The morning news. [volume] (Savannah, Ga.) 1887-1900, 1891-05-09
IN COPE AND INTER-.
TIE EPISCOPAL B!SsOP OF FOND
DU LAC GRE ATE3 A STIR.

Or. Grsfton's Guardianship - The
Publication of a Letter to Friends
IN England Draws Out a Caust.c
Criticism From Green Bay Catho-
Ec-Chargs of Sacrlege.
Bishop Grafton Of Fond du Lac, Wis.
who was generally known both in America
and England as Father Grafton before he
was elevated to the episcopacy, has caused
q decided stir in Episcopal and Catholic
circles, says Fond du Lac wis., paper
In letter published in the English Church
Times of Jan. Is. 1891, Bishop Grafton
makes statements which show how very
high his own Guardianship is He calls
himself Catholic bishop, and expresses the
hope of making his diocese a Catholic one,
hut at the same time attacks tie Roman
Catholic church, or the Roman church, as
he calls it. The following are the lRzPor-
tsnt parts of his published letter:
| am gradually getting my diocese in
order. and it is filing up with good Catholic
priests. 1t is large in extent of territory
| 900 miles,, yet small in numbers ard
| clergy. There are about thirty clergy, and
| it is the poorest of all our dloceses. \
| God has given us our work to do, which is
unlike that of any other body of Christians,
and though we are but few, vet the church
is becoming Catholic, and when it does be-
comes truly Catholic in worship, and life
| and action, as we know she is between
the covers of her prayer book. she
| will then be harbor of refuge in the con-
ing sectarlan and Roman commissions. n
| good number OF my churches there are
candles on the altar and altar cross; the
| candles are lighted at all the celebrations.
| This is my cathedral use, and we have, of
| course, the mixed chalice and wafer bread,
and | confirm and ordain in cope aud inter.
| The poverty Of the diocese prevents the
adoption OF the altar ornaments, and the
| use of proper eucharistic vestments. II
| any OF your Catholic friends want to give
buIses, altar vases, alter linen, or anything
pertaining to the altar, including even a
| tabernacle, they would all come in use here.
| | hope, by Gods help, to make this Cathc-
| lie diocese. But we need SO many things
churches books, tracts, and all that aids
a parish priest in England; pictures to hang
| upon the walls, etc. You see we have no
| prlvY council judgments before our eyes.
The church is free from the state, aud
when the bishop is Catholic, the way is
| open to these new dioceses of the west for
the introduction of all Catholic teaching
and practice.
| 1t may be stated in explanation that
Bishop Grafton, like all Episcopalians OF his
| ClhsS, iDSlSO Oudt UDS Is Inc
| real ana only catholic church, and that the
Roman Catholic church is simply an Off
| shoot of the original Christian church.
| Bishop Grafton'S letter seems to have
stirred up the Catholics of Wisconsin. A
Catholic Laymann of Green Bay, writing
| about the matter to the Catholic Cttize n,
states that Catholics are disposed to regard
the use of copes and miters by unauthorized
persons as sacrllegious Catholic Lay
man" continu es:
If the use of millinery will make the
Protestant church Catholic, there is every
prospect of Fond du Lac coming to the
front AS soon as the churches are fur
nished with Catholic trimmings there may
be quite falling off. of Protestant. attend
ants, in fact there are churches in the do
ceSe OF Fond du Lac where il an attempt
was made t. INTRODUCES head with a mite,
on it, the congregation would leave in a
body. + The trial of the bishop of
Lincoln, before tho ecclesiastical head Of
England, whose jurisdiction every one dis
puted but himself, ana whose Judgment
caused instructions to be given to the clergy
by their bishops not to pay any attention TO
it, would indicate that the establishment
was not a harbor of refuge"
Another "convulsion" has recently taken
place in Ohio, where three divInes under
took to decide what opinions might and
might not be held by the Protestant Epis>
copal church in the United State.
The church may be Catholic between
the cover of the prayer~book," but with
nearly 400 years of hard work it does seem
as if some one might have disc ,vered a
mode of opening the prayer-book and al
lowing the church to see the light of day,
We may have "convulsions" in our
church, but when we leave it we shall
never think of looking between the covers
of the prayer-bookn to find the harbor of re-
fuge promised by Bishop Grafton.