The Henson Journals
Sat 1 March 1930
Volume 49, Pages 145 to 146
[145]
Saturday, March 1st, 1930.
Diocesan Conference
The fog continues, everything is swathed in a grey pall. Pattinson and I motored to Durham, where I presided over the 'business' meeting of the Diocesan Conference in the Chapter House. There was but a moderate attendance. My Presidential Address was brief, and concerned only with the situation in Russia. I directed the incumbents to observe Sunday, the 16th of March, as a day of prayer for the persecuted Russian church. The business was quietly and rapidly got through. I entertained at lunch in the Castle the following – Ferguson, Dickinson, Drury, Simpkinson, Mackay, and Hutton. Arthur Harrison introduced the Budget very clearly, and, rather to my surprise, there was no objection to the raising of the quotas. On the whole, it was rather a lifeless Conference, the unanimity expressing rather a lack of interest and general listlessness than a hearty unitedness of feeling. After the Conference had dispersed, I went to tea with the Bishop of Jarrow, & discussed diocesan business with him. I got back to the Castle at Auckland about 5.30 p.m. The fog had cleared, but therer were signs of its returning.
[146]
We had a dinner party viz. Sir Christopher & Lady Furness (née Roberts), Colonel & Mrs Finch, Archdeacon & Mrs Rawlinson, Mr Simpkinson, & ourselves. Mrs Finch is a Dutch woman. She said that during the war there was great hardship in Holland for the shortage of food stuffs. This surprised me. Sir Christopher Furness is a stocky little man, very slightly weighted with ideas, and not much interested in affairs. His wife pleased me on account of her evident interest in the country.
A suggestive incident is reported in the newspapers. The Archbishops have ordered prayers for Russian Christians. The Government (i.e. the Army Council) have ordered Army chaplains not to do so! The Manchester Guardian's comments are illuminating:
'One assumes that the Church of England, whose head is the King, must obey the orders of the King through the Government. It is quite another affair with Roman Catholic & Nonconformist chaplains, who, in the one case, take their orders from the Pope, & in the other case take their orders from nobody. From the C. of E. point there is no real difficulty. It is a national church'.