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426 VIII. THE MODERN PERIOD (A.D. 18121910).
body of clergy in the diocese is about 3OO.
43
The congre
gations are grouped in twenty-eight rural deaneries or
"
contrakter
"
one of them containing the congregations
in London and Paris. The rural deanery is, therefore, a
smaller unit as to number of congregations than with us
(about 5-10), though the average population of the
parishes throughout the country (1,700) is rather large,
as compared with those of most English dioceses. There
are no archdeacons, and a bishop s work of oversight is
very heavy, particularly as he is expected to be at home in
his cathedral city every Wednesday to preside at the
weekly chapter. The population of the diocese is 552,550,
and its area is very large. It is the bishop s duty to hold
a meeting of his clergy (Prest-mote) at least every seven
years, and to visit every year as many parishes as possible,
in a manner prescribed by law.44
These parochial visita
tions are not generally part of a tour, but are special visits,
taking a long time, so that even an active bishop may never
be able to carry out the duty of visiting every parish during
his incumbency. A meeting of rural deans (Prost-mote)
is held yearly.
About thirty of the churches stand in need of repair or
restoration. Two new ones have been built, and there
seems to be a good spirit in this matter. There are only
115 fonts, and baptism is frequently or generally admin
istered in private and out of church. The number of
clergy has decreased by twenty in the period. Two
churches have to be in some cases worked together by one
clergyman, and a service taken .by a layman on alternate
Sundays a sort of Bible Class in the afternoon. The
services of the lay preachers of the
"
Evangelical National
Institute
"
are acknowledged as valuable in such cases
43
1 take some of these figures from the useful Statistik
matrikel ofver Svenska Kyrkans Prdsterskap, 1909, by Hakan
Th. Ohlsson, published in Lund.
44
For the Prest-mote see Sv. Kyrkolag, ch. 25, and for the
bishop s visitation ch. 24, 6 foil. The rural deans also visit
and hold their own meetings (ibid. 19).
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