The Bridgeport times and evening farmer., 1919-08-19
CHURCH MAY
 OMIT LOBBY" IN MARRIAGES. Episcopal Commission on Prayer Book Revisions
 Recommends Changes. AMOUNTING WITH HOLY OIL ASKED Faith Healing, Requiem Co1nmunions Provided;
 Opposition Expected.

New York, Aug. 19.-Revolutionary changes in the sanctioned practices of the Episcopal Church are provided for in report of the Commission on the Revision and Enrichment of the Book of Common Prayer that is to bo submitted to the general convention in October. A copy of this report has just been obtained by The Tribune It provides for:
 Faith healing.
 Amounting with holy oils.
 Requiem communions and the
 prayers for the dead.
 Reservation of the sacrament.
 Intincuon-the use of a dipped
 wafer instead of the common
 communion cup.
 There are twenty radical proposals. It is expected that bitter opposition to some of them will develop on the floor of the convention. Even the revisers anticipate this and some of the objections are expected from within the commission itself. AZ if in anticipation of this, the report con- | tains tie following predatory state ment:
 '"The report is signed by the chair | man and secretary of the commission, and it is intended by this method to | signify that the great ma jority of the l recommendations are unanimously l approved by the commission, or have l substantial unanimity. There are. of | course, items from which any given ! member of the commission will dis sent or in regard to which he may feel indifferent. It is understood that 1 any member of the commission is free to express his dissent in regard to any item either in the convention or in any way which may seem best to him"
 Of great popular interest will be the decision to recommend the elim- | inatiOn of the word "obey'' from the l marriage ceremony. This is in defer 1 ence to protests that have been gath ering strength for many years. Some | clergymen of the Protestant Episcopal Church have refused absolutely to use the term and they have had the moral support of ministers of other communions who have said that the retention of the word "obey" was a survival of the days when wives wers regarded as chattels.
 A further concession to the de- mands of the new day is the decision to eliminate the statement by the bridegroom, With all my worldly ! goods I then endow." It is held that the law safeguards dover rights and that the words in modern practice have been stripped of their meaning fitness.
 Also the allusion to Isaac and Re- becca" is eliminated. It will be re- membered that, a few months ago, Dr. Karl Reiland, the rector of St. Georges, refused to use this aIlusion, declaring that the domestic life of Isaac and Rebecca was not a model. The present marriage ceremony | says 70 Eternal God, Creator and Preserver of all mankind, Giver of all spiritual grace, the Author of ever | lasting life: Send Thy blessing upon these Thy servants this man and this woman whom we bless in Thy name; that as Isaac and Rebecca lived faith | fully together, so these two persons may surely perform and keep the VOW and covenant betwixt them made. The decision to permit "intinction," or the dippling of the consecratej wafer in the chalice, instead of giving the cup to those who are at the Com murion, is in line with wartime rec concentrations of Bishop William Lawrence, of Massachusetts. It has been urged for some time by Episco- palians on sanitary grounds. They
 
 cup was a menace to the health of the people.
 Intinction is a practice of the Holy Eastern Church. Its adoption by the Episcopal Church will be bitterly fought by the evangeicals, or Low Churchmen, who see in it tho first move to withdraw permanently the cup from the laity and to conform to the Roman Catholic practice. On the other hand, it will be ar gued that Bishop Lawrence, who was chairman of the wartime commission of the Episcopal Church, is not a
 High Churchman and that his stand had the approval of Dr. Leighton Parks. rector of St. Bartholomew S, New York, who is a powerful figure among the Low Churchmen. The Commission on the Revision and Enrichment of the Book of Com mon Prayer was restrained at the out set from suggesting change in the [ title page of the book that woul l | have altered the name of the Church to the American Catholic Church. D which has been advocated for many years. But the commission has adopt cd many practices of the Roman Catholic communion in it's recom- , l mendations. Whitsunday is changed to the Day of Pentecost and all Sun days until Advent are changed to read as Sundays after Pentecost, in- stead of after Trinity. as has been tha , practice of the Episcopal Church. ] This in in keeping with the calendar ? Of the Roman Catholic communion. Marked changes are provided in the burial offices. There are four added Pslams of hope and there is 1 rrOyision for a collect cDtstle and . gospel for requiem commun!ons. This ? also is in keeping with the Roman , Catholic institution, the requiem , mass
 , me for selling. but signed the stocks