DIOCESAN CONFERENCES.
iTO THE EDITOR OF THE " SPECTATOR:1 Sis,—Your article has given us the showy side of Diocesan Conferences ; but there is also a seamy side. " The old isolation" no doubt "was bad," and it is undoubtedly an
excellent thing for clergy to know what their brethren are thinking about. But much talking of this sort consumes a great deal of time, so that, combined with the multiplication of services, little or no time is left for parochial visitation. The "parish priest" is fast dying out, and we clergy are becoming—much against the will of some of us—constant deliverers of more or less intelligent discourses and takers of chairs. We talk and talk, and preside and preside ; but meanwhile the great mass of the people, especially of the poor, are utterly neglected by us, and hence remain utterly indifferent.
I have been in Holy Orders eleven years, and have my own opinion—far too pessimistic to venture to print—on the value of Conferences, Congresses, sermons, &c ; but I have a very strong opinion, and it grows stronger every day, on the use- fulness of a parish priest; on the value, that is, of steady, house-to-house visitation. It will not gain any man prefer. ment—curates who merely want livings had better stick to talking and chair-taking—bat it gives you the power of sympathy with your people ; you learn what men are really thinking about ; your people are glad to see you, and often show real gratitude ; you do good to those whom Conferences and sermons never reach.—I am, Sir, &c., GEO. BLADON.
St. Luke's, Chadderton, Oldham, November 10th.
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