CURRENT NEWS.

Auckland Star, Volume LIII, Issue 190, 12 August 1922, Page 18

CURRENT NEWS.

The Rev. Frank McDonald has taken over the charge of the Presbyterian church at Foxton. " , The Rev. R. Godfrey, of the Melanesia n Mission, will Teturn to his post by l he Southern Cross, due to leave Auckland about September 8. The Very Rev. the Lean of C'hriatihurch will conduct a retreat for clergy th._ Wellington diocese at Nga Tawa M'uool, Marton, early next month. the Bishop of Auckland will adminisu i the rite of confirmation at St. Mary's before t, P » thE Su,lda y mining ' **£ nod m «**' Pr- *•*■.* *!- FaculU- , VOm the "Ox**--1 degree of TyT) « lTeland the honorary i Rev. w. L.'Cwrk of \ t * m,tner o f «>e L vv«rie, of Mftngere. '

The Rev. Alexander Reese, of Christchurch, who has been doing mission work in Brazil for the past thirteen years, is returning to the Dominion via the United State*. The Rev. Sidney M. Berry. M.A.. j minister lor the past ten years of larr's Lane Church, Birmingham. recently staled that not all the Church traditions in the world nuuld force him 3 to wear a clerical garb. , The Method.*) Church in Raitangata. > Otago, has been without a minister _ three or four .ears, but the public scr- ! vices and the general work has 'been maintained by two local preacher* who - arc still "carrying on," besides doing i their ordinary work. The Rev. Father McDermott, of Wel- ', lington. has been appointed to succeed . tho. Rev. Father Hcggcrty. vi Master- • ton. who is new parish priest at Car- ■ terton. The Rev. Father l'helan. of . Carterton, has been appointed to i Taranaki. All offerings throughout the Anglican . diocese ol Auckland were for the Maori Mission on Sunday last, when the response was very satisfactory." In the morning tho Hishop (Dr. -Averilll ■ preached to a large congregation at St. , Mary's Cathedral. Canon Percival James. »f St. Mary's , Cathedral, Auckland, has licen elected . a m-iubcr of the Hoard of Theological Studies. He is at present in Wellington attending a meeting of the Board of Missions. The Rev. (.!. Gordon Bell. | vicar of St. Sepulchre's, is also in the South for the sunie purpose. The Rev. Clarence hut on. of the Methodist Central Mission. Dunedin. lias accepted an invitation from the Taranaki Street, Methodist Church. Wellington, to Ivecome minister of the church from April next. He has 'been eight years in charge of lhe Dunedin brunch of the mission. A tine memorial brass to the late Rev. C. K. OH. Tobin. formerly principal of Hikurangi College, will shortly be dedi- . cated in the college chapel. It has been sent out. by Mrs. Tobin from England, and accompanying it arv a cross and two vases for the altar. Mr. Tobin received his early training in the Auckland diocese. The Anglican bishops assembled in Wellington this week tc hold a conference with representative:! of other religion* bodies in order tv discuss the Bible-in-schools question. The holding of this conference is a natural sequence to thy- important resolutions on religious instruction that were carried at last General Synod. It is just one hundred years since an attempt was made to establish a Methodist mission in the Friendly Islands. In August. 1822, Rev. Walter Lawrj arrived in Tongataboo, but he did not receive much encouragement. The natives viewed him as the harbinger of soldiers, who would shortly come and kill them nnd seize their island, and consequently they viewed him with suspicion. Preliminary arrangements for the first Church Congress in New Zealand havo been lately under discussion at Christchurch, It is proposed to hold the ' j congress at < hri. tehureh in May. 1923. ! It is "hoped to secure a.s one of the leading speakers the Right Rev. V. S. Azariah. Bishop of Dornakal, India. Hishop Core, who formerly held the sfee of Oxford, the Archbishop of Melbourne, and the Bishops of Ooulburn and Willochra will also bo invited to speak -nt the congress. Tho Home Mission Committee of the Methodist Church is considering the question of the appointment of a successor to the Roy. T. G. Brooke, general secretary. Mr. Brooke's term of office will expire at the conference of 19-2.1, and as the usual term of engagement is six years Mr. 'Brooke will be unable to accept another terra on account of his advanced age. Having entered tho ministry in ISBO, he will have served. -..'! years in the work when his present teiir.i cxpirvs. lie has been a most devoted and efficient secretary. Of late there has been a great improvement among young Methodists in offering for service in the. Church. Promising and capable young women have heen volunteering for service on the i mission field in large numbers. There is a full stall' on the field at present, and . several young women are in training , for medical and teaching work, some . of them well advanced in their prepara- _ tion. From the Youug Men's Bible Classes in different parts of the , Dominion many candidates are offering • for the preacher's plain, some being for • the full ministry, and others for the i local preacher staff. : It may not be generally known that • for fifteen years John Wesley made his . headquarters in a renovated cannon , foundry in Finsbury Square, London. Since then, "the sound has gone out unto every land" from Methodism. A scheme is now on foot to renovate Wesley's . Chapel in City Road. The is to make the historic premises worthy of a : church whose adherents now number • many millions throughout tlie world. When reviewing one thousand four hun- : dred Catholic iboy scouts from Italy and ' Belgium in the "Vatican gardens, the Pope said: "Be that which your name , expresses. Moses leading his people to itlie promised land, sent on scouts to gain knowledge. You must be lirst, among" the first in the profession of the Christian faith, first in sanctity, first in dignity, first in purity, and first in all the manifestations of your life." The Rev. George ackson, in an address to the C'on__.egational Men's League at Greenlane Church, dealt with tho social mission of Christianity. He eaid there must be fearless acceptance of the social mission of the Church. He claimed that the Founder of tho Church declined tho part of political agitator and social reformer not because those methods were too revolutionary, bnt becauso they were not revolutionary enough. Mr. Jackson claimod that the condition of society not only in Xew Zealand, but throughout the world, called for the fearless enunciation of the arresting message of tho Master, which meant the demand for a new social order. He contended that demand was imperative so long as society is organised "for exploitation instead of mutual service—for competition instead of cooperation: so long as the divine rights of property are respected and safeguarded before the divino rights of personality." Mr. Jackson held that the modern spirit which put truth before tradition, reality before rubrics, and Christ before creeds was applying the tost to every form of organised Christianity. As Vongrcga- • itionalists he contended they should stand | for an altogether fearless'application of - -ie social principles of Jesus to their ' modern bf<e. i