The Henson Journals

[41]

Monday, April 4th, 1927.

Jimmie came to see me. He seems well and cheerful. His absence from the Diocesan Conference was explained by his presence at a football match! It seemed to him quite obvious that his duty to his football club took precedence of his duty to the diocese! And, which is perhaps even stranger, it seemed obvious that I must allow the sufficiency of his explanation.

[Stephen Allen, the aspirant for Ordination, came to see me after lunch; & after a long & rather painful interview, I undertook to make further inquiries about him.

Then Lionel and I motored to Cockfield, where I confirmed 67 persons from the parishes of Staindrop which includes Cockfield, Lynesack, and Evenwood. The weather was wretched.]

I accepted an invitation to address a meeting in Newcastle organized by the General Assembly of the Presbyterian Church of England on May 3rd. It seemed to me prudent to take the opportunity of showing that, though I despise "the Protestant underworld", I do not share the bigotry of the "Anglo–Catholicks".

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