The Henson Journals

[135]

Fourth Sunday after Trinity, July 13th, 1930.

A beautiful morning, bright and yet fresh. Ella and I went to S. Peter's, Cranley Gardens, which is two minutes walk from the house, and here received the Holy Communion at the early celebration, 8 a.m. The service was that of the 1662 Prayer Book, even including – a rare thing in these lawless days – the Ten Commandments.

There was a considerable number of communicants divided between the sexes in the proportion of at least 8, perhaps even 10, to one. I must needs think that this overwhelming dominance of women in the churches is one contributory cause of the refusal of young men of the better class to offer themselves for Ordination. I am quite sure that among the unfavourable conditions of the clergyman's life, no unimportant place ought to be allotted to the excessive commerce with women. They are almost the whole of the "church workers", as they form the bulk of the congregation. They are the distorting medium through which the parochial clergyman must perforce learn the 'lay mind'. This is the key to much clerical blundering.

[136]

The effect on the clergyman himself is certainly unwholesome. Women yield to men a kind of supremacy which men never yield to one another: and men instinctively adopt towards women an attitude of assured & indisputable authority, which is, indeed, often ludicrous enough when seen, as in numerous instances it is, in combination with inferiority of character and ability, but which, being ultimately based on the natural fact of sex, is never successfully disputed. Thus a habit of assumption & a manner (in some cases) of pomposity is acquired by the clergyman which is intensely irritating to men, who for that reason also shrink from the society of clergymen, & separate them in their thought from normal manhood. The more virile clergy, not unconscious of this sentiment, are sometimes led into undesirable essays in secularity with no other object than to demonstrate their own freedom from the common clerical fault.

[137]

The triumph of Feminism in the political sphere cannot be without effect on the status of women within the church. Once having admitted women to citizenship on equal terms with men, our politicians find themselves unable to resist the demand for complete equality in every part of the State service. Already, women sit in the House of Commons and in the Cabinet. How long can they be excluded from Judgeships and Diplomacy? We are required to assume that the traditional estimates of feminine competence are wholly mistaken, & that we may, nay ought, frankly to ignore Sex in the ordering of society. If there be as yet no claim that women should be admitted to the Army & the Navy, the reason is that the most zealous Feminists are eager to abolish both. To the police–force women have been already admitted. It is impossible that all this can be without effect on the system of the Church, where, however, the adoption of "Feminist principles" must, (in view of this existing dominance of women) be far more serious than even in the State.

[138]

We are already being pressed to elevate the deaconess from the rank of 'women–workers' to that of ordained clergy. My 'vast & vacuous brother', to adopt L. Sumner's description of the Bishop of Winchester, is the protagonist of this cause, & he is weightily supported. But the position of the deaconess will satisfy neither the logic of feminism nor the ambition of feminists. They claim the priesthood also, & why not? If the barrier be not their sex, why should not the door stand open to all women who can qualify? There is, of course, the question of marriage. With its normal concomitant of maternity. These are difficult to unite with the professional ministry. But, by the grace of contraceptives, even this difficulty may be surmounted. We may work out to the singular situation in which the parish priest is a married woman, understood to have artificially protected herself against the risk of motherhood, & therefore competent to expound the law of Christian obligation to wives & mothers!

[139]

We attended Mattins at S. Peter's. There was a considerable congregation, overwhelmingly feminine. The service was straight–forward until the 3rd collect, when, in lieu of the appointed prayers, we had a 'mingle–mangle' of intercessions winding up with the General Thanksgiving, said by priest & congregation together. The preacher was the Bishop of Demaraland ^(Fogarty)^ who made a good appearance in the pulpit being much be–medalled. He begged hard for his diocese, which (I gathered) was supported by the congregation of S. Peter's. The primitive people, the Ovambo, are threatened with starvation through an almost unprecedented drought: his medical missionary has broken down in health: & everything seems moving to ruin. So he begs hard for men and money. I was sufficiently impressed to contribute a pound to the Offertory instead of the normal half–crown. Dame Beatrice Lyall, who stayed a night at Auckland Castle recently was in front of us: & beside me was (presumably) Mary, Countess of Minto. I suppose the congregation was largely of that type with a tract of poor houses tucked away behind the big ones.

[140]

[struck through] General Kirkpatrick and his wife came to lunch. He held high military office in India under Lords Chelmsford and Reading. His views on the situation in India were, as, perhaps, was inevitable, entirely hostile to the present policy. He regards Lord Irwin as amiable, but quite pitiably weak. The 'Observer' expresses this view with brutal emphasis: and the 'Sunday Times' agrees. Indeed, Lt Irwin has no defenders outside the company of his personal friends. Happily for him this is a large company and includes both Baldwin & the Editor of the Times. It is an interesting speculation how far personal friendship affects the course of politics, and whether its influence is, on balance, good, or bad, for the interest of the country. After our guests had departed, Ella and I went out, she to pay calls, I to the Athenaeum. We met at the Abbey for the Evening Service. The preacher, and Archdeacon, roamed so mightily that he raised the echoes, & could not be clearly heard at all. After the service we returned to Neville Terrace.[end]

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