CANON CHARLES PERRY

Press, Volume LXXIII, Issue 21988, 12 January 1937, Page 6

CANON CHARLES PERRY

SO TUB XWTOB Of THX PEES 3. Sir,— May I have space to honourthe name of one who died a few days'ago, who for 20 years was a faithful parish priest in this city— Charles Elliott Perry. Canon Perry was a man who . never wavered in his teaching from - those principles which he believed to be true —he always asserted emphatically for the Church of England her exclusive claim to be the English Catholic Church: he claimed as her lawful heritage all the beauty in worship that it was possible to obtain; he claimed for her children all those sacramental means of grace which the whole Catholic Church has always held out to struggling sinners; and these claims he always supported by appealing to the Prayer Book and other authorities of the Church of England. His belief in the Incarnation made him in his sympathy with _ the poor and oppressed, in his political views socialistic; and while he always was clear that the Church should-not ally itself with any political party, he was in his private capacity in sympathy with the Labour party. This same belief made him in these last ypars a convinced pacifist. Because of his firmness and courage In standing for what he believed to be true, Canon Perry had a good deal 1 of opposition, and in his early years, at least, at St. Michael’s, of persecution. Since those early days, the truths for which he and others had to struggle have become recognised as ordinary teaching of the Church of England, but still, even in his last years, there was a good deal of ignorant hostility and suspicion towards him. Many people of various Protestant denominations, who should not have been very concerned with the state of the Church Which their forefathers indignantly left, still saw red at the mention of St. Michael’s and its vicar.

Yet, always, with all his critics. Canon Perry displayed a depth of charity which had to be seen to be believed. He could always find a charitable explanation of the actions or words of his opponents. He could laugh about his critics, whether they were his earnest enemies, Protestant, atheist, or what-not, or those irritating, ridiculous, but harmful enemies, who right to the last assured all and sundry that he was a Jesuit in disguise—and how happily, too, he could and did laugh. What a pleasure it was to spend half-an-hour with him. For he was a true Catholic Christian, who, on the one hand, practised the self-denials which are demanded of the Christian, and, on the other hand, enjoyed to the full the good things of the world which are God’s gifts to men. He loved his Blessed Lord and men and women and children and literature and tobacco and picture theatres; and he loved these latter because he believed that in the Incarnation his Lord had redeemed creation. Canon Perry will not be remembered as one of those popular preachers round whom vast crowds flock, but as a faithful parish priest who did the work of helping men and women to find the peace of God. He will always be held in loving remembrance by his parishioners, by those who went to him for sympathy, help, and advice, by those who went to him in the confessional for the-grace of absolution, and by those who, like myself as theological students, as newlyordained deacons, as ,young priests, found him such a wonderful source of sympathy* kindness, encouragement, and practical advice. ■ ' _ Now he who so-often has administered the sacraments at the bed of the dying, he* who so often has taken the funeral and comforted the mourners, has himself crossed the stream which is ahead of us aIL Will you and your readers of your charity please pray for the repose of the soul of a faithful priest, a gentleman, and a devoted Christian?— Yours, etc., R. P. TAYLOR. January 11, 1937.