Death of Horace Allen
Wednesday, February 6 – A message from Dean Mary Elizabeth Moore:
Horace Allen, one of our distinguished colleagues, died last night after a life of creativity and ecumenical liturgical leadership. As many of you know, he served on the Boston University faculty from 1978 to 2003 when he retired as Professor Emeritus. He was the first Professor of Worship here, and he taught in areas as broad as liturgy, music, architecture, and preaching. Our alums have told me a multitude of appreciative comments and funny, touching stories about Horace. Some say that they are conscious every week of things they learned from Horace; others credit him with their love of liturgy.
In 2012, Horace was honored by the Massachusetts Council of Churches with these words:
On Saturday, we honored Rev. Dr. Horace Allen, a Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.) pastor and liturgist; Professor Emeritus at Boston University School of Theology; the first Ministerial Warden at The Iona Community; integral in the creation of the Revised Common Lectionary and youth steward at the 1954 World Council of Churches assembly in Evanston, IL (after the assembly, he swiped the sign of the Ecumenical Patriarchate of Constantinople – see photo!) Here’s a brief summary of Horace and why we celebrate his many years of ecumenical ministry! [Quoted from: https://www.facebook.com/Masscouncilofchurches/posts/on-saturday-we-honored-rev-dr-horace-allen-a-presbyterian-church-usa-pastor-and-/164613103665918/.] See also the description of that event and more about Horace’s life and contributions at: https://reveverett.com/2012/05/02/horace-allen/.
Rest in peace, Horace!
Mary Elizabeth
Update: Tuesday, February 12
A memorial service will be held for The Rev. Dr. Horace T. Allen on Sunday, March 3 at 2pm at Marsh Chapel at Boston University, 735 Commonwealth Ave, Boston, MA. His obituary can be found here.