ANGLICAN SERVICES IN THE BAHAMAS. [To the Editor of the
SPECTATOR.] Sin,—Readers of the Spectator who may have heard something of the lawsuit in the Supreme Court of the Bahamas brought by the Attorney-General of that colony " at and by the relation of certain members of Christ Church Cathedral, against the
Commissioners of the Church of England in the Bahamas and the Right Reverend Roscow George Shedden, D.D., Bishop of Nassau and the Dean of the Cathedral, to restrain them from allowing the Cathedral and certain other churches to be used for the celebration of religious services conducted with certain rites and ceremonies alleged by them to be contrary to terms and provisions of the trust created by the colony's Disestablishment Act of 1869," may be interested to hear that through the influence of the new Chief Justice of the Bahamas a compromise has been made by the contending parties. The case, which incidentally has caused some interest in religious circles in England, was conducted for the most part in camera, and at the last conference both parties reached an agreement that certain services as desired by both sides should be held on certain days.
On Low Sunday a service as desired by the plaintiffs was held in the Cathedral specially by the Bishop himself, immedi- ately after which he sailed for England. I was granted an interview with the Bishop on the day before his departure from Nassau, when he summarized the case as follows
The chief point which must be kept in .view is. that Christ Church Cathedral, besides being the cathedral of the Diocese of Nassau, is also a parish church, and that things which may be satisfying to the parishioners may not be satisfying to the whole
diocese.
When an attempt was made to strike a medium in the form of
service so that the church as a cathedral might satisfy the whole diocese, a considerable section of the Low Church parishioners were distressed, the reason being that they felt it was the only church in Nassau where people could find the simple type of service to which they had been accustomed and which they heartily desired.
The suggested settlement will recognize present existing cathedral services and will propose certain facilities in the way of additional
celebrations of Holy Communion being provided for those parish- ioners who do not feel at present able, conscientiously, to accept the standard of ceremonial of the present cathedral. The differences are in reality very slight, but if they cause serious heartburning to really good people, an effort should be made to retain these people as loyal and happy members of the Church."
JACK CULMER.
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