Newark evening star and Newark advertiser. [volume] (Newark, N.J.) 1909-1916, 1913-10-08
IMPOSSIBLE TO
/. TEACH CHRISTIAN
FAITH IN SCHOOL
Bishop Lawrence Says So in
Sermon at Opening of
Episcopal Convention.


Education was the principal theme Of
THE sermon preached today by Rt.
1Rev. william Lawrence. bishop of
Massachusetts, at the opening of the
general convention of the Protestant
Episcopal Church at the Cahhdral of
st. John the Divine.
Religious instruction, he said,
should not be confined TO any one
agency or system, but should pervade
every avenue of life. His text was
from First John, va: This is the
victory that overcometh the world,
even our faith"
One hundred and thirteen bishops
and more than six hundred laymen
: gathered in the great unfinished ca
@sthedral The convention will close
eOctober "a.
Today's forenoon session was set
aside for the opening procession, the
Sermon by Bishop Lawrence and a
6musieal program. This afternoon
there are business sessions of both
zfhe House of Bishops and the House
<of Deputies.
OF the 115 members of the House of
4Bishops two only were missing. They
swere Bishop Garrett, of Dallas, Tex,
ewhose advanced age has prevented
his coming, and Bishop Hall, of YER
mont. who is Ill.
Bishop futile Has Place of Honor.
Rt. Rev David II. Greer of the
diocese of New York, presided, but
in the great procession which marked
the opening of the services, Bishop
Tuttle of Missouri. by right of
seniority. walked in the place Oh
honor-the end Of the line.
Suggestions for changing the cor
Eporate name OF the church and re-
vision of the constitution with refer
fence to marriage and divorce are
among the important matters with
which the convention will deal,
At the outset of his sermon Bishop
Lawrence said he wished to strike
zfhe note struck by the general cou-
mention in 1880, which sent forth to
the church a message containing this
dominant paragraph:
1--WE should endeavor to throw our
Selves into the actual breathing
world around us, and speak to the
living present rather than to the dead
past We should seek to know the
leeds of our country, the tendencies,
changers. exigencies of our times, to
what God calls us in His providence,
what traces of His guidance and di-
nection we can discern in past his
tory, and whittier He points us now.
The bishop pointed out the advan-
*fages offered by the independence of
*fhe church in the United States and
by the fact that laymen sit in its
fcouncils.
i "Education Is Based on Religion"
= "Religion." he continued. sis at the
Foundation of education, first, last
Satld always; 1t gives vitality depth
4and harmony to the whole character.
80 far as the teachers and the schol-
in, or ralirrfO11G NJ
Lome from religious homes there will
he ar atmosphere of religion In the
*Echoolroom.
8 with, however, the variety of
races, faiths and no faiths represent
I'D lin the children of our public
5Echcols, we may put the thought of
*definite teaching of the Christian
faith in the schools out of our minds
lit cannot be done and it ought not to
he attempted"
3 The suggestion that the different
denominations send religious teach
Brs to the schools and at certain hours
under a voluntary system give chill
gHren, separated according to sects,
their religious education, was set
aside as unable to meet the situa-
zion. While he expressed high re-
sspect for the parochial school sys-
tenn of the Catholic Church, Bishop
Lawrence declared his opinion that
its worth was limited.
why should we cling to the fetish
that religion must be taught under
fhe same roof or in the same room
with geography and arithmetic?' he
asked
"AlI Must Help Religion"
THE church of this day and coun-
try recognizing the conditions of the
day and country must marshal to her
ervice every fundamentally at hand.
kpArents and the home. the press and
31itSrature. the playground, an hour
1 of a week for Sunday, various forms
of Achools. correspondence, public
Y Worship, the pastoral work. the par
h. The diocese. the department,
erything. and in a large and states
1n-like way plan for and press
rough not one system but many
stems of religious education. yes,
i'd spiritual culture without appar-
mt system that will reach and up
ouild all sorts and conditions of chill
;dren in Christian faith and char
acter."
Two great avenues for Christian
work, Bishop Lawrence pointed out,
were the colleges and universities and
the navy He declared that although
since 1853 the number of officers and
men in the navy has increased from
10000 to $4,000 the number of naval
tcha plains has remained the same
"a.
"Given a people thus educated" he
went on. there will rise before them
as there is rising dlmly before us
three visions" These three visions
ms he described them, were, a closer
brotherhood of man, the sacredness