The Henson Journals
Wed 6 March 1929 to Thu 7 March 1929
Volume 47, Pages 154 to 155
[154]
Wednesday, March 6th, 1929.
The precise hours for the services are not fixed, the minister being allowed to use his discretion, subject to the intervention of the bishop in case of dispute. The churchwardens have no power in the matter.
Whitehead. Church Law. P. 259
3rd edition. Stevens & Sons. 1911.
The XIVth Canon orders that "the Common Prayer shall be said or sung … at convenient and usual times of" the appointed days. The XVth Canon orders the Litany to be read on Wednesdays & Fridays "at the accustomed hours of service".
Richardson is evidently hard–pressed by the knot of "Anglo–Catholicks", bequeathed to him by his very foolish predecessor: and he seeks to strengthen himself by getting a direction from me. It is probably "asking for trouble", but I wrote to him advising him to abolish the "sung mass" at 9.15 a.m. The saner part of the congregation dislike it: & few attend it. There would be fewer but for a subtle system of bribing the children to come!
[155]
Lionel and I motored to Durham, where I instituted Greatorex to the united parish of Dinsdale with Sockburn, & licensed some curates. Meeting Gillett in the Bailey, I told him that he might perhaps obtain a title from either Garland of S. Mary: Tynedock, or Lilbarn of St Oswald's, Hartlepool. We returned to Auckland for lunch, & afterwards motored to Witton–le–Wear, where I confirmed 76 persons in the parish church. We went back to the Castle for tea, and almost immediately set out for Darlington, where I confirmed 118 persons in S. John's Church. There was a large congregation, which was very attentive. After service we returned to Auckland, where Sir Philip Baker–Wilbraham, my new Chancellor had arrived. Before going to bed, I had some conversation with him.
Arthur Rawle sent me a book which seems to have impressed him greatly – "To–day and To–morrow the Testing period of the White Race" by J.H. Curle – and which handles the difficult problem of population from a point–of–view which is confessedly not that of Christianity. It was first published in 1926, and is already in its 7th edition. There is a great demand for literature which deals with this subject.