Honolulu Republican, Volume IV, Number 496, 14 January 1902 — STATEMENTS ARE ABSURD [ARTICLE]

STATEMENTS ARE ABSURD

BISHOP RIDICULES “STAR" STCHI SECOND CONGREGATION WAS NOT INSTALLED BEFORE BISHOP S ARRIVAL. No Three Month*' Notice Required A* Has Been no Change m Hour of Service—Preection Guaranteed to Clergyman in Case cf New Incumbent Only. B • ;op Willis. wh*n seen yesterday afternoon regarding certain statem*nt; mad* in the Star as comine from a prominent mtml.er of the Second Congregation, emphatically stated that the main points brought forth were either entirely incorrect or entirely unheard of. Th‘- article says: ' Tae congregation and Mr. Mackintosh were both installed when the Bishop came." Tin* paid Bishop Willis, "is posit- • iy ntrne. Th*‘ Second Congregation did not exist then in its present condition as a separate congrega Hon I cam- to th--* j-iands in IST2 and the s*-<ond congregation was not in existence- as a separate body before No Notice Is Required. With regard to the agreement whi<h I am said to have made and broken. < onrerniug a three months’ notice, which chould be given if any • hang* was to be made in the time of service of the Second Congregation this only concerns the hour of the service and as there has been no < hange of hours, there should certainly not any notice required This agreement has no reference whaf- • ever to t •• present conditions but She facts have been twisted in such a manner as to put my position in a Another Contortion. The same article said about the second agreement; “The oth>*r agreement was that the incumbent clergyman of the second congregation should, upon losing his incumbency, receive six months' not ice or in lieu of that six months’ stipend Now this amount coupled with other expenses brought unexpectedly to a head the peremptory shutting oft’ of the seiund congregation and its regular sources of revenue amount to some $l,OOO for which, it seems p me the bishop is morally responsible he having himself violated the agreements that he made and havng fori ed the preclusion of six months' notice to our retiring incumbent." ' This statement is also entirely twisted." -aid the Bishop. “While there certainly is an agreement that the incumbent clergyman can not be forced to resign without a notice of six months or a six months’ stipend, this ugre. ment covers the relations between the congregation and the clergyman, to protei t the latter. Protection for Clergyman. ' If. for instance, a clergyman should come from England to take .in incumbency here, he could not be made to resign because his congregation did not like him without reel vl 11 g a six months’ stipend. It is absurd to say that 1 am morally responsible for the shutting off of the stipend, as it is the second congrega;i,m which supports its clergyman and 1 do not. Finally the idea of having an \nglican church here for British subjects alone, and apart from the Xmencan church, is utterly absurd Such a thing is unheard of in any part of the I’nlted States, and no attempt has ever l»een made to establish an English church ou Vmerlcan