COMMUNION SERVICES.

New Zealand Herald, Volume LXIX, Issue 21132, 15 March 1932, Page 11

COMMUNION SERVICES.

NONCONFORMISTS' POSITION. DEBATE BY ANGLICANS. DIVISION OF OPINION. [from otjr own correspondent.! LONDON, Feb. 2. The question of admitting Nonconformists to Holy Communion, proposed by the Anglican bishops, was discussed in tho Lower House of Convocation recently. Church dignitaries from all parts of the south of England assembled in the Great Hall of the Church House. Dean Inge was listening alertly to the speeches; but he took no part in the discussion. The Master of the Temple had a part in the debates, %vhich every now and then hinted at tho "serious cleavage of opinion" this much-discussed question had stirred up among the ranks of the clergy and laity. The "gallery" was the largest ever seen at a convocation. The Dean of Norwich, Dr. Cranage, moV ed"That the debate on the reso-•? lution sent down by the Upper House on Juno 3, 1931, being adjourned by permission of the president, the Lower House requests the prolocutor to nominate a. committee to consider the resolution and to report at the next group of sessions." Appeal for Unity. The mover said that after what had been done that day in connection with intercommunion with the Old Catholics, they should be even more anxious to obtain, unity and concord with other brethren to whatever communion they might belong, but that unity could not be obtained at that stage. If they had to divide on the subject there would be very definitely two parties in the house with regard to giving an answer "Yes" or "No" to the resolution sent down by the Upper House. He was most anxious to avoid that disunity among themselves. If they merely adjourned the debate to the next group of sessions, said Dr. Cranage, he could not a ee much chance of obtaining greater unity. But if they could have a committee appointed, representing the various points of view existing, they might hope that such a committee would be able to present a unanimous or nearly unanimous report. The Dean of Winchester said he thought that the only consistent line they could take was that all baptised Christians were members of the Body of Christ. i The Dean of Lincoln expressed the warmest sympathy with the general spirit and purpose of the bishops' resolution. Dr. Sparrow Simpson, of Ilford, urged that the bishops' proposal was one of those popular and attractive, but eminently superficial, attempts to escape from the consequences of division without removing its causes. "Uncharitable Action" Bepented. The Rev. R. J E. Boggis said that when in the West of England as a young clergyman he was a very zealous priest, with a creat jealousy for the Rubricß. "There came to my parish," he added, "an old retired Congregational minister. There was no Nonconformist church within several miles, and he asked me if I would administer communion to him, because he thought he was not long for this world. I refused his request. Now I recognise that my action was unkind, uncharitable and cruel." The Archdeacon of Oxford said that they were all most anxious for the reunion of Christendom, but it would not be a real union unless based on secure principles, but not upon the mere shifting sands of sentiment. It was when a group of the assembled clergy wearied of the tedium of the iong-drawn-out debate, the almost interminable speeches about the rubrics, canons, and Church history, that the cry V

of "Vote! Vote!" brought the discussion to a sudden end, and led up to a climax unprecedented in the history of Convocation.

The motion to adjourn in order, to ask the president whether they might postpone the answer to his questions until next session was tNvice voted upon, and resulted in a complete tie, the voting being 72 on each side. The prolocutor gave his casting vote in favour of the motion, "in order that I may have the privilege of asking His Grace what we are to do next."