ANGLICAN CHURCHES. 



23 





gar in "Wcstmeath, and on one occasion, when it was 

 necessary to hold one meeting for the whole diocese, 

 it was held out of the diocese, in Dublin. The stat- 

 utes of the Convention make provision for the di- 

 vision and rearrangement of the existing diocesan 

 districts, and funds are already being raised for the 

 endowment of additional bishoprics. 



In each diocese there is a Diocesan Synod, in some 

 cases for the whole union, in others for each of the 

 component dioceses. The Synod consists of the 

 bishop or his commissary as president, all the bene- 

 ficed or licensed clergy of the diocese, and lay repre- 

 sentatives from each parish, who may be in the pro- 

 portion of two to one of the clergy ? but not more. 

 The lay representatives are chosen tnenuially at the 

 Easter vestries. They must be of full age, members 

 of the Church, and communicants, the only proof 

 of the latter two qualifications being a solemn dec- 

 laration made by the representative himself. 



In the Diocesan Synod, again, as in the general 

 synod, either order has the right of calling for a sep- 

 arate vote, and no measure can be passed without a 

 clear majority of both. The Bishop has a_veto, but 

 subject to an appeal to the General Synod, if the res- 

 olution from which he dissents is reaffirmed after a 

 year by majorities of two-thirds of both orders. He 

 has also the power of taking " any reasonable time, 

 not exceeding one month," to decide whether he will 

 use his veto or not. And he may, if he wishes it, 

 refer the matter in question at once to the General 

 Synod for decision. 



The Diocesan Synod deals with matters that con- 

 cern the diocese only_, and it cannot make any regu- 

 lation inconsistent with any law of the whole Church, 

 or decision of the General Synod, to which there is 

 an appeal from its decisions. It elects a standing 

 committee called the Diocesan Council, consisting ot 

 clergymen and laymen, with the Bishor> ex-officio 

 chairman, to which it can delegate any of its powers 

 that may be necessary. 



The Parish, Vestry, and Select Vestry. At the vestry 

 meeting all male members of the Church of fall age, 

 who have signed a solemn declaration of church- 

 membership and have been registered as members 

 of the vestry, are entitled to vote. It is not required 

 that a vestryman should be a communicant, nor is 

 it required by the statutes of the General Convention 

 that he should be a subscriber to the Church funds, 

 but each Diocesan Synod has the power of making 

 this a condition in its own diocese. A member of 

 the Church may claim to register as a vestryman in 

 any particular parish : (1) as being resident in the 

 parish ; (2) as having attended divine service in the 

 church for six months next preceding the time of 

 registration ; (3) as holding property in the parish. 

 The register is amended once a year ; names cannot 

 be put on at other times ; and disputes are referred 

 to the Diocesan Council, whose decision is final. 



The vestry meets ordinarily once a year, and elects : 

 (1) lay representatives to the Diocesan Synods ; (2) the 

 people's churchwarden (the clergyman retains the 

 right of electing minister's churchwarden, as under 

 the old law) ; (3) the parochial nominators, whose 

 part in the appointment of clergymen to cures we 

 shall speak of presently ; (4) any number of its mem- 

 bers, not exceeding ten, to form, with the clergymen 

 and churchwardens, the select vestry. 



The select vestry has the control of all paro- 

 chial charities and church funds, provides requisites 

 for divine service, keeps the churcti and parish build- 

 ings in repair, and appoints and pays church and 

 parish officers and servants. The clergyman is chair- 

 man at all meetings both of the general and select 

 vestry, with an ordinary and casting vote. In the 

 absence of the clergyman the chair is taken by one 

 of the churchwardens, with a like right of voting. 



