The Pacific commercial advertiser. [volume] (Honolulu, Hawaiian Islands) 1885-1921, 1901-02-02
THELOCAL
SEE.
Bishop Willis and
the Diocesan
Middle.

MEMORANDUM of the Standing Commit
tee of the S. P. c.. dated October 4
1890, brought 10 the Test of the Prin-
ciples AMI Practice OF the Ctthoiic
Church.
i. Under Ga.e of October :, 100. i, Mem
erandum Of the Stanoing Committee OF
the Society for the Propagation of the
Gospel was issued with regari to the
Bishopric Of Honolulu, which has been
published in the leading church papers
of England and America.
2 The Importance of this Memorandum
cannot be exaggerated. The Standing
Committee has been called to deal with
a situation for which no precedent has
secured during the 200 years of the So
ciety's existence, the case of the Ameri-
can Colonies referred to In the MeInoran-
dunn being by no means parallel to the
present inaSmuch as no diocese was
founded on the continent of America I'M
til after the Revolution. Consequently,
the line of policy now laid down creates
q precedent, to which future reference
will be made, whenever other dioceses
now receiving the society'S aid experience
a. change in their political environment
similar to that which has transferred the
independent Kingdom of Hawaii into
Territory of the United States.
g. 1t was therefore, to be expected.
and moreover it was due to the mem
bers of a society closely connected by
ties past or present with the whole An
glican Communion, that, in drawing up
such a Motno andum, particular care
should be taken that the line OF acuon
laid down should be in harmony With
those fundamental principles on which
the claim of the Anglican Communion
to be true branch of the Catholic
Church is based.
4 1t might have been taken for grant
ed beforehand that the recognition CT
these principles would underlle any doc
ument issued by the Standing Committee
of this society, which prociaims itsef TO
be the instrument and representative or
the Anglican branch of the Catholic
Church. On page Of the Annual Report
the society's relation to the church Is
thus set forth in prominent type:
-.The S. P. G. wishes to act not as a
society, but as the handmade of the one
Christian Society.'-Bishop Wilberforce,
of Oxford.
.This society is the accredited organ of
the whole Episcopacy of our branch of
the Church Catholic''-The Rev. DIR. Pu-
sey.
5. But have these expectations been
realized? Does the line of policy outl1n-
ed by the Memorandum recognize the
unity of the Anglican Communion and
tiaI principles which must underlie all
action of a branch of the church which
claims to be Catholic? And, If these
principles are contravened, must not the
confidence hitherto reposed in the society
as 1.-THE accredited organ of the whole
Episcopacy of our branch of the
Church, be severely shaken?
This question has now to be consider
ed and answered.
liant fpQ ~
randum are these: 1t records the fouit
dation of the See of Honolulu, and gives
to the society the credit that deservedl.
Belongs to it, of having been instrument
al for nearly a quarter of century II
saving the diocese from falling out
the lists of Anglican Sees in Foreigl
Parts. 1t next reviews communication
on the question of transfer to the Amer
lean Church; and then publishes two let
aers one from the Secretary to the BiSh
on of New York, and the other from tn
Bishop of New York to the Secretary, 4
which it is proposed on one side OF IN
Atlantic and accepted on the other, that
without any regard to the fact that He
nolulu has been for thirty-eight years tn
seat OF a Bishop of the Anglican Com
munion, and that the See is not vacan
the Islands which constitute the Dioces
of Honolulu should either be placed In
der the charge of the Bishop of CalifoI
ma OF De dSSlSuSo " iCiS -
Bishop, the nearest neighboring Bisho
being over 1900 miles away.
The concluding paragraph OF the Mem
s,randum touches the property owned
the Diocese of Honolulu.
z. BY the publication of the letters r.
gerred to above the source and insp
ration of the decision come to by til
Standing Committee with regard % q
Society's action, the Memorandum prt
poses that a group of Islands in the +;
cif1c, which for period of thirty-eigf
years have constituted a recognized oil
cese of the Anglican Communion, shou
be placed under the charge or Blshe
2e0o miles away, the See being sun occ'
MED. and, as will presently be shown, II
society being entrusted with funds II
its endowment
s. Is it in accordance with the PRAGUE
of the Catholic Church from the hegll
ming that See once founded should
extinguished, and the diocese placed u
der another bishop, without regard eith
TO the bishop, clergy or people OF sue
diocese? Rather does not the propos
ton contained in the two letters publis
ed in the Memorandum directly set ash
the inherent rights Of the Episcopal Q
flee? In the Magnum Opus, which Z
late Archbishop of Canterbury oequeat
ed to the Church, ''The Life, Times al
Work of Cyprian" Archbishop Behs.
imDreSSe0
church the nature and characteristics
the Episcopal office, as originally dehn
nv Cyprian: 1.-THE tangible bond OF u
Church's unity is her one united Eplsc
nate. or Apostleship, universal yet on
one-the authority OF every blshop Pc
feet in itself and independent, yet
forming with all the others mere
enumeration of powers, but being te
,,re ,1pon totally, like that OF snaI
holder in some joint property. IL
thus that Archbishop Benson renders .
walI-known dictum of Cyprian, "Eplsc
n.t,s unus est cujus singuiis IN SO
5,,n, mars etur."-(Cyprian, p. lsz).
How different from this is the iansual
- R;shop Potter who claims the rig
d,vest a brother bishop of his sna
~ this Episeopate, and force him OF
Tor though he writes that this WIZ
10 dome he would never nave penn
s,,ch words unless ne intended TO mp
sha4 tbe exercise of such force was Wit
in the rights and authority OF the -Ali'e
lean Bishops. 80 =. >,
who then. express the mind OF =
ratbol;c Church, Cyprian and Arcnnlsn
1ssor or Bishop Potter and the stan
- Committee of the S. r G,' VINO
nnb,isbing his letter support ms poss''o,
Nv the studious avoidance OF
an+ion of the See or Diocese Oh Hon
~, nth in the letter OF MT. 1ucN
iuiu' - +be Rishop of New YORK. y