THE CHURCH CONGRESS.

Dominion, Volume 3, Issue 632, 8 October 1909, Page 7

THE CHURCH CONGRESS.

';':• ' '',"■ '.OPENED IN SWANSEA. .'. (Bj TelcErapij.-PrMs ABSjclatlon.-Copyrlrht.l London, October 6. .The Church Congress has been,opened at' Swunsea. The chief subject to bedisoussed is the threatened .disestablishment of the church' in Wales.

THE CONGRESS AND ITS WORK.. • t - The first Congress was held in July, 1861, in the Hall of liing's College, Cambridge, being presided over- by Dr. France, Archdeacon of Ely, in tho absence of tho-Bishop of Ely, ; Dr. Turton. The real' originator of the Congress was the Eev. William Beaumont, Fellow of Trinity, and vicar of St. Michael's, Cambridge. He was ably seconded by the Rev. William Emery, who became later Archdeacon arid is still Canon of Ely, and is styled "tho Father of the Congress." In tho 'sixties the Congress visited Oxford, Manchester, Bristol, Norwich, York, Wolverhampton, Dublin, and Liverpool. Its interest and usefulness have grown apace. The bishop of the diocese is always the ex-officio president, though at Hull, in 1890, Archbishop Thomson's placo was taken, in what proved his last illness, by Bishop Wcstcott, <# Durham. Manchester is the onljTtown which has been honoured with thrco visits of the Congress, though Wolvorhampton, Norwich: Nottingham, Newcastlo, Brighton, Bristol, and Liverpool, have received two each. A return visit is now being mado : to Swansea. At a recent meeting of the Cambridge Town Council it was resolved, on the proposition of the f» that the Church Congress bo invited to hold its fiftieth annual meeting in Cambridge in September, 1910. • ' tho speakers who will take part in tho present Congress are the two Archbishops, tho Bishops of London, St. Albans, Durham, Gloucester, Bath and Wells, Wakefield, Exeter, Bristol, Ossory, Aberdeen, Salisbury, Truro, Carlisle, and Southwark; tho Deans of Manchester, Westminster, Canterbury, St. David's, St. Patricks, Bangor,' tho Enrlof Halsbury, Karl Cawdor, Lord Hugh Cecil, Sir Lewis Dibclin,.Sir.C. A. Cripps, and a representative list 0 •,. u '?? lnvmen - A feature of the Congress will bo the number of meetings for men. Two will be held in Swansea during the week, with such attractive speakers as tho Archbishop of York, the Bishop of London, the ChaplainGeneral, and tho Dean of St. Patrick's; and a number, will be held in tho district. -The programme shows, as usual, a very full list of -meetings—twenty-two in all. " The Church in Wales" will bo, discussed at two. meetings, tho speakers being: (1) Earl Cawdor, the Bishop of St. Albans, and Lord Hugh Cecil. (2) Sir J; D. T. Llewellvn, Bart., ~>r - „l ' r ? ,n k "organ, Rev. T. Lloyd (vicar of Rhyl), Rev. R. Williams (vicar of Llandilo). The dismission on "Socialism from tho Standpoint of Christianity" will be oponed by Bishop of Truro, Dr. A. Shadwell, and Archdeacon of Ely. The other subjects include: Neglect of Publio Worship, its Causes and Remedies; the Church's Title to its Endowments ;, the Laity and Spiritual Work; the Sarictification of- Family Xife; Foreign Missions; the Responsibility of: Employers for the' Spiritual and Temporal Welfare of the Employetl; Authority in Reference to Belief and Practice, its Necessity and Limits; the Supply and Training of Candidates for Hold Orders the Christian Faith in relation to recent Psychological Investigation, the Poor Law Commission; Women's Work in the Church,