RELIGIOUS ACTIVITY.

Dominion, Volume 2, Issue 455, 13 March 1909, Page 9

RELIGIOUS ACTIVITY.

ARCHBISHOP OF YORK ENTHRONED. 10,000 PEOPLE IN THE CATHEDRAL. 11l tho stately Minster of York Dr. Cosmo Gordon Lang, lato Bishop of Stepney, was on Monday, January 5, enthroned as tho eighty-eighth Archbishop of tho northern province The ceremony, one- of the most impressive of the Church of England, was witnessed hy a vast congregation, the great cathedral being crowded with no fewer than 10,000 people. There were as many as 600 clergy, all in their robes, from all parts of tbo province. Looking from tho choir towards the west door tho sight was wonderfully impressive. Tho whole wide' space was packed. There was not room for a single person more. In tlio choir itself there seemed to be more room, yet every stall was occupied, and as many chairs as could bo squeezed in. There wore people right up to the altar rails, where a place was allotted to Mrs, Lang, the Archbishop's mother, who followed every detail of tho ceremony with the closest attention. The youuger brother, who is in orders, sat in tho dean's stall, and another brother was present elsewhere with Sir Robert Hamilton Lang, Lady Lang, and other relatives. It was now half-past two, and the voices of the choir were heard singing. They walked to the Chapter House, followed by tho Dean and Chapter, who there went through the formality of hearing and accepting tho mandate of confirmation. Tho simple hymn tune sounded very sweet and touching as it gradually died away in tho distance. A few minutes later tho strains of "The Church's one foundation" fell upon our listening ears. This time tho procession went to the west door, and. hero awaited the coming of Dr. Lang from tho Deanery. Tho great doors wore closed. Custom obliges a new archbishop to knock and claim admission. But before Dr. Lang reached tho doorway a zealous policeman saw him coming, and knocked in order to save liim tho trouble. When he arrived the doors were open. At once he made hie petition in English (which was used all through), asking to be "inducted, installed, and enthroned with full arch-episcopal rights." and to have "assigned and appointed to him the archiepiscopal scat." Dean Purey-Cust hade him enter, and in procession they all walked slowly the whole length of the church, the choir singing:— Hail, festal day, for ever sanctified, Wherein the bridegroom makes the Church his bride. The archbishop was preceded by three lawyers in wigs and gowns, one of them a very old gentleman who had taken part officially in the enthronements of four previous archbishops—Dr. Longiey (afterwards Archbishop of Canterbury) in 1860, Dr. Thomson in 1863, Dr. Magce and Dr. Maclagan, both in 1891. Following the lawyers came the erozior carryried by tho vicar of Bishopthorpe, and tho pastoral staff which tho Rev. L. Green-Wil-kinson bore. The archbishop's scarlet train was held up by a choir boy. . Before tho altar Dr. Lang again made his I petition, and was handed a very ancient copy of the Gospels from tho cathedral library, upon which he sworo to observe and defend the rigiits, privileges, statutes, and customs of the cathedral. Dr. Puicy-Cust admitted tho archbishop, seated him oiutbo throne, blessed him, and declared to tM people that ho had been "really and lawfully installed.' Then followed some vc-rsicles and a prayer, during which tho archbishop knelt with bowed head before tho altar. Afterwards Stanford s "To Deum" in B flat was sung. Tho archbishop in his address from the altar steps, which came- next, made a stirring appeal for 'unity among Christians, a stroll" indication of tho lines which his policy may bo expected to follow. The task "before them was, ho said, to win for tho Lord Jesus Christ the English people, dear to tho English. Church. They had to admit many faults on the part of tho Church— blindness to the vision of God, deafness to the'cry of the poor, reluctance to move with tho Dimes and to open its gates sufficiently wide, lhe reason for theso faults they found in themselves. They must strive against them with increasing prayer, and when they prayed ho would ask them to remember the who had been set over them. _ 'Wo must nover," ho said, "cease working and praying for the time when those who own tho name of Christ, but are separated from our communion, may be gathered together again in oneness of spirit, and it may bo of body." THE KINDLY POPE. RECEPTION OF ENGLISH STUDENTS. The students of the English and Baeda Colleges were received by tho Holy Father m private audience on January 29, states the Catholic Times." They were presented by the Rector, tho Right Rev. Bishop Giles. As usual, tho Pope was very kind and gonial ; he camo into the room smiling, and had a kind word or a pleasant remark v for each, as ho passed amongst the little group, giving his hand' to each to kiss. Indeed, were ho not dressed in Papal white, and accompanied by two of tho Noblo Guard and us clerical and lay chamberlains one would bo more liable to tako Pius X for a kindly old parish priest than for Christ's Vicar on earth. Ho speaks with a decided Venetian accent, and is fond of a joko. Thus, when iUonsignor Cronin knelt to offer him a hand-somely-bound copy of his recent work on tho New Matrimonial Legislation," tho Holy Father immediately inquired in what language it was written. On being told that it was m English: " Well," he said, "of what uso can it bo to me, who do not understand a word of .English ? Why did you not uso Latin, or aro tho priests' in England unablo to read Latin?" Pius X has the face of a sauit. There are, however, unmistakable lines of decision. But no one knows better than Pius X how to encourage, where his faithful children are concerned. In the courso of his remarks the Popo said: "I thank you all from my heart for your kind visit; and I pray Almighty God to bless you and givo you His abundant grnco to overcome every obstacle to that sanctity of life which befits His own ministers. But sanctity of life is not the only requisite for a good priest —ho must also be a man of sacred science: I pray Almighty God, then, to remove whatever might bo a hindrance to your acquisition of that knowledge, which will bo of such advantage to you hereafter in England." And then his thoughts revelled to tho subject, which has been continually before his mind's eyes in theso recent days—the sorrow of his afflicted children in Sicily and Calabria. "May you do great work in England," ho continued, "for to-day, more.than ever, do I turn to England with most grateful affection, and I desire to express my recognition of the noble manner in which the English have conio to tho assistance of the poor sufferers in Sicily and Calabria. The papers speak of tho assistance- given by the Russians, but this was nothing (and I have it on very good authority from one who siwkq to me of it only last evening) compared with tho assistance given by the English." LORD MAYOR'S SUNDAY. The Lord Mayor of London recently at:ended a meeting of the Borough of Camberwell Pleasant Sunday Afternoons Society, and said in his early days one had to go to church two or thrco times each Sunday and bo condemned to listen to a very long, dry sermon. That was not tho way to make '. tho youth of the- country love Sunday, and • he rejoiced to think that tho services in tho churches and chapels of every sect had 1 been rendered more attractive and more in j accordance with tho truo purposo of re- i ligion. ; Tho old idea of the Puritanical Sunday ; was passing away. His wife and he hail ' always endeavoured to prevent Sunday being considered a dull day by their children; They woro taken to a bright s&rvico in the I morning, but were not forced to go to ' church again during the day. In tho after- i noon ho and_ his children played together I and "had a jolly time," even at tho Alan- i sion House. In addition, his wife had been I in tho habit of giving. the children a littlo 1 religious talk on Sunday afternoons, and 1 he believed they regarded this as the bright- i est half-hour of the week. <

