§ 49. Eligibility of certain minors as lay delegates and to vote and hold office. Whenever the constitution or canons of a diocese of the Protestant Episcopal church in the state of New York so permits, persons of less than full age but of the age of eighteen years or more shall be eligible to serve as lay delegates to and to vote at any convention of the diocese, when duly chosen by the parish or mission and shall also be eligible for election to or appointment to any lay office of the diocese.