Protestant Episcopal Church

Separate Administrations.

The breaking out of this great conflict compelled the separation in administration of the Northern and Southern dioceses, but it produced no permanent division in the Church. The dioceses in the South met together as "The Protestant Episcopal Church in the Confederate States," but when the general convention met in New York, in 1862, the Southern dioceses, although absent, were included as usual in the calling of the roll, and immediately upon the conclusion of the war, the two groups of dioceses came together without friction.

Since the period of the Civil War, the Church has made progress, its growth more than keeping pace with the increase in popula tion. Its organization covers every part of the United States and its dependencies, and it carries on missionary work in other lands. It has bishops and organized missionary work in Alaska, Porto Rico, the Panama Canal Zone, the Hawaiian Islands, the Philippine Islands, Cuba, Mexico, Brazil, China, Japan, Liberia, Haiti and the Dominican Republic.

Among the educational institutions of the Church are Trinity college at Hartford, Conn. ; the University of the South at Sewanee, Tenn. ; Hobart college at Geneva, N.Y. ; Kenyon college at Gambier, 0. ; St. Stephen's college at Annandale, N.Y. ; and the American Church institute for negroes. The Theological schools, in: addition to the General Theological seminary in New York, which is the official institution of the whole Church, and the Virginia seminary previously mentioned, are the Berkeley Divinity school at New Haven, Conn. ; the Divinity school in Philadelphia; the Episcopal Theological school in Cambridge, Mass. ; Nashotah house at Nashotah, Wis. ; Seabury Divinity school at Faribault, Minn. ; the Theological school at Sewanee, Tenn.; the Seabury–Western Theological seminary at Evanston, Ill. ; the Church Divinity school of the Pacific, San Francisco, Calif. ; the College of St. John the Evangelist, Greeley, Colo.; the Bishop Payne Divinity school at Petersburg, Va. ; Bexley hall, Gambier, 0. ; the Du Bose Memorial Church Training school, Monteagle, Tenn. ; and the De Lancey Divinity school at Buffalo, N.Y. The Church has also, especially in the East, many impor tant schools for boys and girls.

Church Development.

The life of the Church finds expres sion in a great number of societies and organizations, such as the Women's Auxiliary to the National Council; the Brotherhood of St. Andrew; the Girls' Friendly Society; the Seamen's Church Institute of America ; the Social Service Commissions ; the Church clubs of the various dioceses ; the Church Mission of Help, and the Church Congress in the United States. Among the religious orders are the Society of Mission Priests of St. John the Evange list; the Order of the Holy Cross; St. Barnabas Brotherhood; the Community of St. Mary; the Sisterhood of St. John the Baptist; the Sisterhood of St. Margaret; the All Saints Sisters of the Poor; the Sisterhood of the Holy Nativity; and others. The institutions for the training of deaconesses include the New York Training School for Deaconesses ; the Church Training and Deaconess Rouse of the Diocese of Pennsylvania ; the Chicago Church Train ing school; and the School for Christian Service and Deaconess Training School of the Pacific at Berkeley, Calif.

The governing body of the Protestant Episcopal Church is the General Convention which meets every three years, and which consists of the House of Bishops and the House of Deputies, the two Houses sitting and deliberating separately. The House of Bishops has as its members all the bishops of the Church. The House of Deputies is composed of not more than four presbyters and four laymen elected by each diocese and not more than one presbyter and one layman elected by each missionary district.

Either house may originate and propose legislation, and all acts of the Convention must be adopted and authenticated by both houses. In the House of Deputies the vote on any question may be taken by orders, the clerical and lay deputies voting separately and a concurrent vote of the two orders being required for the adoption of the resolution. The laity thus have their full share and responsibility in the legislative action of the Church. No al teration in the Book of Common Prayer may be made unless this is proposed at one meeting of the General Convention and adopted at the next succeeding triennial meeting. Each diocese holds its own annual Convention, presided over by the bishop, in which both clergy and laity have their part. The diocese adopts its own constitution and canons for the regulation of its internal affairs, with the provision that these must not conflict with the constitu tion and canons of the General Convention. A bishop is elected by the diocese, but the election must be confirmed by a majority of the bishops exercising jurisdiction within the United States, and by a majority of the standing committees of all the dioceses. Missionary bishops are elected by the House of Bishops, the choice being subject to confirmation by the House of Deputies if the General Convention is in session, and at other times by a ma jority of the standing committees of the several dioceses. As regards the ministry, the Episcopal Church, in common with the Anglican Communion, holds to the historic threefold order of bishops, priests and deacons. The official pronouncements on this subject are contained in the Preface to the Ordinal. The consti tution of the Church (Art. viii.) provides that no person shall be consecrated bishop, or ordained priest or deacon, until he shall have made in writing, in presence of the ordaining bishop or bishops, the following declaration : "I do believe the Holy Scrip tures of the Old and New Testaments to be the Word of God and to contain all things necessary to salvation; and I do solemnly engage to conform to the Doctrine, Discipline, and Worship of the Protestant Episcopal Church in the United States of America." And every person before being baptised and received into mem bership in the church is required to answer affirmatively the ques tion "post thou believe all the articles of the Christian Faith as contained in the Apostles' Creed?" Neither the clergy nor the laity are required to subscribe to the Thirty Nine Articles.