Los Angeles herald., 1909-04-23
CATHOLIC CLUB HAS
THIRD ANNUAL MASS
FULL RITUAL CEREMONIES ARE
CARRIED OUT
Preacher Denounces Tendencies of
Episcopal Church and Says Cath
Ollie Party Is in Danger of
Being Crushed Out

The third annual mass of the Catho-
lie club of the Episcopal diocese of
Los Angeles was celebrated yesterday
at st. Matthias church, Rev. A. M.
Smith, the rector, being celebrant.
The full ritual, including the pro-
cesson of acolytes and clergy and the
burning of incense, was carried out.
Merbeck's mass was sung under the
direction of Ernest Douglas.
Rev. Richard H. Gushee of Ontario,
president of the club and one of the
leading movers in the Catholic move
ment in the local diocese, preached a
stirring sermon denouncing the present
tendencies of the Episcopal church
and saying that at the next, national
convention it would endeavor to crush
the Catholic party in the church UNI
less active work of propaganda is car
ried out. He said in part:
always there have been in the
church men more spiritual than Jesus
Christ, more spiritual than God, more
ethical than Gods church.
1--WE have men today so infused with
this pseudo spirituality that they deny
the article of the Apostolic creed, the
resurrection of the body.
I'm the old days there were men so
highly spiritual that they could not
brook the thought of God tabernacling
in our humanity. Today they spirit
ualize away the Christian doctrine of
suffering.
Many heresies there were in the
early ages of Christianity, denials of
the nature of Jesus Christ, but one doc
trine was not questioned, the real pres
ence of Jesus Christ in the Eucharist.
"Since the fifteenth century this has
been the cruX around which the theO-
Logan has ragged.
To-day in the church there is a con-
certed movement to vitiate the priest
hood The bishop of Arkansas has pub
licly said that a layman or a lay
woman can administer the holy COM
munion.
1--WE hear of the historic episcopate'
What is it for? What can bishop do
that a priest cannot, except ordain?'
said st. Jerome The only essential
function of the episcopate is to make
priests to continue the succession of
the priesthood.
do you still want valid sacraments
which convey realities or are you mere
ritualists, satisfied with forms and
ceremonies?
"Allow these men to invaidate the
priesthood and you take away the rea-
son for being of the Episcopal church.
Do you hope to vie with the great
evangelical in the paths of Protestant
ism?
Question of Church Life
1.-THE only excuse for the existence
of the Episcopal church is that it is
the mother church of the English
speaking race, possessed of valid or
ders and sacraments of Jesus Christ.
"A Presbyterian minister once said
to me: What do we want of an his
toric episcopate which conveys Moth
\ing? Your liberals are foolish men.
They are trying to bury their great
treasure
"Are you going to let them bury it?
] warn you that unless you stand
shoulder to shoulder, pray, fight and
teach they will bury it in the next
convention.
'The plain people of the church do
not understand the issue. 1t is not a
question of the change of name; it is
not question of ritual: it is a ques-
ton of the life of the church,"
The speaker stated that a national
society had been formed on the lines
of the English Church union, which is
called the American Church union. He
urged his hearers to Join the society.
which will soon have a branch in the
Los Angeles diocese.