New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1899-08-13
AN EXTREME ECCLESIASTICAL PENALTY
IMPOSED BY MANY DIFFERENT
KINDS OF CHURCHES
ROYAL PERsoNAGEs WHO ARE NOW SUBJECT TO
THE PAPAL NEUTRALITY-SUSPICIOUS.
OF ANCIENT RULES BY Plus TX
PRINCIPLES GOVERNING
THEIR APPLICATION.


penalties which it formerly carried with 1t are
believed by numbers Of persons to have become
obsolete and to find no longer any place in these
modern times of progress and enlightenment
Indeed there are many who are firmly con-
WINGED that the bar OF the Church has ceased
to be anything else than mere figure Of
speech. The announcement. therefore. that the
Bishop OF the Roman Catholic Diocese of Belle
ville ILL.,. has threatened to excommunicate the
entire parish Of St. Patrick. in East St Louis
that is to say. a congregation of some twelve
hundred peope-for resistance TO his will and
for refusal to receive the priest whom he had
appointed as rector. naturally exctes a good
deal Of attention. All the more is this the case
as there have been only three or four instances
in the history Of the Roman Catholic Church in
this country of an entire parish being subjected
to ecclesiastical interdict.
CHURCH OF ENGLAND NEUTRALITY-SUSPICIOUS..
Before going any further il may be as well
to state that communication is a form of
ecclesiastical punishment that is by no means
confined to the Roman Catholic creed. II has
been retained by the Anglican Church, and by
most Of the other Protestant denominations as
well as by the Jews. with whom. indeed 1t origi-
mated since the "anathema" or cutting OFF,
from association with the faithful. constituted
one of the punishments prescribed for certain
offences by the Mosaic law. Away back IN
the sixties an attempt was made by certain
prelates Of the Church of England to excom-
municate the missionary Bishop Colenso' OF
Natal. in consequence Of his refusal to impose
monogamy on the natives who had pluralty
of wives as a condition of baptism, taking the
ground that neither the Bible nor the practice
of the Christian Church in its early days pre-
rpOuirpmpntS.
the powerful support which the Bishop received
from many dignitaries of the Church to which
he belonged notably from the celebrated Dean
Stanley. who placed the pulpit OF Westminster
Abbey at his disposal when he came to England
in 1861 the endeavor to impose the ban OF the
Church upon the so called Zulu" Bishop fell
through and effort has since been made by
the Church of England to eXcommunicate any OF
its members for matters of doctrine
Two wears ago. however. the Bishop of Lich-
Gold nuh,jclv pronounced in his cathedral a SEN
fence OF excomm. nicatiOn against one OF the
minor canons OF the chapter. the Rev Geralo
HAYWARD, who had been previously fouhd gully
nv a consstoria court of immortality, ana VINO
refused to mend his ways. The BISHOP stdhu-
ing In front of the altar. declared that lnaSfhuch
as the defendant had not appealed on the queS-
tio, NJ law or given any token Of penitence, he
therefore
degraded from the office of priest and deacon,
respectively, in the Church of England. and ex-
communicated and cut off from communion
with the congregation of Christian men until
such time as he could give the Bishop or other
connetent witnesses sufficient sign or token OF
repeDtance for his open and notorious sin, which
had caused such grave scandal to the Church.
psalrn cxxx was afterward chanted, and then
the Rishop offered UP prayers contained in the
60 called Communication service. which forms part
of the liturgy of the Church Of England Tor
those who have wandered from the loiu'
This decree Of the Bishop Of Lchhed was ue-
scribed by him as the major accommodation
the minor degree thereof merely excluding the
6elinouept from all participation In the sacra-
rnents.
Until about sixty years ago, accommodation
nv tho State Church OF England carried win
Z, ALL sorts Of legal disabilities. IL pracucaHy
nlaced the person against whom II was pro-
nounced outside the pale OF the law RENDERING
hin, incompetent to offer testimony IN any cour'
Of law or to bring any action 10 recover i"nu
=. ,,,orov due TO him, besides depriving him OF
his franchise and Of all other CIVIC flghts Al
,,oso PENALTIES are. however, now repealed. and
while q decree of accommodation may carry
,,t,h I, q sentence Of six months Imprisonment.
the latter is imposed not as part OF the excom-
,run,cat,on itself but as punishment for con-
,umacy and contempt of court In refusing to
o,,.v tho decree OF the consistorial tribunal
BAN OF THE SCOTCH CHURCH
Tn the Scottish Church accommodation ike
x,se finds a place, and is decreed by the Pres
h,.o-v sentence being pronounced by the pre-
.ia,re minister during the course Of divine
service according to the following fornuia
.Ubareas thou NJ, hast been by suiflcient