The Catholic bulletin. [volume] (St. Paul, Minn.) 1911-1995, 1912-07-20

ing OF the Cnurcn OF England,
and since then the ministers Of
the Anglican Church must treat
such cases with due respect and
welcome to the Communion Table
those whose unions they had here
tofore declared incestuous. !"
The effect of this decision is to
establish the absolute right of
Parliament to dictate the terms
of admission to Holy Communion
in the Established Church. In
other words, the state alone has
the right to declare what the An
glican Church must teach and do.
The act of Parliament is the SUI
preme criterion of Anglican teach
ing. It does not mend matters to
assert that the state alone, and
not the church, has altered it's
opinion as to whether such a mar
riage is incestuous. The fact re-
mains that up to the time when
Henry VIII first saw Anne Boleyn
no one in England doubted that
marriage with a deceased wife s
sister was prohibited only by &C.
clesiastical law, and all men ac-
knowledged that the Holy See
had the power to grant dispense
tons from the prohibition. But
to oblige the King Parliament af-
frmed that such marriages were
contrary to the law of God, and so
could not be made lawful by the
Pope. That was the origin Of the
teaching of the Church Of Eng
land on this subject. And now
Parliament has changed it's atti-
tude ON this question and the
Church Of England must do the
same.
In these distressing circum-
stances the Anglican clergymen
looked to their Primate, the Arch
bishop Of Canterbury, for guild
ance. He had not the courage to
come out boldly and state that the
recognized teaching Of the church
for three hundred years cannot
be changed by act Of Parliament.
He declares that in his Judgment
it is impossible to regard a
man as ipso facto, an open
and notorious evil liver on
account solely Of contracting that
particular marriage after it had,
as a civil contract, been expressly
sanctioned by English law" And
yet the goth canon Of the Church
Of England of which he is Pri-
mate declares that such a mar
rage is prohibited by the law Of
God and whoever enters into such
union cannot be admitted to
Communion. His attempt to ex-
plain away the recognized teach
ing Of the church for three hun
dred years is pitiful in the ex-
treme. 1t shows the lengths to
which he believes himself justi-
fed in going in order not to run
counter to the claim Of the Eng
fish Parliament to dictate to the
Anglican Church what its doc
trines and practices must be. He
proves himself a servile servant of
the state rather than a staunch
defender Of the church. AS the
official spiritual head Of the Eng
lish Church one would expect him
to vindicate the honor of the
church and point out to his fol-
lowers their duty. But the atti-
tude which he has taken shows
that he is fully conscious Of the
fact that the Anglican Church is
the creature of the state and must
submit to be blown about by
every wind Of changing doctrine
that may originate in the English
House Of Parliament.
The futility Of a church so con-
stituted arrogating to itself the
right to set forth the religious
creed and duties of it's followers
must be evident to the thinking
men within it's fold. 1t is no won
der that many of it's brightest
minds are turning towards the
Catholic Church as the only God
given guide in religious matters.
No doubt, as time goes on, the
leaders of Anglicanism will come
to realize how unsatisfactory is
the position of the Established
Church and how hopeless it is to
expect that it will continue to
exercise it's authority over it's fol-
lowers. None but a divinely ap-
pointed church can speak with
authority, and those who would
promote their spiritual welfare in
accordance with the principles
laid down by the Saviour Him