The Richmond Virginian. (Richmond, Va.) 1910-1920, 1912-01-06
ITEMS OF RELIGIOUS INTEREST

1kOOO lin ] Ll\AO /
thews has received an average Of sew
/ en- hundred members a year, the large
| majority of these being on profession
| Of faith. The active membership of
this Church at the last report was
! 4rs7s. --s -=7z--== -s-:-e-
| Rev. Sedgwick W. Bidwell OF Mid
diebury. VI. the oldest Mafhodiaa
preached in tha-CHited states, has
| just celebrated his 1920 birthday. He
| WAS born In 1900, Was a preacher for
seventy EIGHT years and Is pending
| his declining years at East Middle
| bury, where hts friends assembled to
| felicitate him on his wonderful lon
| gevfty. On the occasion of his CEN
teiinial two years ago. Mr.. Bidwell
delivered sermon in his home church
but has made few public appearances
! since. During his active ministry he
| held pastorates In twenty-five towns
In Vermont and New York.
A religious census OF San Francisco
was taken Sunday afternoon. All the
| different religious organizations were
| concerned. and the Roman Catholic
and Jewish churches ce-operated In
| INC CaIIVasS.
The plans of English Methodism for
city mission work call for the erection
OF forty mission halls In many of the
important cities at q cost Of IS, 600. 900.
Their great Central Hall and Institute
in London, facing Westminster Alb
hey. will represent an investment OF
two million doilars-one million for
the land and similar amount for the
! building.
The International committee OF tho
| Young Mems Christian Association In
New York city has received news from
| Manila of the raising OF $oV.0ou for
the two new association buildings
/ there says the Army and Navy Jour
! nal. One will be for students In the
Philippine colleges and the other for
native young men employed In the
city. A ten days campaign was plant
ed to raise $46,0 900. but 90 successful
was it that $4,000 was collected in
| six days, The Association has already
! two branches IN Manila, one for the
army and navy men. ana one for en-
| ployes Of the government in civil life.
/ Governor General Forbes is a men,
Der ofthe latter. and in the assacia-
ten baseball team plays first base.
| The largest Presbyterian congrega-
! ton in the world is that OF Flat. West
! Africa, connected with the American
mission. There are 500 members and
catechumens connected with Il, and
| the hugo church holds 5000 people.
| In q contest between the mems BIZ
| bile classes of two Illinois towns, Ma
! comb and Bushnell, the mems class OF
the Presbyterian church of Macomb
had present 2,4i1 on the first Sunday
in December. Two churches and three
theaters had to be used to house the
men In attendance:
The registra ton in the cities where
! the Men and Religion Forward Move
ment Eight Day Campaign has been
held shows an average of six hun
dred In attendance. This does not
I mean those who attended the BAN
! quet only, but those who took the full
! week of instruction. and who express
ed the intention of continuing per-
sonal work.
The number OF communicates in the
foreign field is 2.346,0ss. while the en-
4 tire number of native Christian ad-
herents Is 6.S37,7S6.
At every important town on the
route of the Panama canal there Id
a weli-establtshed Young Mems Chris
| tan Association. Chapeis are also
erected and equipped for religious
| work all along the line. and religious
services are conducted in these every
! Sunday by chaplains of the commits
sion. There are Sunday schools In
every village of the canal zone.
Rev. Fred ], Patton. missionary in
Malekula Island. New Hebrides
Southwest Pacific. and son OF the
world-renowned missionary to the
New Hebrides, the late DR.. John G.
Patton. is on visit to this country
and Canada In the interests OF his
work.
The Y. II. c. A. OF Oporto has
2a5 members. The total attendance
at religious meetings aggregated in
tllSl0, 22,000 persons. There are
about fifty Protestant centers- In Por-
tugal. with a thousand members and
thirty-three Sunday-schools.
While the receipts on conference
collections for foreign missions by
the Methodist Episcopal church fol-
the year ending October 81 were
| ocfNiLtS ooti&AAS ICES lt1dH idS'
year, the total receipts, including spe.
Gals and contributions by the Wo.
mans Foreign Missionary Society, are
s2.45o.3Sl.97 as compared with So
22l ,san.23 for 1910. .n
Rev. William w. Adams. D. D., has
resigned at the First Congregations
church OF Fall River, Mass, after Q
notable pastorate extending over for.
ty-seven years, His resignation IL tc
take effect January -. when he W,
be made pastor emeritus OF thu
church. DIR. Adams is In his eighty.
first year, having been born Angus
Is. 1881.
The Portuguese government has In.
II formed the Catholic patriarch ef LIS.
bon. Mgr. Anthonyq Mendes Bello
that 1t will not pay any salary to the
clergy unless the clergy submit to tn.
law separating church and state. Thi'
announcement was made in conse
quence OF the receipt OF advices from
Rome that the Pope had authorize
destitute Portuguese priests to &C
cept stipends from the republic OF
the condition that they did not al
! low the government to interfere II
ecclesiastical matters.
The special campaign Of the wo.
mans lForeign Missionary Society
OF the Methodist Episcopal Church
| fnr rtb