Pews

It was a scene recorded years before, a ghastly, night-time portrait in the depths of the American Civil War: By a blazing fire of logs and fence rails, survivors of an elite Confederate artillery unit are burying their dead in a Virginia churchyard. Intent on decent burials but lacking coffins, the soldiers rip out the 8- foot-long church pews and, "meaning no sacrilege," form crude caskets in which they place their slain comrades. Then they and the war move on. Last week, 127 summers after that footnote to the bygone war, scientists studying the now-vacant church site near Brandy Station, Va., found the remains of a soldier buried with his boots on in a coffin made of church pews.

The calling of a young man to the priesthood is an intensely personal experience, which often confounds family and friends. When Zachary Novit of Frackville in upstate Pennsylvania first voiced his interest in becoming a priest, his parents thought he'd change his mind. He didn't, and the ensuing years have only strengthened his commitment. "He just got stronger in his vocation," explained his father, Donald Novit. On Sunday, as they toured the magnificent buildings and grounds of St. Charles of Borromeo Seminary in the Overbrook section of Lower Merion, with friends and family members of seminarians and other guests, the Novits came to better understand just why their son is so dedicated to his calling.

The smell of incense hung in the air from Midnight Mass, where hundreds of people, a full choir, and an orchestra had come to St. Clement's Episcopal Church in Center City to celebrate a Haydn St. Nicholas Mass. But now, it was 7:45 on Christmas morning, and the Rev. Gordon Reid was at the altar with only empty pews behind him, making his personal offering before the start of the Low Mass of the Dawn, the second of three Christmas Masses. Just six people - four men who came alone and an engaged couple - attended the 8 a.m. Mass, a humble liturgy often overlooked, sandwiched between Midnight Mass and the 11 a.m. High Mass of Christmas.

Without complaints - with eagerness, actually - 15 folks from Delaware County loaded into two passenger vans and drove to church bright and early yesterday. "We didn't go Sunday, so we got to go today," said Darrin O'Donnell, a Newtown Square firefighter. They did not pile into the small St. Peter's Baptist Church for worship, however - although prayers were definitely called for. They were there to tear the place apart. They carried out pews and lined them up on the lawn.

Stephen Carter, author of Civility: Manners, Morals, and the Etiquette of Democracy and a professor of law at Yale University, will be the speaker at a community forum 7 p.m. Sunday at Bryn Mawr Presbyterian Church, 625 Montgomery Ave. Carter will speak on "Civility and Morals. " Beth David Reform Congregation, 1130 Vaughans Lane, Gladwyne, will host a scholar-in-residence program the weekend of April 23. Ellen Umansky, professor of Judaica studies at Fairfield University, will speak at evening services April 23 on "Reform Judaism in the 21st Century: Where Are We Heading?"

In the midst of a closely contested campaign for Congress, two of America's most influential black leaders met in the Second Congressional District yesterday - but declined to say whom they support. Jesse Jackson, only a day after announcing he would not seek the presidency, came to visit and praise former U.S. Rep. William H. Gray 3d, for his many years as a congressman and as pastor of Bright Hope Baptist Church in North Philadelphia, where they both stood. But he, and Gray, would not say whom they support, if anyone, for the remaining 14 months of Gray's term.

Fire officials are saying that the blaze that gutted St. John's African Union Methodist Protestant Church Wednesday night appears to have been arson. Chester Fire Chief Willie J. Hatcher said yesterday that the fire appears to have started in the sanctuary and to have spread unusually fast through the building at 819 Lincoln St., which raised suspicions about its origins. He said an accelerant might have been used. State police and the Delaware County Criminal Investigation Division are investigating.

Churchgoers at Bryn Mawr Presbyterian Church, who have gathered for three separate services each Sunday for nearly three months, will return to an immaculately restored sanctuary on Sept. 8. Since mid-June, carpenters, stonemasons and other tradespeople have worked to replace the floor of the 1927 classic stone-covered Gothic sanctuary and improve the lighting and acoustics in the large worship hall, which seats about 1,000 people. "I think everyone is excited," said Joan Bergsteinsson, business administrator of the historical complex that covers about five acres and includes more than a dozen buildings along Montgomery Avenue in Bryn Mawr, facing Harcum Junior College.

Rittenhouse Square's Twenty Manning (261 S. 20th St.) is back after a five-week redo to both its philosophy and its look. At Twenty Manning Grill , gone are the glass partitions that looked so cool 10 years ago when the place opened as the bar-equipped companion to owner Audrey Taichman's Audrey Claire down the block. Fury Interior Design went sunny and white, adding tongue-and-groove wood paneling and a white-tile bar to complement the white pressed-tin ceiling. The scheme contrasts with new yellow leather banquettes, dark wood bistro chairs, and wooden tables.

Mildew has taken over the damp, red carpets in the Mount Zion African Methodist Episcopal Church, leaving the air as musty as an antique book. The pinewood pews sit undisturbed. Cracks in the stained-glass windows allow some natural light to hit the deserted pulpit and choir stall, where thick dust covers music stands and wooden chairs. The basement is piled with plaster and torn hymnals amid cobwebs. But the simple, Civil War-era church on Fairfield Road was not always so worn and lifeless.