Dr. Robert Bitzer

A Visit With Dr. Catherine Ponder about Dr. Robert Bitzer

At the time I met Dr. Robert Bitzer, he was the long-time and much-revered minister of the Hollywood Church of Religious Science International, located on Sunset Boulevard, Los Angeles. At some of the INTA parties I hosted, he seemed to be much "the gentleman of the old school" type. Dr. Ernest Holmes, founder of the Science of Mind Movement, had first met Dr. Bitzer in Boston, and had personally invited him to relocate to Southern California to help pioneer Religious Science in that area. Dr. Donald Curtis told me that during the years Dr. Bitzer was later President of INTA, he, Dr. Curtis, had often had lunch with Bob Bitzer, whom he felt had demonstrated the Science of Mind teaching fully under the early mentoring of Dr. Holmes.

When Bitzer invited me to conduct a Sunday service at his Hollywood church, it was an enjoyable experience, working with his staff and being with his congregation. It also gave me an opportunity to enjoy the prestigious Hollywood Roosevelt Hotel. Its claim to fame not only included the fact that Dr. Bitzer had pioneered his early Religious Science services in that hotel's ballroom, but also that the hotel was the scene of some of the first Oscar ceremonies, and that many screen stars of yester-year had been guests there. An aura of glitz and glamour still pervaded that hotel, as well as Dr. Bitzer's church, where many in show business had been/were members.

The last time I saw Dr. Bitzer and his wife was at an INTA party I gave in Honolulu. We chatted at length about the various cruises we had taken on the then-prestigious Royal Viking, a Norwegian ship line. It was considered second only to the famous QEII in importance and comfort among cruise ships. Ship-cruising had not yet become the popular mass method of vacationing that it is today, with countless cruise ships available.

We discussed the cleanliness, the colorful beauty, the art work, the fine food, and the friendly service of the multinational crew, many of whom were Norwegian. We compared impressions of the various ships in that line that we had cruised—those we like best, and where we had cruised, including the Mexican Riviera, the Panama Canal, Alaska, and both Eastern and Western Canada.

In retrospect I feel that the fact that the Bitzers and I were able to enjoy a luxurious cruise line at a time when only the "rich and famous" were doing so is but further proof of the power of the New Thought prosperity teaching. The happy visit that I had with the Bitzers at that Hawaiian party is a wonderful way to remember how we can progress when we settle down and seriously study the New Thought teaching.

Indeed, New Thought is an "around the world" teaching—and not just for 80 days either! I invite you to join me in making its study and practice a lifetime priority. It not only brings one great inner soul satisfaction, but obviously, it has its own outer "fringe benefits" as well.

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