The Reverend M. Moran Weston, Jr., 1910-2002
Like the setting of a worship service, life itself should have beauty, order and dignity.
I become concerned if the neighborhood is ugly, run down, dirty and unattractive.
- M. Moran Weston, Jr.
M. Moran Weston overlooking Harlem. Photo courtesy of the Reverend M. Moran Weston Papers, Rare Book and Manuscript Library, Columbia University.
The son and grandson of Episcopal priests, M. Moran Weston, Jr. was born in Tarboro, North Carolina on September 10, 1910. He earned his Bachelor of Arts from Columbia University in 1930, his Bachelor and Master of Divinity from Union Theological Seminary in 1934, and a Ph.D. in social history from Columbia University in 1954.
Even before his ordination, Weston was active in labor and social causes concerning Black Americans. He served as a caseworker and supervisor for the New York City Department of Social Welfare; managed efforts to get Black Americans jobs during World War II; and organized the Negro Freedom Rallies and other civil rights events in the mid-1940s. In 1947, he helped found Carver Federal Savings Bank, which continues to help Black Americans obtain home mortgage loans. As a journalist, he wrote columns on social and political issues which ran in five Black newspapers for almost 10 years.
Weston was ordained in 1950 and initially served as curate and business manager of St. Phillip’s Church in New York, New York. He was then called to The Episcopal Church’s departments of Christian Social Relations and Christian Citizenship (1951-1957), although he remained involved in social issues. In 1954, he took white priests to southern churches to encourage support for the Brown vs. the Board of Education decision. He also produced a traveling exhibit about The Episcopal Church’s involvement in social and political justice issues.
The Rev. M. Moran Weston, Ph.D., sixth rector of St. Philip's Church, Philadelphia, PA. (image from An Epic of the People of St. Philip's Church)
Weston returned to St. Philip’s in 1957. He hosted the Ad Hoc Committee that formed the Union of Black Clergy and Laity (UBCL) there in 1968. He remained the rector at St. Philip’s until 1982 and was rector emeritus until his death in 2002.
Alongside his service to The Episcopal Church, Weston devoted time and money to founding six non-profit housing development corporations, which have provided thousands of homes for low-income families in New York City. He created the Community Service Council of Greater Harlem, Inc., the social service arm of his ministry. As part of his work for St. Phillip’s, Weston founded the Upper Manhattan Child Development/Day Care Center and directed the building and rehabilitation of several apartment buildings and a nursing home for senior citizens, low income families, and the mentally challenged. Along with founding other civic organizations, he created and chaired the National Association for Affordable Housing in 1983. He additionally served on numerous community and national boards, including the NAACP Legal Defense Fund, the New York City Mission Society, CARE, the Cathedral of St. John the Devine, and the Schomburg Center for Research in Black Culture.
Weston’s personal papers are located at Columbia University in New York.