THE IRISH SYNOD ON SCREENS.
[TO THE EDITOR OF THE " SPECTATOR.") Srn,—On May 3rd, you published a contemptuous article ou the Church of Ireland, entitled, " The Irish Synod on Screens,' and on the 10th, with your accustomed fairness, you published a reply to it, by the Rev. Gerald Meade, but with the protest,. " We think that the evidence is against Mr. Meade." As you thus treat the questions that you have opened as questions of fact, I trust you will permit me to refer to a passage in your article- where you are misinformed as to the facts. You say :—" In the interesting processes connected with Commutation, and the like,. the laity had no share." Commutation was effected through the agency of the representative body of the Church of Ireland,. which includes the Bishops, and represents the clergy and laity, and on which clerical influence is by no means pre- ponderant.
Complaints have been widely made of the management of the temporal affairs of the Church by the Representative Body. These resolve themselves into two,—first, that the- Church has been to a large extent re-endowed ; and secondly,. that the generation of clergymen who were in office at the- time of the Church Act have been permitted to divide among- themselves the money which ought to have re-endowed the 'Church. These statements cannot be both true, and as an Irish Churchman, I am thankful to say it is true that the Church has been, to a large extent, re-endowed.—I am, Sir, &c.,
JOSEPH JOHN MURPHY.
'Old Forge, Duninurry, County Antrim, May 20th.
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