ANNUAL FESTIVAL

Auckland Star, Volume LXXII, Issue 281, 27 November 1941, Page 14

ANNUAL FESTIVAL

MOTHERS' UNION

MAORIS' GREAT INTEREST

"The Mothers' Union is a spiritual organisation which must not stand still. It has a message which must go out to the people." said the Rt. Rev. F. A. Bennett, Bishop of Aotearoa, when giving the sermon yesterday afternoon at the annual festival of the Mothers' Union of the Auckland Diocese.

The festival was held in St. Mary's Cathedral and there was a record attendance of members, including many Maori mothers from Northland. Holy Communion was celebrated in the morning bv the Rt. Rev. W. J. Simkin, Bishop" of Auckland, assisted by Bishop Bennett and the Very Rev. Dean Fancourt. At the afternoon festival Bishop Simkin, Bishop Bennett, Dean Fancourt and their chaplains were followed in procession to the altar by representatives of the different [ branches of the Mothers' Union carrying the branch banners. Bishop Bennett preached his sermon partly in English and partly in Maori for the benefit of the large number of Maori mothers present. Choosing as his test, "Behold I stand at the door and knock," Bishop Bennett said that God was knocking for entrance into the homes and hearts °people, and he gave instances which had come to his knowledge of how even in the frightfulness of the Greek and Crete campaigns, Maori soldiers had heard His call and answered it.

Speaking in Maori, the bishop appealed to the Maori people to realise that the cathedral in which they sat was not only a pakeha church. It was the head church building of the whole diocese and the Maori population had their part to play in the creation of the necessary atmosphere which all wanted to see created in such a building. ir. + ( ii ntin ?u to j a sta i ne d glass window in the cathedral, placed there as a memorial to a Maori priest, Bishop Bennett used it as an indication that there was no colour line in the Church, which looked to the soul and not to the colour of the being The method of conveying that spiritual food came to people in different thfference.' that WaS the ° nly

,r,.?t iS f hc i 1 l B ® nnett said that he felt giateful to the union for the magnifith£ t nh,° I \ it dQing to build up the Church of God among the Maori people. This showed itself in a developed intensity of interest in spiritual things and a deepening of their spiritual life. e

At the conclusion of the festival afternoon tea was served by Bishop and Mrs. Simkin at Bishopscourt.