The Birmingham age-herald., 1913-10-01
MUCH INTEREST IN
THE Of
EPISCOPAL Church
Rev. w. n. Claybr0ok Dis
cusses Proposal to Change
Church's Legal Name
SESSIONS ARE HELD
EVERY THREE YEARS
All Parts of the World viii Be Rep
resented at Big Convention Be-
ginning in New York
Next Week

Next week
OF more than usual interest Is the
forthcoming general convention of the
York city, beginning October and last
ing about three weeks. This conven-
tion is the Legislative body of the
church and consists of two houses of
legislation The upper body Is called
the house of bishops and the lower the
house of deputies The house of bis
hops consists of lis bishops, represent
ing 65 dioceses and Ss missionary dis
tricts. The house of deputies is made
up of an equal number of elergymen
and lay delegates or $50 in all
The delegates from the Alabama do-
cese are the Rev. E. A. Penicx, Christs
church, Tuscaloosa; the Rev. e. w.
Gamble of Pauls church, Selma; the
Rev Stewart Mcqueen, rector of the
Holy Comforter church, Montgomery,
and the Rev. Matthew Breswter of
christ's church, Mobile. The lay dele
gates are ID. NJ. Drennen, junior warden
in ST. Mary's church, Birmingham Rob
ert Jemison sr., senior warden in the
CHURCH OF the Advent, Birmingham; ;
Hartwell Douglass, senior warden Of
the Church of the Ascension, Mont
gomery and Judge William H. Tayloe,
senior warden of Nne Church of the
Holy Cross, Uniontown Ali these dele
gates will attend. 1t is said that about
40 or 80 Birmingham people will also
be in attendance, although only the per-
sons named are to go as delegates
All Parts of the World
Not only is the United States to be
represented in the Forthcoming general
convention, but all the foreign mission
fields of the Episcopal church will also
be represented. There will be delegates
from Alaska, Mexico, Hawaii. Philippine
Islands Cuba, Haiti, Porto Rico, Brazil
West Africa, China and Japan
There is great deal of legislation
to come before the convention as well
as much pressing business. The con-
Nention meets every three years. one
of the most important things to be
considered is the proposed change in
the name of the church. AS it is now
as the name appears in all legal papers
and upon the title page of the book of
common prayer as The Protestant
Episcopal church" The definition OF
the word Protestant has undergone
much change since it was first applied
to all churches protesting against papa1
jurisdiction back in the sixteenth CEN
tury.
Mr.. Claybrook Discusses Proposal
The Rev. w. n. Cfaybrook. rector OF
St. Marys, in speaking of the proposed
change in the title of the church yes
terday afternoon said
one of the questions to come before
the general convention next month viii
be the change in the legal title of the
church. The present title. Protestant
Episcopal church, which appears in all
legal documents and on the I lille ma e,e
OF the book of common prayer. is con-
sidered rather cumbersome and mis-
leaolng by members of the church. The
WORD protestant during the reforma :
llon denoted a protest against. papal
jurisdiction in England. but did not
denote the foundation of a new church.
AT a later period in history there
arose teachers within the English church
VINO protested not only against papal jur-
lsdiction, but against the very things
Tor which the English martyrs shed their
blood. Presbyterians protested against
hpiscopacy, which the church of Eng
land has ever held to be necessary to the
beng of the church. Later there arose
a division of the congregational. Inde-
pendent Baptist and Methodist bodies all
OF them protesting against some principle
held to be vital by the Episcopal church
of England. So the name Protestant in
the twentieth century denotes quite a
different thing from that which the word
Protestant denoted in the sixteenth CEN
tury The definition given in the die
tionary and one commonly held by the
people generally is this 'Protestant-one
of the religious bodies founded during or
since the reformation This the church
OF England certainly Is not, and the name
Protestant in this sense as applied to
the Episcopal church is misleading For
this reason there are a great many of the
ablest thinkers in the church anxious to
bring about change in its name or legal
title. Some of the names suggested are
the American Catholic church, the Church
of the United States of America and sim
ply the Episcopal church.
Personally, / prefer the first named
But would not care to have the name
changed unless it were so done by a ma
jority of the members
Importance of Missions
One of the important reports to be made
to the general convention in New York
Is that of the board of missions The
Episcopal church in the United States.
through its board of missions has ex-
pended for domestic and foreign mission
airy work about 81, 250O0o during the past
u a.. fTi,1 "a,
FOR the first time in many years present
its report without deficit.
| The auxiliaries to the board of missions
are the Sunday schools and the women in
the various dioceses. The Sunday schools
through the Easter offering this year con-
tributed $4,000 to the missions The
women in the dioceses and missionary
, districts have paid something like $780,
900 toward the missionary fund during the
past year.
The women's auxiliary is to have a
meeting in New FORK at the same time
as the general convention, and represent
and missionary district. There will prob
ably be 500 delegates to the women $
meeting, besides thousands of other
women who go as members of the aux
ilary 1t has been the custom for about
% years Off the women to present a
united offering at the first session of
tfie convention, said offering to be taken
up at that service and placed upon the
altar of the church in which the service
Is, hold At the last general conyentio