CHURCH CONTROVERSY.

New Zealand Herald, Volume LXV, Issue 19947, 16 May 1928, Page 11

CHURCH CONTROVERSY.

MALINES CONVERSATIONS. DEMAND FOR PUBLICATION. Australian Press Association—United Servic® LONDON. May 14. The Protestant Reformation Society has strttngly, criticised the Archbishop o! Canterbury, Dr. R. T. Davidson, for delaying publication of the report on the 'Malines conversations until tho revised Prayer Book has been submitted to Parliament. They say the delay has subjected tfca Anglican Church to unnecessary and unwise humiliation. They describe the conversations as a sinister attempt to the Anglican and Roman Churches at the

cost of spiritual truth, historical accuracy and spiritual and civil liberty, which tho Prayer Book was calculated to facilitate. Sir John Haslam, a member of t'na Church Assembly, speaking at the annual meeting of the society, said: "We are told to accept the Prayer Book because the bishops have been working Ori it for 20 years, but only 5 per cent, of the' bishops officiated for that Consequently one jury heard the evidence and another gave the verdict. Who are these bishops who thin£ themselves .fit to follow Dr. Chavasse, formerly Bishop of Liverpool, and Dr. E. A. Knox, formerly Bishop of Manchester?";

"They are Bishops of the Devil," answered a voice from the audience. "

The report, the delay in the publication of which has aroused the protest referred to in the message, is apparently one framed by the bishops on the report furnished in January last by those who took part in the conversations at Malines. A cablegram from London on .January 18 stated: Prominent members of the Church of England and of **the Roman Catholic Church met at Malines, at various times between 1921 and 1925, to discuss the possibility of reunion. They report that they were able to agree that in the Eucharist the body and blood of Christ are verily given, taken and received by the faithful; secondly, that by consecration the bread and wine become the body and blood ot Christ. They were also in agreement upon the questions of confession and absolution, and even upon the larger question of the recognition of th 6 authority of the Pope there was some measure of unity. The talks were unofficial, but it is recalled that the late Cardinal Mercier presided, and that the five JSnglish Churchmen who took part in the discussion were Viscount Halifax, Dr. Charles Gore, formerly Bishop of Birmingham, the Bishop of Truro, Dr. W. H. Frere, the Dean of Wells, Rev. J. A. Robiuson, and Dr. Kidd, Warden of Keble College, Oxford.