Charles Francis Rice (April 4, 1851 – October 2, 1927) was a prominent minister and author. He was a member of the New England Conference of the Methodist Episcopal Church for 50 years, serving as a District Superintendent for five years and as President of the Massachusetts Federation of Churches for 10 years.
Early life and education
He was born April 14, 1851, in the parsonage of the Walnut Street Church in Chelsea, Massachusetts, the third son of the Reverend William Rice and Caroline Laura North. He attended Springfield High School in Springfield, Massachusetts, and Wesleyan University, graduating as Salutatorian in 1872. He was a member of the Eclectic Society, and Phi Beta Kappa. He received an A.M. in 1875 and a D.D. degree from Wesleyan in 1893. The Wesleyan archives have his journals in which he describes his college experiences during the early 1870s.
Career
Teaching
He taught classics at both Springfield High School (1872–73) and Wesleyan University (1874–77). In 1874, he worked in the Springfield City Library. While a faculty member at Wesleyan, he served on the committee on the Annual Examination and the committee on the Olin Prize. He also served as President of the General Alumni Association. His father William Rice was a trustee, and his brother William North Rice was a professor and an acting president of Wesleyan.
Ministry
Rev. C. F. Rice was licensed as a member of the New England Conference of the Methodist Episcopal Church in 1873. He served as pastor at the following churches: Appleton Church, Neponset, Boston, Massachusetts (1877–80) Wesley Chapel, Salem, Massachusetts (1880–83) Methodist Church, Webster, Massachusetts (1883–85) St. Paul's Church, Lowell, Massachusetts (1885–88) Methodist Church, Leominster, Massachusetts (1888-93) Epworth Methodist Episcopal Church, Cambridge, Massachusetts (1893–98). St. Luke's Church, Springfield, Massachusetts (1898-00) Wesley Church, Springfield, Massachusetts (1900–05) District Superintendent, Cambridge, Massachusetts (1905-10) Winthrop Street Church, Boston, Massachusetts (1911-15) South Street Methodist Church, Lynn, Massachusetts (1916-20) Wellington Church, Medford, Massachusetts (1921-25)
He was noted for serving the Wellington Church after his retirement, until his death in 1927.
Boards and Committee work
He was an incoming trustee of the New England Methodist Conference in 1902, and dealt with the results of unwise investments, which had cost the church thousands of dollars. He was a delegate to the General Conference of the Methodist Episcopal Church in 1904 in Los Angeles and 1908 in Baltimore, the Inter-church Conference on Federation in 1905, the Federal Council of Churches of Christ in America, 1912, 1916 and 1920.
He served as president of the Massachusetts Federation of Churches from 1911 to 1921. In 1922, the federation honored his service in a special ceremony at King's Chapel. Speakers included his brother, Rev. Dr. William North Rice, president of the Connecticut Federation, and Lt. Governor Alvan T. Fuller.
Rice was president of the Lynn Inter-church Union from 1918 to 1919. He was also director of the Federation of Churches and Religious Organizations of Greater Boston. He was also chairman of the Conference Board Exam from 1897 to 1905, president of the New England Educational Society, president of the New England Conference Board of Stewards, and a member of the board of education of the M.E. Church from 1908 to 1912. He was also chairman of the board of managers of the New England Deaconess Association.
Other work
He wrote History of Methodism in Webster, Massachusetts, printed in the Webster Times in 1884. He hosted Methodist students from Harvard University in the 'Oxford Club' and presented a paper entitled Life in the Epworth Rectory in 1894. Also in 1894, he delivered the Baccalaureate Sermon for Lasell Seminary in the Auburndale Congregational Church. Part of his speech read:
He also served on the visiting committee of the Boston University School of Theology, delivering communion at its Matriculation in 1905. Some of his sermons from Boston University chapel services are included in Noontime Messages in a College Chapel: Sixty-nine short addresses to Young People by Twenty-five Well-known Preachers, printed 1917.
He was a trustee at Wilbraham Wesleyan Academy and succeeded his father as president of its board of trustees from 1898 to 1912. He was a Republican, and a member of the Twentieth Century Club. He served as secretary for a Boston Wesleyan alumni group, and as secretary for the class of 1872. In 1916, he was listed as a donor to the Massachusetts Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Children.