The Montgomery advertiser., 1901-09-22
WILL ASSEMBLE < IN CALIFORNIA EPISCOPAL GENERAL CoNvEN- TON TO MEET IN FRISCO. Questions to Be Discussed-That of Divorce Will Be Among Interest
 ing 4 Matters to Come Up. Those Who Will Go from
 Here - Composition ..-v % of the Body.

The Episcopal General Convention. the
 governing body of the Protestant Episco-
 pal Church in the United States. VIII as as
 ennial- session. The meeting place will be
 San. Francisco. .....
 Being legislative body. no program
 convention. The session usually extends
 over period of about three weeks. and
 is always watched with the liveliest in-
 tsrest by all members of the denomina-
 tion.
 Every diocese is represented by four
 clerical and four lay delegates. Those
 from Alabama chosen by the last Dio-
 County MeresI Tsre ReYs T " V sDaSI1S Ss91S
 D. D., and w. c. whitaker and Messrs.
 J. H. Fitts,, R. H. Pearson. J. F. John
 ston and J. E. Mitchell. All the clerical
 assissHs and Mitchell. % Bshop % u BsrnWeIi % being
 member of the House of Bishops, will
 also attend. The Alabama delegates will
 meet in New Orleans and leave that city
 together on the 18th inst. going through
 by the Southern Pacific on special car.
 A number of ladies will be in the party.
 Composition of the Body.
 The convention is made up of two sep arate and distinct branches-the House
 of Bishops and the House of Clerical and Lay Delegates.
 The House of Bishops is composed of old diocesan, coadjutor and missionary Bishops of which there are eighty-five or eighty-siX. ''
 The senior Bishop in point of consecra-
 ton is the presiding officer. The Rev: Thomas Marsh Clark, D. D., Bishop of Rhode Island, consecrated Dec. $. 1854. and the sixty-third in the succession of
 Bishops of the American Church. holds this distinction at the present time. Bish- | op Whittle of Virginia, does not come | far behind in point of service. Following | Bishop Whipple of Minnesota (since de-
 ceasedJ and Bishop Futile of Missouri. he holds fourth place in the list. The | chairman of the house. who presides in the absence of the Bishop, Is Dr. Doane,
 house is the Rev. Ssm2el Hart, D. D.. of Middletown, Conn.,, Dean of the Berke- | ley Divinity School.
 The House of Deputies Is made up of l elective deputies four clerical and four lay, from each diocese, and one delegate of each order from every missionary jul risdiction. This branch of the convention elects it's own presiding officer, and for
 several years pr. Morgan Dix, pastor of Trinity Church. New York. one of the foremost churches in the country. has filled this position. pr. Dix announced recently. however. that he will be unable to attend the present session of the con- vention. and hence a new presiding of- fcer will have to be chosen The Secre-
 tary of the house Is the Rey. Charles l.. As whole, the convention Is a body with membership of almost 700 persons. 1t transacts matters of the greatest im- pOFIanCe. ueaunB NItH all qucStiOito OL denominational interest. The present ses- sion bids fair to be one of the most inn portant and successful ever held.
 What It Will Do.
 To attempt to anticipate what questions the convention will consider Is to a cer- tain extent impossible; to venture to fore cast it's action on any matter would be foolhardy The delegates themselves can in no manner determine beforehand what the convention will do. Yet some gen. eral idea of what is expected to occur may be given.
 A prominent place fin the discussion. It Is held by most thinking Episcopaltans that the divorce laws in the United States are execrable The law of the Episcopal Church, in cases of divorce, allows the remarriage of only Scripturally divorced persons and even in that case Of only inc innocent party. The Roman Catho- lie law forbids altogether the remarriage of any persons divorced. unless special 6ispensation be received from the Pope. Now. a strong effort will be made at the convention to have the Roman Catholic law made the law of the Episcopal Church also. And there being no Pope from whom to receive dispensation, Tn the case of the latter the effort would be that no Episcopal minister could, un- der any circumstances, marry divorced person. The advocates of the change are | many in number and strong in influence. | The opposition to 1t Is none the less | strong and influential.
 A great discussion will be the result. Another matter of more than ordinary | interest to come before the convention IS | the proposition to change the name ol the church. The present name is regard l ed as cumbersome and misrepresentative
 in certain respects, and many would nave