Religion: Canterbury

Beneath Cardinal Mercier’s roof at Malines have been held sundry conversations relative to the dim possibility of a merger between the Roman Catholic and Anglican Churches. Vigilant patriots of England have pestered the Archbishop of Canterbury (Randall Davidson) for “explanations.” Dr. Davidson said nothing. Consequently he has been denounced as a “traitor,” “idolater,” “conspirator.” But last week he finally stated that the conversations amounted to nothing. The uproar subsided.

Union, said the Archbishop, was to be found in another direction—union between the Anglican Church and the non-Episcopal churches in Great Britain. Conferences at Lambeth Palace (residence of the British Primate) between Anglicans and Nonconformists (dissenters) are steadily progressing. “Results” will soon be published.

The Archbishop also reported negotiations with the Eastern Orthodox churches.

It has frequently been said (TIME, Dec. 10) that the dream of Randall Davidson’s life is “that the Church of England, so sane, so sensible, so rightly insistent on moral earnestness, shall become, with the growth of the British Commonwealth, the greatest of all Christian churches—more Catholic than Rome.”