The Living Church recently highlighted the instrumental role played by The Rt. Rev. R. William Franklin in bringing Great Awakenings—a new concert opera charting the democratic legacy of 19th-century church leader John Henry Hobart—to the stage.
The article details how Franklin, the former bishop of Western New York and current assisting bishop of Long Island, has written extensively on Hobart and championed the musical production at Trinity Church Wall Street to mark America’s 250th anniversary. The opera captures Hobart’s pioneering effort to establish an inclusive church structured around the democratic ideals of a young nation.
“It’s combining the dome of St. Peter’s in Rome, representing Catholicism, with the dome of the U.S. Capitol in Washington, representing democracy, [and] bringing those two together,” Franklin told the publication. “That symbolizes Hobart’s vision of being both Catholic, democratic, and Protestant.”
As the Episcopal Church continues to navigate its modern relationship with society and politics, Franklin notes that the core of Hobart’s centuries-old mission remains strikingly urgent today: fostering a church both deeply rooted in tradition and boldly engaged with the world.