The Pacific commercial advertiser. [volume] (Honolulu, Hawaiian Islands) 1885-1921, 1898-08-25
Bishop Of Honolulu Candidate for
American House.
MAY BE a MEMBER IN TIME
At Lamberth Conference - Bishop
Whipple Once Offered This See.
The Two Congregations.
CNew York Paper.)

\ great deal of interest is felt among
Episcopalians here in the new relation
between the Church of England dio-
cese of Honolulu and the Episcopal
Church in the United States, growing
out of the annexation of the Hawaiian
Islands, and the question is to form
an unIooked-for topic for the triennial
General Convention of the Episcopal
Church, which will meet in Washing
ton in October next. The diocese of
Honolulu is an independent one That
is, it is not a legal part of the Estab-
lished Church of England, since the
Hawaiian group is not a part of Great
Britain. The Bishop of Honolulu has
spiritual jurisdiction over all of the
Islands He is the Rt. Rev Alfred
Willis, d. D., and he was appointed in
1871, the Archbishop of Canterbury,
as has been the custom, making the
appointment. Bishop Willis is of Eng
lish birth and sentiment, and in the
affair of 1895 he took mild interest
on the side of the deposed Queen. Since
that incident he has not been heard
from in public The opinion here is
that he will be made a member of the
American House of Bishops, though it
may not be accomplished Immediately.
This cathedral at Honolulu has n
cOmmunicant list Of between 500 and
500. Bishop Willis and the cathedral
dean belong to the advanced party in
the Church of England. Some mem
bers Of st. Andrews parish objected
to the extreme ritualism, and to satisfy
them a concession was made that is
quite unusual Two services are held,
one in the advanced form, according
to the Bishops Catholic" notions, and
the other a palmer service, to suit the
low church worshippers. There are
other Anglican churches besides the
cathedral in Honolulu, and a few par
ishes, though weak ones, on other
Islands Of the group. Thes Church of
England has not, however, been very
aggressive. 1t has had and still has,
an exclusive and small following. In
Honolulu the church controls a school
that it is quite the thing for patrician
boys to attend. For thirty years, under
the old rule, the school received
Government grant but this the Dole
Government cut off, whereupOn Bishop
Willis, in his next annual report to the
Archbishop Of Canterbury, referred to
President DOle's republic with an in
terTOgatiOn point in brackets and the
words so called
Bishop Willis suspected that coming
events might be casting the shadows
which he imagined he saw, and at the
Lambeth Conference last year, he ques-
toned a good many American Bishops
about being taken into the American
House of Bishops in the event of pO-
IiticaI annexation. 1t is known that
in one or two instances he received no
encouragement, and that from personal
feelings toward himself He is said
not to be popular in his own diocese,
and the fact is known here.
1t is an interesting circumstance
that the Archbishop Of Canterbury, be-
fore appointing the present occupant
Of the Hawaiian See, in 1871, offered
the Bishopric of Honolulu TO the Right
Rev. II. 3. Whipple. d. D., at present
Bishop Of Minnesota, who declined it
on account of his desire to continue
his work among the Indians. The
matter of transfer of a see is unusual.
Congregational work in the Islands,
which was the initial religious work
Of any kind. was started by the Amer
lean Board of Boston. The work is
not only self-suppOrting now, but the
COngregatiOnalists there raise funds in
small amounts to assist missionary eff
| fort in the Caroline Islands. The Amer
| lean Board pays the salaries of the
missionaries, who conduct the TheO-
/ I0gfco1 Seminary in HOnO1ulu de-
! signed primarily to train native help
ers Annexation does not, therefore,
| affect the status Of the work of the