Omaha daily bee., 1903-03-15
CONDEMN ATTACK ON BISHOP
Clergy Of H1braska Diocese Send Open
Letter 20 Bishop WOrthingtOn.
coNOUGJ UNBEcoMlNe A CLERGYMAN
Pri eats Assert that Offending One Of
Their Number Has Laid Himself
open for Trial before
Ecclesiastical Court.


At a meeting Of the clergy Of the diocese
Of Nebraska. held in Omaha on Tuesday
last, a committee was appointed to formu-
late their strong ~disapproval Of the un-
called-for and unprovoked attack made
upon Bishop Worthington by one Of the
clergy Of the diocese. The committee has
expressed the judgment OF the clergy in the
form Of an open letter, which is to be sent
to Bishop worthington and then given to
the press. The clergy are unanimous in
their condemnation OF the attack on the
bishop. The open letter follows:
To the Rt. Rev. George Worthington, S.
T. D.: Impelled by the very deepest sense
Of the wrong inflicted upon your person and
office by the recent unprovoked conduct Of
one Of our members, in publicly assailing
you and holding you up to public scorn and
contempt, the clergy Of your diocese desire
to do all that lies in their power to ind
the wrong that has been done to you and to
the church through you. We are fully per-
suaded that the priest in question has laid
himself clearly open to presentation for
trial before an ecclesiastical court for con-
duct unbecoming a clergyman, in thus hold
ing you up to public contempt and ridicule;
but we are also persuaded that you would
be unwilling to have action Of this sort
taken, inasmuch as the ofense was against
yourself. 1t is hardly necessary to assure
you that we utterly repudiate and condemn
tie action of the priest in question. We
do not think, any OF us, that a bishop Is
or ought to be above legitimate criticism,
whether as TO his official conduct or to his
personal life. But in the Instance before
us the criticism was neither legitimate nor
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regard for the interest and honor of the
church which could ~palliste or excuse it.
Even though a priest felt all that was said
was true. in the forum of his own con-
science, he could not possibly be justified
for giving public expression to his private
judgment to the lowering of his own
priestly character, to the scandal Of the
whole church and to the bringing Of worldly
reproach upon the personal life of his
bishop, to whom he owed priestly duty.
Forget Duty-and Honor.
We can only give public expression Of our
regret, reverend father, that one Of our
number should so far forget his own duty,
and the honor due your ONCE, as to do what
he has done, even though he could feel it
were true as uttered. We are persuaded
tina he acted impulsively and that his
better reason will. yet lead him to see the
wrong he has done himself, you and the
whole church, and we cannot but hope that
he will make the only reparation left him,
to fully, freely, frankly, apologize for his
words, rashly and unity spoken, in as
public a manner as that in which he COM
mitted the offense.
As to your living away from your diocese,
and the criticisms to which you have been
subjected recently by certain Of the church
papers on that account, we would reply
that you are in no way whatever exposed to
Just blame on that account. We supposed
the whole church understood that your
absence from your diocese was compelled
by the state OF your health, and the danger
to your life under the conditions OF your
living and working in Nebraska, conditions
which do not exist in living or even working
at the ocean level, in New York or New
England.
When you asked the council of your
diocese to elect a coadjutor and to relieve
you of the chiefest part Of your juris-
diction the standing committee we're in
possession of the certificate of DR.. Della
field, one of the distinguished physicians of
New York, warning us that you could not
continue to labor or even to live in Ne
braska, except at peril Of death at any
moment. The altitude of Nebraska and the
condition of your heart conspired together
to make 1t p~erilous for you to live in
Nebraska. Moreover, for a whole year be-
fore you left here we were aware of the
grave condition OF your health. For a
large portion of that time your absence
was compelled and the diocese was given
over to the care Of the standing committee.
Diocese Accepted In Good Faith.
The diocese accepted the evidence pre-
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your diocese in perfect good faith. Had II
not been so II would never have consented
to relieve you of your charge and to elect a
eoadjutor. 1t would have insisted, either
upon your fulfilling the Office and duty to
which you had been called or else on you
resigning wholly, IN order that we might
elect a bishop who would fulfill his ONCE.
You voluntarily surrendered, or offered to
surrender, to the man whom we should
choose, every Part OF your jurisdiction that
was necessary to enable him to administer
the diocese effectively after your proposed
withdrawal from the diocese. Had you not
done so the diocese would not have con-
sented to the election OF a coadjutor. II
was our duty to see that the church in the
diocese received no detriment by your en-
forced withdrawal and we would have full
filled that duty. 1t has received none.
Your coadiutor is fulfilling his duties in a
manner satisfactory to the diocese. He has
your confidence and ours
IN the face Of these facts, IT is most alb
surd and injurious to you and to US to
charge you with a violation Of the canon
which forbids a bishop to live permanently
beyond the limits of his diocese. Bishop
Smith OF Kentucky did that for many years
for like cause and was held blameless. The
canon was made to compel a bishop to live
In his diocese who was under no physical
disability which required him to live away
from Lis jurisdiction and who had no CO.
adjutor, Of course, to perform his duties.
The canon was. is. just and necessary; but
IL is most unfair and injurious both to you
and to us to hold that IL applies to such
a case as yours.
Good VIII TO the Bishop.
Your diocese is effectively administered