Q: Every year I look forward to attending my Christian Science association. But I noticed that the Church Manual by Mary Baker Eddy says, “Pupils may visit each other’s churches, and by invitation attend each other’s associations” (p. 85). Does that mean I can go to more than one association meeting per year? In other words, can I attend my own association but also be invited to attend another one in the same year?
A: This question comes up from time to time, often in the context of the above Manual provision (Article XXVI, Section 7). It’s interesting to note, however, that in the By-Law right before that one, Mrs. Eddy states, “The associations of the pupils of loyal teachers shall convene annually” and “Teachers shall not call their pupils together, or assemble a selected number of them, for more frequent meetings” (see Article XXVI, Section 6). So it seems fairly clear her intent was for pupils to attend their association once a year, with the provision of being invited to another association on those rare occasions when one is prevented from getting to his or her own association meeting.
But even if the simple answer to this question seems fairly straightforward, it is helpful to think more deeply about why this is so. Clearly, it would never have been Mrs. Eddy’s intent to restrict the amount of good available to students of Christian Science. She even experimented with the idea of monthly, and later quarterly, association meetings, but settled on having each pupil attend one annual gathering.
