THE ANGLO-CATHOLICS

Evening Post, Volume CVIII, Issue 2, 2 July 1929, Page 14

THE ANGLO-CATHOLICS

DR. BARNES'S WARFARE

BIRMINGHAM CHURCHES

(From "The Post's" Representative.) ;'. LONDON, 3rd May. i)r. E.W. Barnes, the Bishop of Birmingham, and' the Anglo-Catholic clergy have found another cause for disagreement. The position on the one hand was that Bishop Barnes firmly refusod to institute any Anglo-Catholic clergy into vacant livings. On the other band, the Anglo-Catholic, clergy cut themselves off entirely from all connection with the . bishop or the diocesan organisation. , . . The rich Anglo-Catholic churches refused to contribute to the diocesan fund, and the poor Anglo-Catholic churches refused to draw on it. Inetead, 'the Anglo-Catholics established a fund of their own, and with this fund they have been able to support all the Anglo-Catholic clergy in Birmingham for the last four years, and they state th^t they are able to continue doing wkas long as it is necessary. ;For all practical purposes the AngloGatholics have, in short, succeeded in establishing an independent ecclesiastical state within the diocese of their chief opponent. Now, however, it is apparent that against his thirteen rebellious Anglo-Catholic clergy the Bishop of Birmingham is at last moving Ugain. ' ; The notice which he has issued regarding the employment of clergy from outside the diocese is regarded as a ban on Anglo-Catholics. It reads: ■ ; "The attention of the bishop has be'en drawn to the fact that some incumbent, of the diocese have recently employed unsatisfactory clergy for occasional work. The bishop wishes it to-be-distinctly understood that no clergyman living in the neighbourhood of; Birmingham who is not on the list ©f those.having permission to officiate iii: the diocese is to be employed even for a. single Sunday. '/'Grave.scandal may only too easily result from neglect of this rule. If incumbents receive offers of help from clergy at a distance with regard to ■whom nothing is known, inquiries made by telephone at Bishop's Croft will normally lead to definite information." ,This first shot in the renewed war between the bishop and the AngloCatholic clergy of his diocese was. answered, by the. Rev. G. D. Rosenthal, who, preaching at his own church, St. Agatha's, delivered a, sermon under thd provocative title of "Should bishops be "obeyed ?"■ ;He;said that.owing to the scandalous .method, by which bishops were appointed as nominees of. the Prime Minister, they considered themselves in the position of Judges and Magistrates with a first task of securing conformity to the laws of the land He continued: "If reservation is against the laws of the land, we are prepared to go to. prison, but it is not. . 'fWe will obey a bishop in a mitre— the real symbol of his authority—but we will not obey him when he exchanges the mitre for a policeman's helmet. "The difficulty is that there is no appeal from the bishop except to the Privy Council. .AWe cannot allow individual bishops to-exercise Papal powers."