PRINCIPLES OF PARISH WORK.
Principles of Parish Work. By the Rev. Clement F. Rogers. (Longmans and Co. 5s. net.)—Mr. Rogers has much excellent advice to give to the clergy. Begin, he says, with a system of sound businesslike finance. The power of the purse means much in the parish as everywhere else. Mr. Rogers recommends the keeping of a careful record of what is done (helping to maintain. the much needed continuity of administration in a parish). He has some very useful suggestions as to what the parson should do in keeping himself acquainted with what is being done by other workers. Ho must not ignore, for instance, the Roman Catholic priest or the Nonconformist ministers. He touches, too, upon the necessity of more effective episcopal control. This is the crux of the situation. At present the incumbent of a parish is really irresponsible, a local despot, if he so pleases, and if he is independent of his parishioners in money matters. Bishops have no efficient control, though, of course, they have influence. This is partly duo to the action of the men who most strongly insist on the divine right of episcopacy. They too often use insulting language about individual Bishops, and they propound a theory of the Bishop acting in concert with his presbyters which really reduces him to the position of a being "who reigns but does not govern." The Anglican Church wants in matters of administra- tion more discipline. As things are now, a youth so ignorant that he would not be accepted as a minister in any other Communion can break with all the traditions of a parish, disregard every opinion but his own, and institute services of his own devising practically unchecked.
Previous page
