came to be adopted) was the inclusion of lay people in the decision making bodies of the church. This has been true since the founding General Convention of the Episcopal in 1785 where the House of Deputies was composed of both lay and clergy members.