Because the subject of a "Missionary Rector" is so important, and because Bishop Corrigan is unable to see McMaster personally, he is writing in a few points in the discussion. First: the institution of Missionary Rector was the outgrowth of the fact that Bishops, finding it impractical to establish canonical parishes, proposed to the Holy See the institution of such Rectories. This proposal was made in Decree XIII of the Council of Westminster Proemium, but all preliminary negotiations and necessary faculties were secured before the actual assembly of the Council, by the decree of Propoganda of April 21, 1852. The Council itself was not held until July, 1852. Bishops Brown and Errington were deputized to draft rules for the removal of Missionary Rectors. This may be found in the Acta Concilium Westminster, Sessio Prima in fine. In the Appendix to the first Council McMaster will find the answer of Propaganda of Aug. 4, 1853. In regards to the appointment of the Committee of Investigation, Corrigan believes that McMaster's admirers in the city Philadelphia should be informed that this committee is not named by the clergy but by the Bishop, for if the clergy would have had any voice in the appointment, the instruction would have said so, instead of to the contrary. If the committee were on the same level as the Examinatores Synodales, to be approved by the Synod, they would be entitled to a voice and a vote in the naming of Pastors. Corrigan refers McMaster to the proceedings of the Council of Trent, session 24, chapter 18, de Reform, for information on this point. The very contrary to this condition may be seen however in Decree XXV, number 12, "Rectors Exclesiae sive ordinari, sive Missionarli designatio penes Episcopum est." The reason why the clergy are given a voice in the naming of Examinatores Synodales is because they designate by their votes the successful competitor for the vacant Canonical Parish. In the Council of Westminster the concursus is ignored and the Bishops say it is impossible to form Canonical Parishes as Decree XIII shows. The practice in England is that the Bishops simply nominate the Committee of Investigation, in Synod. The latest document at hand on the question is Decree XII of the Synod of Westminister of 1877, which Corrigan encloses. Enclosure is present in Latin McMaster may use letter in any way he deems proper since the history of the question may do good both in America and in Rome. :: I-2-c A.L.S. 4pp. 8 vo