BISHOP OF LONDON

Southland Times, Issue 20771, 11 May 1929, Page 7

BISHOP OF LONDON

OPEN LETTER FROM INCUMBENTS. RESERVATION OF THE SACRAMENT. London, May 9. The Daily Telegraph says that a group of Anglo-Catholic incumbents have addressed an open letter to the Bishop of London stating that they cannot conscientiously comply with the directions issued in connection with the reservation of the Blessed Sacrament. They say: “We are convinced that the essential principles have been obscured, and what is more important a departure has been made from immemorial Catholic precedent.”—Australian Press Association. The Daily Express stated in November last that although the rubrics permitting the reservation of the Sacrament were the chief reason for the House of Commons’ rejection of the new Prayer Book, the Bishop of London had sent a letter to 160 incumbents of churches where reservation was practised, out of a total 620 churches in the diocese, announcing that he would permit reservation as in the past. The decision of the bishops’ conference following the second rejection was to take the new book as the standard, but to consult the clergy of the synods. The London Synod rejected the proposal to permit reservation as under the new book. The bishop’s letter, therefore, defied both the synod and the House of Commons.