The Washington herald., 1913-08-30
UNITARIAN

The next biennial session of the con-
ference OF the Unitarian churches OF the
| United States and Canada will be held
in Buffalo. October s to g. The INST
| recent sessions have been held in Michi-
gan, Chicago. and in Boston in connec-
ton with the International Congress of
Liberal Religions.
Unitarians are endeavoring to get ac-
custOmed to the new name general con-
| ference" Two years ago at Washing
| ton. the significant step was taken of
adopting this name instead of the name
| national conference which had been
carried since 1865, when the conference
was first organized. The reason for the
change is the growth of Canadian
churches included in the conference.
Canadians felt a growing aversion for
the word "nationar' in the title. 1t
seemed to he only United States organ
! iZation. and the Canadian churches de-
| sired the amendmnt so that they should
be at no disadvantage. Canadians have
| 4 growing sense of their own national
life and are not willing to be a branch
| of an American institution. The Amer
lean leaders were willing to make the
change. the only difficulty being TO find
a suitable name to replace national"
But in Washington the change was made
! TO general and all are happy over it,
| Buffalo is admirably located for this
! session, being easily accessible for most
! OF the churches in both countries. This
session is likely TO be the most largely
! attended in the history of the confer
| encs. The notably increased attendance
| and interest at the May meetings" In
| Boston OF Jne American UnIIarIan Asso-
citation is a symptom of the growing life
Of the denomination. and the same life
! will make the Buffalo meeting Of great
| Importance.
! The president is Dr. Charles W. Eliot
! of Cambridge, and Hon. Louis A. Froth-
| ingham is one of the vice presidents.
! The other vice presidents come from
| widely separated parts of the country.
including San Francisco. The secretary
| is the Rev. Walter F. Greenman Of Mil
! waukee.
Tne headquarters Of the conference Will
be the Lafayette Hotel. and the coun-
Gil will meet there on Monday. and there
will be morning prayers there on Tues
day, Wednesday. and Thursday.
The conference sermon will be preached
by the Rev. Samuel NJ Crothers. of Cam
bridge. who is a leader in the new move
ment-nOt only in his own denomination.
but in 'hnuch wider field-for turning
religious impulses to the work of social
service. The sermon comes the first
evening. The following evening the i'm
portant topic for discussion will be What
May the Community Expect OF the
Church, This is TO be treated under
three heads. first "As a Center OF Social
Education" Thy Frederick Almy, secretary
of the Associated Charities of Buffalo:
second, LAS School for Volunteer Social
Workers" Cby Mrs. Anna Garlin Spencer,
I of New York;. and third. "As a Center
| for Arousing the Social Conscienousness"
| Speaker to be announced. The third
evening of the conference will deal with
the combined ideas of progress in pa
triotism and religion. The new ideas Of
democracy are among the greatest con-
| tributions to human thinking and there
is a deepened moral and spiritual sense in
American public life. The subject. Lib
eralism, the Religion Of Democracy"
opens a vast field. The sense of brother
hood. when ii is spiritualized and the ap-
pliCation OF II to democratic life, is
powerful impulse. And the worth and re-
sponsibility OF the individual. emphasized
| by democracy and by liberal religion. re-
enforce the social aspect of brotherhood.
The Rev. Francis G. Peabody, who will
have returned from his trip to the Far
East will speak as chairman of the COM
mission on theological education on Thurs
day morning. The remainder of the
morning will be given to the important
subject, THE Efficient Church" One of
the speakers, Emerson p. Harris repre-
sents the Unitarian Church in Montclair.
N. ]. This church bears an unusual re-
lationship to the community. In the re-
cent development OF activities for social
betterment in Montclair most of the
movements have been started in this
church, and many of them have been
housed by II for indefinite periods. 1t
is indeed "a religious center with a social
circumference"
Tuesday afternoon will be of special
interest to the delegates. The laymen
will lunch at the Buffalo Club, and the
program will be in charge of the Ma
tionaI League of Unitarian Laymen. The
women will lunch at the Twentieth Cen
tury Club and the program will be In
charge of the Unitarian church for tie
discussion of ministerial problems. At
o'clock all will assemble for a general
reception at the Twentieth Century Club.
On Thursday afternoon there viii b.
departmental meetings conducted by the
national organizations of the denom.na-
ton. At one Of these the Rev. Charles w.
Wendfe will make a report Of the Paris
Congress of Liberal Religions. which he
is attending this month. The interna-
tional relations of the liberal religions
is of growing Importance. A consider
able number of the American and Cana
dian delegates returning from the Paris
congress will probably attend the con-
ference in Buffalo. Two of them, the
Rev. Frederick R. Griffin, of Montreal
and the Rev. William Sullivan. of New
York. will speak at the closing session
on Thursday evening DR.. Charles W.
Eliot and the Rev. James De Normandie,
of Boston, also will speak that evening,
the subject being The Unitarian Procia-
nation"
Abbot Gasquet, the learned head Of the
English Benedictines. and one or Eu-
ropes greatest historians. who for some
time past has been engaged/in the ar
duous task of revising the Vulgate