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Show RELEASE CLERGYMEN FOR MIL WORK Church of England Takes Action to Meet Extraordinary Extraordi-nary War Conditions. BISHOPS MAKE RULE Licensed Laymen Conduct Services in Many Rural Parishes. LONDON, March 10. The bishops of the Church of England have met and considered the action of releasing clergv under the voluntary system of Dational service. The decisions arrived at provide for the release of some 5000 clergymen for national work, most of them curates, and others whose parish work is comparatively com-paratively light. This will mean that many oi the weekday services in town churches will have to be abandoned for a time, and that some parochial organizations will have to be placed in the hands of the laity who are over the age of 60. Laymen Licensed. Jn many rural parishes Sunday services, serv-ices, except actual celebrations of the holy communion and baptisms, will have to be conducted by licensed laymen. lay-men. Women members of the church are agitating again for a share in the conduct con-duct of week-night services, and also of Sunday services for children. Sonie of the more ardent among them are Dot without hope that they may be admitted ad-mitted temporarily to deacon's orders, but it is understood that the clergy generally gen-erally are altogether opposed to this. To Release Young Men. Tn any case it is quite certain that the Church of England is ready to release re-lease some 5000 of her younger clergy for national service and' to reorganize her administration so that the laity may assist in parochial work. In many of the rural district licensed li-censed laymen have for some time conducted con-ducted morning and evening services on Sundays, the clergy visiting churches church-es in turn for the celebration of holy communion and baptism, which by ecclesiastical ec-clesiastical law, can only be conducted by a duly ordained priest. |