ECCLESIASTICAL FREEDOM

Dominion, Volume 3, Issue 869, 16 July 1910, Page 9

ECCLESIASTICAL FREEDOM

/PLEA BY DR. ERODSHAM. Tho question of compulsory obedience to the rulings of the Privy Council in ecclesiastical matters has- been occupying the attention of the Anglicans in Queensland. Tho Bishop of North Queensland'(Dr. Erodsham), in an address which lie delivered to the Synod of tho Northern Ditfcese, said:—

"I have spoken so frequently of the great disadvantage entailed by our compulsory legal connection with tho Established Church in England that I am unwilling to take up your time at any length upon the subject. It is not only an inconvenient thing, but a ridiculous 1 and humiliating thing, that wo should voluntarily hamper our young and growing- Church with a method of organisation which is growing more and more impracticable and intolerable even in England. The 'Church Times' recently referred to tho repugnance, amounting ,to horror, which English Churchmen feel at the idea of throwing down sacred questions into the Parr liamentary arena. They have probably no immediate alternative in England. But why should we. in Australia- be placed in the same humiliating position? Why should we be debarred from making changes, say, in the Lectionary, or use of the Psalms, until'tho British House of Commons is pleased to say 'yes' ? Why should . any Australian bishop 'bo bound down to administer without option, antiquated decisions' of the Privy Council? But the most humiliating, part of the whole thing is that when the British judicature decided,that tho 'law of the Church does not follow the flag,' so freeing us from tho English Establishment, wo at once voluntarily placed ourselves again beneath its dead hand. Fortunately ive can free ourselves, and in so doing we shall fallow tho example of the Australian Judicature. But it will need an Act of Parliament to do so. This wo have learned from the;' Wee Free' case in Scotland. The Provincial Synod at their last session, unanimously passed a resolution that relieving 'legislation .should be sought. A Church of England Bill for- the whole of Queensland is to be drafted, and sent to the various dioceses to be, approved by them, and finally ratificd> by tho Provincial Synod. Then the Bill will-be presented to the Legislative Assembly as the deliberate wish of the Church in Queensland. It is not that we desire anything but loyal co-operation and communion with the Church in England, but we desire above all things freedom, from compulsory obedience to English quasi-civil courts."