CONFERENCE, PASTORAL 466 CONFESSION OF FAITH
ference, whose Bittings precede the English Conferenoo by a few weeks, regi^ly attend." See Jackson, Cen- temaryofWetl^l€MMethodum,1989; SUycdb, Eigtory Iff Jletjiodum.
CONFERENCE, PASTORAL, a meetfaig of minis- ters for the discussion of questions relating to their pastoral duties. Many meetings of this name are regularly held in many countries, both within the Protestant and the Roman Catholic churches. Among the best known of the dass in Europe belong the annual meetings of the ministers of the Protestant churches of France at Paris. See Fraxob.
CONFERENCE, ROMAN CATHOLIC, a meeting of priests for the discussion of religious and ecclesias- tical topics. They are either convoked by the bishop of the diocese, or are held by priests of their own ac- cord. Conferences are not mentioned before the Uth century. They seem to have had their origin in the large extent of the dioceses, which made the regular meetings of all the clergy of a diocese difficult. They consequently met in deaneries and archipresbyteries, under the presidence of the dean and archpriest. They were called Caienda because they were held on the first day of the month, or Chapters, Consistories, Synods, Sessions. They were common until the mid^ die of the 13th century, when they fell into disuse. In the 16th century cardinal Charles Borromeo gave special regulations on these conferences, and ordered them to be held regularly. The same order was giyen by a number of French provincial synods. In 1720 they were declared by the congregation of the Council of Trent to be a proper substitute for diocesan synods. They have, however, never been in general use. — Wetzer u. Welte, Kirche$^Lex, ii, 766.
CONFERENCE, SAVOY, a series of meetings held by royal commission at the residence of the bishop of London, in the Savoy, in the year 1661, between the bishops and the Nonconformist ministers, in order so to review, alter, and reform the Liturgy as to meet the feelings of those who had serious scruples against its use, and thereby promote the peace of the Church. The individuals chosen comprehended the archbishop of Toric, with twelve bishops, on the one side, and eleven Nonconformist ministers on the other. Had the episcopal ministers entered into a foir and open discussion on the points at issue, reconciliation, to a certain extent, might have taken place ; but as they ware from the Ix^inning averse from conceding a single iota to the IHssenters, the negotiation turned out a complete feilure. At a convocation of the bishops, held almost inmiediately after, histead of removing anything that was at all likely to stumble tender con- sciences, they rendered the Liturgy still more objec- tionable by adding the stoiy of Bel and the Dragon to the lessons taken ftt)m the Apociypha. — ^Henderson's Buck, TheoL Did, s. v. ; Procter, On Common Proffer, ch. v; Neal, Hitkinry qftktPwrUoM, pt. iv, ch. 6.
ConfeBsio Angustana. See Avobbubo, Con- fession OF.
ConiisBsio Belgloa. See Beloio Confession.
ConfdBSioiL In the Church of Rome and in the Eastern churdies the confession of sins is considered to be one of the seven sacraments. See Aubxgulab Confession. The law prescribing how often the member of the Church should go to confession was not uniform in all parts of the Church, some synods enjoining one, others two, others three confessions a year. Since the Council of Trent, the Church mflicts ecclesiastical censures only upon those who omit go- ing to confession once a year. For nuns the Council of Trent prescribes a confession once a month. Priests ' are exhorted to go often to confession ; some synods, like that of Ghent, ei^med upon them a weekly con- fession.
In the Middle Ages it was customary to pay a tax
to the priests (monrnttt eot^eadomarwM^lat haariiig cos- fession ; but tiie demand for the abolition of this c«* tom was so urgent that after the 16th ceotory the ptT. ment of the tax was generally optional, and in iik form it still exists in some Roman Catholic cooBtDCk Offerings of this kind remained also in nse in nasj Lutheran churches until the present centniy, vfafle the Reformed churches entirely abolished them.
The priest to whom a confession is made has Uk duty of observing with regard to it an abaolote sHeaee. No exception whatever is allowed to this rule. If a person makes communication to a priest of a cnae which is still to be committed, the priest muit try te change the mind of such a person, and indnoe hira fes do all that is possible to prevent its being committed by others, but he is not allowed to notify the seadu government of it. In several conntriee (as Prusm) the civil law demanded in the latter case a notifia- tion, but the Church of Rome has always refused oos- plianoe with such a law. Luther, and the Churdi Rf- ulations in the Lutheran countries, also eigoined thi strictest observanoe of the secret of confession.
Confeasion, Auriculab. See AirBxci7i.Ax.
CONFESSION OF FAITH, a collection of the tr- tid^ of belief of any Church. See Creed.
I. Their Ute m the C3btre4.— (1.) The Ptotestast Confessions were the result of effbrts, at the dawn of reviving toleration, to separate the Chriatiaifc dot^zina from the mass of corruption which ignocance, ncg& gence, or artifice had conduced to accumnlate anwad them, under an implicit obedience to the authority and domination of the Church of Rome,