REBUKE TO BISHOP

Sun (Auckland), Volume I, Issue 184, 25 October 1927, Page 1

REBUKE TO BISHOP

CHURCH CONTROVERSY UNPRECEDENTED CLIMAX By Cable.—Press Association. — Copyright. LONDON, Monday. The issue by the Archbishop of this rebuke of a brother bishop constituted the climax of a controversy which is almost unprecedented in the history of the Church of England. Dr. Barnes was defended in a few respects, but generally was sharply criticised for not seeking to understand the points of view of those whom he condemned. Practically all the newspapers approve the tone of the Archbishop’s letter. They quote a passage in which the Primate accuses Dr. Barnes of having ignored and belittled the teaching of such bishops as Andrewes, Lightfoot and Westcott, or, in our day, Edward King and Charles Gore. Dr. Barnes is considering a reply to the Archbishop, which will be a private communication. Several sympathisers have called at the bishop’s palace at Birmingham, but Dr. Barnes did not see them. The Archbishop of York. Dr. Cosmo Gordon Lang, in an address to men at, York said it was humiliating that around the gracious, wonderful gift of Divine condescension there should arise an embittered controversy. “It is distasteful,” he said, “to criticise a man for whose ability and earnestness I have the greatest respect, but I deplore the methods by which Dr. Barnes conducts the controversy. “ALMOST OBSTINATE” “He seems to be almost obstinate in his inability to understand. He seems to me to impart to the discussions methods which may be appropriate in mathematics or physics, but which are quite inappropriate in the spheJe of spiritual experience.” Cardinal Francis Bourne, Roman Catholic Archbishop of Westminster, preaching at Coventry, caustically referred to “a certain prelate of the Elizabethan establishment, who makes reference to the Real Presence in terms grossly offensive to millions of people who believe that doctrine. “He has been sufficiently rebuked by members of his own communion,” said the Cardinal, “but he should make himself acquainted with the teaching of the Catholic Church on the subject of transubstantiation, which he has wholly travestied.”—A. and N.Z.