The herald., 1897-10-27
RT. REV. j. II. JOHNSON
TELLS OF THE PAN N-ANGLICAN
CONFERENCE
Ceremonials at Canterbury
and st. Paul's Cathedrals-How
the Conference is Conducted

| The Right Reverend Joseph II. John
son, bishop of the diocese of Southern
California, returned last Thursday from
his European trip. He left here about
the middle of June, and made the jour
ney primarily for the purpose of attend
ing the PanAnglican conference held
| in England in July. OF this conference,
it's significance and his trip generally
Bishop Johnson gave the following in
teresting account to a Herald reporter;
"The conference is called by the arch
bishop of Canterbury every ten years,
and is of tremendous Importance, be-
cause bishops gather there from all over
the world for the purpose of considering
questions of the utmost interest to all
English speaking people. Hundreds OF
questions and suggestions on live ana
vital subjects are presented. and those
most important are accepted and taken
for consideration by the conference.
Committees are appointed for the
different subjects that have been accept
ed, and specialists on those subjects ap-
pear before the committees and present
their arguments. These deliberations oil
the bishops result in serious, searching
and well digested reports. which are
gathered in book form and distributed.
"There were present at the conference
this year 200 bishops and 200 chaplains,
and before the opening of the conference
they all visited Thanet, where St Au-
gustine landed 1900 years ago. The fol-
lowing day the conference was formally
opened in the cathedral of Canterbury,
with a glorious TIE Deum. The sur
roundingS were magnificent; the con-
vocation robes there are scarlet where
ours are black and the hallowed tradl-
tions of the place all served to make the
scene and the ceremonials impressive
in the extreme.
"The archbishop of Canterbury is
remarkable man. with a strong person
ality; he is intellectually the peer of any
man in the house of bishops. He has Il
kind character and is intolerant of con-
ventionalities. He entered the cathe-
dral at the end of the procession. one OF
his chaplains bearing the gold cross of
Canterbury. His magnificent, long train
was borne by pages, and he was attend
ed by his legal adviser attired in evening
dress with a wig. The archbishop %
bishop of York. one of his chaplains
bearing the great silver cross of that
house, according to tradition.
"At Westminster the same precedence
obtained; and here. in the evening, the
archbishop of York summoned the pres
ence of the Holy Spirit in a very i'm
pressive ceremony. After this formal
opening of the conference the bishops
went into retreat for a day, led by the
bishop of Lincoln, who is noted man,
and is as able as any in the Episcopate
today.
1.-The conference then met every day
for a week in the guard room of Lam
beth palace, and stated speakers pre-
sented the various topics. This guard
room is one of the oldest and NOSE inter-
esting rooms in the palace. The ses-
sions commenced with morning prayers
and continued until o'clock, with one
hour interval at noon.
After this week of general discussion
the committees We're appointed to dis
cuss the same questions in private con-
ference. These lasted two weeks, and
were conducted, severally in the church
house in the Westminster yards. For
instance, l was on two committees; one
considering The Relation of the Church
to the British Dependencies, the other
The Relation of the Church to the Labor
Problem
Bishop Hereford, pronounced Radi-
cal, was the chairman of the latter COM
mittee, and the specialists who appeared
before it We're Bishop Rochester and
Bishop Stepney who have held the clos
n "a a mi re a nd
the agitators; and we also had the ben
eft of the advice and knowledge of John
Burns, a member of parliament, who is
in closest touch with the question.
"At the close of the fortnight of special
committee work, we all met at Lambeth
palace. Reports We're presented and
read of all the work transacted, and
these reports We're again digested Fol-
lowing this the archbishop presented his
resume of the whole: this in turn was
carefully considered, and the result was
the book made from the last and finally
accepted reports.
AT the end of the conference the great
closing service was held in st. Paurs
cathedral. the archbishop preached and
most imposing function it was from
beginning to end.
I'VE reached London just too late for
the jubilee, but the bishops were all pre-
sented to the queen: we spent day at
Westminster and saw the Prince and
Princess of Wales and the Duke and
Duchess of York. We saw no end of
royalty indeed, it got so common we
lost interest in it. We went from Lon
don to Vichy and around through the
Black forest on our way home. We
stayed fortnight in New York my
birthplace, but" said the genial bishop,
in closing. there is no place, anywhere,
just like good Southern California, now,
| is there?'