The Henson Journals

[10]

Wednesday, October 29th, 1919.

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A dismally wet day very congruous with a rather dolorous function – the meeting for business only of the Diocesan Conference. About 60 members attended in the Town Hall. I made a short speech, and then got on to the business which was transacted in 2 hours without any incident. There can be no doubt that the heart has gone out of Church work in this diocese. Mainly I think the cause is anxiety, financial & social. Nobody knows what is coming, but everybody has a feeling of impending disaster. Nothing any more seems worth while attempting.

War–memorials are rending some of the rural parishes into fragments. The extreme unpopularity of the parsons accounts for something; the competing claims of bereaved families adds a specially difficult factor: discord about the form of the memorial, the inscription, the fees for the faculty completes the tragedy. On a priori grounds it would naturally be concluded that all quarrelling would die out in front of a common desire to honour the departed heroes; but in fact it is far otherwise. The squalidest disputes gather about the monuments of the Brave!

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