CHURCH AND STATE

Dominion, Volume 5, Issue 1486, 8 July 1912, Page 7

CHURCH AND STATE

A SERIOUS POSITION.

RIGHTS QF PARLIAMENT CHALLENdED.

IMPORTANT STATEMENT. By Telegraph—Press Association— Oopyrrrtit London, July fl. ■'. At a mooting representative of the Church Council Lord Halifax moved a resolution to ro-affirm the position that tho Church cannot accept the assumption by the. State, of aright to legislate diotating the terms- of admission to Holy Communion, and Tclies on the loyalty of members of the CbuTch to protect the clergy in, vindicating the rights of tho Church. Sir Edward Clarke protested against the resolution 1 and' said if the Church was going to repudiate Parliament's authority the only straight course was to divorce tho Church from the State. Lord Hugh Ceoil denied Parliament's right to regulate tho terms of admission to' Holy Communion. The motion was carried in a-modified form. It asks members to protect the Churoh from .attempts to force , the assumption, by the Stato of the right to dictate as regards admission to Communion. ;■''■.

\ The Archbishop of York (Dr. Cosmo Lang), in a statement published in the "Guardian," holds that there can bo no appeal from an ecclesiastical court to tha House of Lords. . I • v The Bishop ; of Oxford (Dr. Gore) states that no proposal to alter the Church law could be oarried in. tho Convocations. The power to admit to Communions belongs to the Church Which could not surrender its authority to the State without fundamental It was their duty to abide by principle and face the consequences, ''■■'.• THE POSITION EXPLAINED. The above discussion is' tho outcome of the recent decision of tho House of Lords in dismissing (unanimously) Canon Thompson's appeal in what'is known as the Norwich communion case, Tho question involved os whether a clorgyman of the Church of England can refuse Holy, Communion to a person who has' married his deceased wife's,sister. Mr. Banister, a- parishioner at Eaton,,in the diocese of Norwich, married his deceased wifo's sister in-Caiwda just before the" Royal Assent was given to tho Deceased Wife's Sister Act. When he end his wife returned home Canon Thompson, -the vicar of Eaton, refused to admit them to Communion. The matter came before the Court of Arches and Canon Thompson was admonished not to repeat his Conduct.. In .order to bring the matter before , the civil courts, Canon Thompson then obtained a -rule nisi against the Dean of Arches, but a.majority of'the Divisional Court which heard the rule decided against him. The Court of Appeal affirmed this decision, and Canon Thompson; then appealed to. the House of Lords, which; decided that a clergyman of. tho Churoh of Engjand cannot refuse; thy Holy Communion ( to.' aperson' who has married his deceased wife's sister. On July 23, 1908, the Court of'Arches—tho ecclesiastical'court of the Province of Canterbury—decided that the Act having made marriage with a-deceas-ed wife's sister valid as a civil contract persons so married'could not be treated as "notorious evil livers," whom a clergyman was justified by the rubric in repelling from .Communion,,, ,jThe,-Act..,of, 1907, legalising marriftgo with-a deceased wife's .sisteM cpstajns/i tl!wifpl]q)yMpiPl'fl>>i vlso: man'in. Holy Orders of the Church of England shall be liable ,to any suit, penalty, or censure, whether civil:'or ecclesias-, tidal,- for anything' done- or,; omitted' to be j'.'dpne'by him in the > performance of the duties of his t office, to.which suit, penalty; or' censurb he would not -have been liable if iihas Act 'had not been passed." The Dean of Arches—Sir Lewis Dibdih—decided that, this exemption only protected .'- a clergyman from'being sued for conduct iii. connection w|th'--the ..marriage.' itself' and not -from proceedings on ocoount of conduct to w a™9.:the parties subsequent to the. marriage. : ■•• The Archbishop of Canterbury, writing to the, "Bishop of London regarding'tha Norwich case, stated that.it did hot impair the right of the Church to interpret its own rubrics and regulate the terms of Communion. Other leading churchmen, "however, take a different view.