RELIGION IN AMERICA. LAST YEAR'S DENOMINATIONAL' STATISTICS. The following tablo showing the growth of_ the prinicipal religious bodies in tho United States during 1008 is extracted from statistics appearing in tbo "Christian Advocate" (Now \ork) lor January 14, 1909, compiled by Dr. H. Carroll:

In tho case of some religious bodies, such, as Jews (143,000) and Unitarians (71,200). i estimates only aro given, while in the casO' of Christian Scientists (85,096) a recent dc-, nominational rulo forbids the reporting of numbers. , ! It will be -seen that not one singlo religiouej body reports a percentage growth as great, as that of tho normal annual increase in ■ population, via.: 3 per cent." The eighteen, bodies mentioned above account for over 32: millions of tho population of tho United StateS|. and the Roman Catholics compose one-third of that number. According to a Central News New York message the official Catholic directory states thero aro fourteen and a quarter million of. Roman Catholics in tho United States, and! over twenty-two million under tho American-i flag.

Total Growth' Denomination. Communicants percent, at end of 1908. in 1908. Lutherans 2,082,706 2. 9 United Brethren ... 300,000 2,65 Protestant Episcopal ... 884,553 2.C4 Roman Catholics ■ ... 12,094,650 2. 4 Methodists ... ... 6,838,979 2. 2 Baptists ... ... 5.413,945 1. 9 Congregationalists ... 721,553 1. 8 Evangelicals 177,416 ]. 7. Disciples of Christ ... 1,295,423 0. 8 Universalists 53,012 0. 7 Presbyterians 1,831,854 0. 5 Dunkaras 122,332 0. 5 German Evangelical Synod 238,805 0. 4 Latter Day Saints ... 399,000 0.28 Informed 432,248 0.23' Advcntists 93,523 0. 1, Tho following show a decrease: ) Dβcrease.. Salvation Array ... 26,850 0. 5 Christians 92,332 9. 81