The Henson Journals

[152]

Wednesday, March 3rd, 1926.

The proofs of the Tyndale lecture arrived from the publisher. The poor thing reads poorly & I am disposed to repeat of the vanity which carried me into the foolish extravagance of publishing it.

Parry Evans came to see me, & discuss the state of the Lightfoot Institute, which is financially in a bad way. The truth is that the admirable bishop did not realize that the social conditions of the parish would alter, & that what he designed as a benefit would survive as a "white elephant"!

We left the Castle at 2.45 p.m. & returned at 9.40 p.m. In the interval I visited two parishes in order to hold confirmations. In Penshaw, I confirmed 103 persons: & in Jarrow I confirmed 132. Both services pleased me, as the candidates were of adequate age, & evidently in earnest. But mainly the confirmations in the Jarrow Deanery have been very disappointing. The population is not less than 213,000, & the total number of candidates is less than 700, although 4260 children reached the age of 14 last year. The National Church can only touch one sixth of the population! This is a fact worth reflecting upon.

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