Church Congress

Church Congress is an annual meeting of members of the Church of England, lay and clerical, to discuss matters religious, moral or social, in which the church is interested. It has no legislative authority, and there is no voting on the questions discussed.[1]

History
Front cover of the Illustrated Guide to the Church Congress and Ecclesiastical Art Exhibition held in Nottingham in 1897

The first congress was held in 1861 in the hall of King's College, Cambridge, and was the outcome of the revival of convocation in 1852.[1] From 1879 the congress included an Ecclesiastical and Educational Art Exhibition.[2]

The congress is under the presidency of the bishop in whose diocese it happens to be held. The meetings of the congress have been mainly remarkable as illustrating the wide divergences of opinion and practice in the Church of England, no less than the broad spirit of tolerance which has made this possible and honorably differentiates these meetings from so many ecclesiastical assemblies of the past. The congress of 1908 was especially distinguished, not only for the expression of diametrically opposed views on such questions as the sacrifice of the mass or the higher criticism, but for the very large proportion of time given to the discussion of the attitude of the Church towards socialism and kindred subjects.[1]

Meetings

Historical places of meeting are:

References
  1. One or more of the preceding sentences incorporates text from a publication now in the public domain: Chisholm, Hugh, ed. (1911). "Church Congress". Encyclopædia Britannica. Vol. 6 (11th ed.). Cambridge University Press. p. 330.
  2. Illustrated Guide to the Church Congress and Ecclesiastical Art Exhibition, Nottingham. 1897. p. 164
  3. John Rylands Library Catalogue of an exhibition of illuminated manuscripts, principally biblical and liturgical, exhibited on the occasion of the meeting of the Church Congress in October, MCMVIII. Manchester: the governors of the John Rylands Library, 1908
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