610 



OLD CATHOLICS. 



OREGON. 



ernment would carry out the ecclesiastical laws 

 as long as they remained on the statute-books. 



The Synod of the Christian Catholic Church 

 of Switzerland met at Geneva on May 20th. 

 From the annual report of Bishop Herzog, it 

 appeared that the Church, in the course of the 

 past year, had suffered a loss of twelve parishes 

 and ten priests. The principal cause of these 

 losses was the recurrence in the canton of 

 Berne of the six years' period of the election 

 of the parish priests by the people. On the 

 occasion of the previous elections, the Roman 

 Catholic party had refused to take any part in 

 them, and thus the property of many parishes 

 had passed into the hands of the Old Catholics, 

 although they formed only the minority of the 

 inhabitants. The Bishop states that other losses 

 were in prospect for the corning year from the 

 same reason. The losses of the Church were, 

 however, confined to the cantons of Berne and 

 Geneva. An annual accession to the ranks of 

 the priesthood is now obtained, and expected 

 for the future, from the Old Catholic Faculty 

 of Theology at the University of Berne. In 

 1880 the Church numbered fifty-nine priests 

 and forty-eight parishes. As the churches are 

 not yet accustomed to self-support, the aid 

 of the Anglican churches in England and the 

 United States was solicited and obtained. 

 Bishop Herzog strongly advocates the estab- 

 lishment of the closest intercommunion be- 

 tween the Anglican and the Old Catholic 

 Churches. A new prayer-book, prepared by 

 him for the use of the Swiss churches, after 

 the model of the Anglican manual, was adopt- 

 ed by the Synod as the official manual of the 

 Church, and it was ordered that the office of 

 the mass contained therein should be used uni- 

 versally. 



In Austria, the first legally acknowledged 

 Synod of Old Catholics was held in Vienna, on 

 June 29th. It had been summoned by Dr. K. 

 Lindner, the President of the S.vnodal Coun- 

 cil, and was attended by five priests and a 

 number of lay delegates. The synodal and 

 parochial regulation, which hitherto had been 

 provisional, was definitely adopted. The Syn- 

 od also decreed the introduction of divine 

 services in the language of the people, the ab- 

 rogation of compulsory celibacy and fasts, as 

 also of surplice-fees, and the removal of the 

 observance of holy days (with the exception of 

 the high festivals) to the next Sunday. 



In France, the congregation of M. Ilyacinthe 

 Loyson reported in June, 1880, a membership 

 of about one thousand. It did not yet own a 

 church-building, and was about one thousand 

 dollars in debt. It has three priests. On Au- 

 gust 27th, M. Loyson solemnized the marriage 

 of a regular priest, Abbe Laine. 



In Russia, the province of Volhynia has 

 several communities of Bohemians who have 

 attached themselves to the Old Catholic move- 

 ment. They have three priests who are recog- 

 nized and supported by the state. In a memo- 

 rial addressed to the Minister of the Interior, 



the priests requested permission to hold a con- 

 ference with some of the most influential of 

 the Bohemian laymen, to formulate a state- 

 ment of their fundamental doctrines and or- 

 ganic constitution. This conference was to 

 serve as a permanent organization and consti- 

 tute a synodal council. 



OREGON. The Legislature opened its ses- 

 sion September 13th, and closed October 23d. 

 Solomon Hirsch was elected President of the 

 Senate, and Z. F. Moody Speaker of the House. 

 The more important general laws which were 

 enacted are enumerated below. 



An act to establish and protect the rights of 

 married women repeals all laws imposing civil 

 disabilities upon a wife which do not rest upon 

 the husband; gives the \vife the right to sue 

 alone in the courts for the redress of personal 

 wrongs; provides that both parents shall have 

 equal rights and responsibilities regarding their 

 children ; and that the wife shall succeed after 

 the husband's death to the same control of the 

 estate and of the children as the father now does 

 after the death of the mother. The judiciary 

 laws were amended, and provision made for 

 the times and places for holding supreme, cir- 

 cuit, and county courts, and for the regular 

 session of a circuit court in each district, and 

 the enforcement of its orders in all the dis- 

 tricts. A singular bill was introduced and re- 

 ceived strong support, but failed of enactment, 

 the provisions of which would require every 

 railroad to pass over its line the cars of an- 

 other railroad connecting with it at the rates 

 charged on the same. 



An act requires county clerks, sheriffs, and 

 district attorneys to make semi-annual returns 

 to the Secretary of State of all fees and emolu- 

 ments earned by them, and of the expenses of 

 their offices. The object of this act is to ob- 

 tain the information necessary for the regula- 

 tion of the compensation of those officers. An- 

 other act provides for the pay of sheriffs and 

 clerks for the different counties. The law reg- 

 ulating the salaries of county treasurers was 

 also changed. Authority was given to let out 

 the labor of convicts in the Penitentiary at 

 thirty cents a day. The salary of the Superin- 

 tendent of the Penitentiary was reduced, and 

 the regulations relating to the purchase of sup- 

 plies altered in the interest of economy. The 

 construction of an insane-asylum building was 

 provided for and a tax-levy for the purpose 

 prescribed. It was also voted to establish a 

 school for deaf-mutes. An act was passed 

 providing for the refunding of the war debt, 

 and for the appropriation of money and the 

 levy of taxes for that p-rpose. The assess- 

 ment and tax laws received some modifica- 

 tions. A special act, called the ''Levee Bill," 

 which was carried through the Legislature amid 

 earnest protests, then vetoed by the Governor, 

 and finally passed over the veto, aroused much 

 excitement and suspicion. The bill grants to tl:o 

 Oregoniari Railway Company the levee in the 

 city of Portland and the right of way and ter- 





