BISHOP REBUKED.

Timaru Herald, Volume CXXXV, Issue 18948, 6 August 1931, Page 7

BISHOP REBUKED.

LETTER FROM PRIMATE. LONDON, July 29. The Archbishop of Canterbury (Dr Lang), replying to the Bishop of Birmingham (Dr Barnes), who asked in a letter last week that the law affirmed by Parliament regarding the reservation of the sacrament should be obeyed says that Bishop Barnes deliberately placed himself to contempt of the law when he declined to vindicate in the courts his action relative to the appointment of the Rev. G. D. Simmons as vicar of St. Aidan's Church, Birmingham. The patrons of the living could have applied for a writ of attachment which might have involved Dr Barnes’s imprisonment. Arichbishop Lang adds:—“lt seems difficult to reconcile your determination to compel some clergy to obey the decisions of .the courts with your refusal to acknowledge such decisions regarding the sacrament. You apparently endorse the opinion that the belief that the Spiritual Presence is to be found to the consecrated element is a superstition properly rejected at the Reformation. This opinion is scarcely consistent with Article 28 or the words of the Catechism that the body and blood of Christ are verily taken by the faithful at the Lord's Supper. Is it charitable or just to brand as mere superstition a belief held by multitudes of your fellow-churchmen which is consistent with the formularies of the Church? I have written this with the greatest reluctance, as it is not seemly that I should be involved in a public discussion with a brother bishop.’’

Following the action of Dr Lang ill licensing Mr Simmonds, who had been presented to the living of St. Aidan's Church notwithstanding the protest of Dr Barnes, the latter wrote to Dr Lang stating that as a result of correspondence he had been informed that Mr Simmonds was “unable to order the cessation of the reservation of the Blessed Sacrament, until he had taken up residence at St. Aidan's and had been able to consult those who had a right to be consulted.” Dr Barnes asked Dr Lang to urge Mr Simmonds to oe loyal to the pledges he gave when he was inducted. He added:—“When the Prayer Book controversy was upon us Parliament rejected the proposal for reservation for the sick, fearing that it would open the way to an erroneous belief in a miraculous change in the consecrated elements. Such a type of worship as is practised at St Aidan's proves that Parliament was wiser than a majority of the bishops. I ask that the law affirmed by Parliament should be obeyed.” After deciding to admit Mi- Simmonds to St. Aidan’s Church, Dr Lang licensed him at a special ceremony at Lambeth Palace on July 7. In April, 1930, Dr Barnes refused to license Mr Simmonds on the ground that he declined to promise that the reservation of the sacrament, which is contrary to Church law, should cease at St. Aidan’s. Mr Simmonds took the matter to the Chancery division, where Mr Justice Bennett made an order that he should be admitted, and commented on the fact that Dr Barnes had not entered an appearance.