The Appointment of Ministers. In the appoint- 

 ment of clergy there are two interests to be served 

 the interest of the Church at large, and. the interest 

 of the particular cure to which the appointment is to 



be made. The method of appointment adopted has 

 been designed to secure the representation of both 

 of these interests. The Diocesan Synod elects from 

 itself three diocesan nominators, two clergymen, and 

 one layman, and each parish elects three parochial 

 nominators. The qualifications for a parochial nomi- 

 nator are the same as those for a lay representative to 

 the Diocesan Synod. No clergyman holding a cure of 

 souls, or licensed curate, is eligible. When a vacancy 

 occurs, the diocesan nominators and the parochial 

 nominators of the Vacant parish form a board, at 

 which the Bishop presides with an ordinary and a 

 casting vote. This board nominates a clergyman to 

 the vacant cure. The Bishop may afterward refuse 

 to institute the clergyman so nominated, giving his 

 reasons in writing ; but there is an appeal against 

 this refusal to the Court of the General Synod. The 

 diooesan nominators are elected annually, the paro- 

 chial nominators triennially, and, should the time for 

 electing the latter come round during the vacancy ot 

 a curej or after the clergyman has given notice of his 

 intention to resign, the nominators who were hi office 

 at the time of the vacancy occurring, or of the notice 

 being given, and not those newly elected to the office, 

 are to act. And the outgoing diocesan nominators 

 are to finish any business that may have been before 

 them at the time of the election of their successors. 

 Arrangements may be made with benefactors as to 

 the patronage of benefices, but all such arragements 

 must receive the sanction of (1) the Bishop ; (2) the 

 Diocesan Council ; (3) at least four of the Board of 

 Nominators besides the Bishop, including two of the 

 parochial nominators, and (4) the vestry. And no 

 right of patronage can be acquired while the cure is 

 vacant. 



The Election of Binliops. The Diocesan Synod of 

 the vacant See is summoned by the Archbishop of 

 the province or other person having the right to 

 summon it ; and if the Synod can fix on any one 

 clergyman in priest's orders, by a clear majority of 

 two-thirds of ooth orders separately, the name so 

 selected is transmitted to the Bench of BishopSj who, 

 if satisfied of the fitness of the person appointed, 

 shall proceed to give efi'ect to the nomination. If 

 the Synod cannot fix upon one name by so decided a 

 majority, then two or three names must be sent up 

 to the Bishops, who select one of them. If no name 

 be returned after three months, the appointment 

 lapses to the Bench of Bishops. The See of Armagh 

 presented a difficulty which the Convention took a 

 long time to settle. The occupant of the See of Ar- 

 magh has been, since the time of St. Patrick, Primate 

 of all Ireland : therefore either Armagh must lose 

 the right of electing its own Bishop, or else it alone 

 must elect the Primate of all Ireland. The matter 

 was settled for the present as follows^ The Synod 

 of Armagh is to select four of the existing Bishops, 

 from which four the Bench of Bishops choose one to 

 be Archbishop of Armagh and Primate. To fill the 

 See thus left vacant, Armagh selects one Presbyter 

 and the vacant See another, and the Bishops decide 

 between the two. If the two Dioceses fix on the 

 same Presbyter, and the Bishops are satisfied of his 

 fitness, he is appointed. 



Cathedrals, Deans, and Archdeacons. All perma- 

 nent arrangements with respect to cathedrals and 

 their staffs are deferred for the present, until some- 

 thing more definite is known about the future finan- 

 cial position of the Church. The appointment of 

 Archdeacon is to be made by the Bishop, as hereto- 

 fore, but is not to be coneected with any particular 

 benefice in the diocese. 



^Ecclesiastical Courts. The statutes provide for Dio- 

 cesan Courts and " the Court of the General Synod." 

 In the Diocesan Court the Bishop, assisted by hia 

 Chancellor as assessor, with one clergyman and one 

 layman, sit as judges of questions of fact, and sen- 

 tence is given by the Bishop. The clergyman and 

 layman who sit with the Bishop are taken in rota- 

 tion from lists of three, which are chosen for fiva 



