The Henson Journals

[39]

Thursday, August 30th, 1928.

That woeful man, Lovibond, sends me a certified copy of his deprivation from How Caple, and pleads that he is only prohibited from officiating in the Hereford diocese, & ought not therefore to be held incapable of doing so in any other. He encloses some recent testimonials from clergymen for whom he had taken duty, & who had found his performance satisfactory. I returned a short stiff answer, & therewith returned his documents. Is there any substance in his contention that the lapse of time ought in equity to purge his offence? Surely all turns on the character of the offence. There are some offences so gross that they must needs be held to be permanently disqualifying. But can these be assumed in the case of a man who, though deprived of his benefice & prohibited from officiating by his bishop, has not been degraded from Holy Orders. An unfrocked priest may never officiate: & his unfrocking may serve to demonstrate the existence of disqualifying fault. But, short of unfrocking, can anything justify treating a man as permanently disqualified? It may be urged that the Bishop's discretion is absolute, &, if he is satisfied that a clergyman is morally untrustworthy, he is entitled, nay bound, to refuse him permission to officiate in his diocese. In the case of the [40] unfrocked priest, there is no question of episcopal discretion. He may not officiate in any circumstances, even though the bishop judge him to have been unfrocked unjustly. He no longer counts as a clergyman. In the case of a benefice, or of an assistant curacy, the Law defines the conditions of competency, for appointment, & so far the Bishop can have no discretion, but in permission to officiate the Bishop has a free hand. Apart from questions of law, ought a Bishop to recognize the recovery of character after disqualifying offence? Ought he to grant a 'locus penitentiae' even in such a case? I cannot think it. As an individual with reference to his Creator, there may, indeed, be no limit to forgiveness: but as a clergyman, with reference to the Community of Christians, there may not be any return to office. How far ought a Bishop to allow his private knowledge of a clergyman's transgression to influence his public attitude towards that clergyman? Is he free to go behind legal certificates of moral competence, & act on his own opinion? If the peccant clergyman admit his guilt, the Bishop may surely act on his knowledge.

[41]

Lord Grey of Falloden sent me a kind reply, evidently written with his own hand, to my inquiry about the electrical treatment of the eyes. I sent his letter on to Wilson without delay.

The Bishop of Manchester writes to tell me that he has nominated the Revd Lewis Evans, an ex–Presbyterian minister, to the Vicarage of Etherley. The name suggests yet another Welshman. It would almost seem that the Welsh fulfil the same rôle in recruiting for the Anglican Ministry as the Irish fulfil for the Roman. Both are bad. But, of course, there are exceptions to every rule, & the new Vicar of Etherley may be one of them.

We motored to Chatton, & had tea with Canon Long, a pleasant little elderly man. There came to tea Mrs. A. L. Smith & some others. After tea we were taken by our host some 4 miles to a delightful little Norman chapelry, deep–buried in a secluded grove. It has an apse, curiously squared on the outside, and some curious stones in the porch. The Scots under Leslie did their best to ruin it, but an excellent man named Williamson restored it in 1693. In the Vestry are two bells, probably used at the Mass. This little chapelry is dedicated to the Blessed Trinity, & is in the parish of Eglingham. At the cross–roads, there has been erected a stone cross, which guides men to the hidden church by the words – "I was glad when they said unto me, We will go into the House of the Lord."

[42]

My holiday is now ended. Tomorrow we go back to Auckland and resume the harness of duty. Has this experiment of hiring in a house, and getting about in the circumjacent country been a success? In one respect certainly it has failed. I have read little, & done nothing of the kind that I had intended to do. There have been extenuating circumstances. The excitements & distractions of the ecclesiastical appointments have not been favourable to serious contemplation. This house is not so quiet or so convenient as I had hoped. Especially the want of good light in the evenings, & of sunlight during the day, the study being a very dark room, & my bedroom, though lighter, being uninspiring as a study. The weather might have been worse. It began admirably but worsened as the days passed. The house is nearer the road than I had realized, and the road is a busier thoroughfare than I had supposed. Enough letters have been forwarded to require more answering than is quite congruous with a holiday. Nevertheless, I doubt whether I could have arranged the month more suitably.

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