CROWNING EVENT IN A BRILLIANT CAREER

Auckland Star, Volume LXXIII, Issue 46, 24 February 1942, Page 4

CROWNING EVENT IN A BRILLIANT CAREER

I Dr. William Temple's translation j from the Archbishopric of York to i that of Canterbury is the climax of a brilliant career, for as Archbishop of Canterbury he may be expected to fulfil the hopes of great leadership built up in the past 13 years, since his rise at the age of 47 to the second highest position in the Church. A man of independent mind and rare scholarship, he was from his childhood marked out for the Church, and his nomination by the King as successor to Dr. Cosmo Lang should be warmly welcomed in the Dominions and in America, where the duty of guiding and inspiring the younger generation is seen as the outstanding need of the present time. An indication of Dr. Temple's views on the post-war Christian order and social and economic reconstruction is contained in the five points to which he, along with the Archbishop of Canterbury and Cardinal Hinsley and Mr. Walter H. Armstrong, Moderator of the Free Church Federal Council in England, was a signatory in December, 1940. It is thought that he was largely responsible for enunciating these points, which were as follow:—

extreme inequality in wealth and possessions should be abolished.

2. That every child, regardless of race or class, should have equal opportunities of education, suitable for the development of his peculiar capacities.

3. That the family as a social unit must be safeguarded. 4. That the sense of a divine vocation must be restored to man's daily work.

5. That the resources of the earth should be used as God's gift to the whole human race, and used with due consideration for the needs of the present and future generations. "We are confident," said the signatories, "that the principles we have enumerated would be accepted by rulers and statesmen throughout the British Commonwealth of Nations, and would be regarded as the true basis on which lasting peace could be established." World Reconstrnotion At this crucial time for the Empire and the Church, the choice of a leader so well qualified to interpret the restless spirit of the nation and to take his place in the forefront of the movement for world reconstruction should give unusual scope for eminent service, coupled with the promise of reform and advancement.

Dr. Temple was born at the Palace, Exeter, when his father, who afterwards became Archbishop of Canterbury, was Bishop of that diocese. At Rugby and Balliol he won many academic honours, and in 1904 (in his 23rd year) was president of the Oxford Union. It was at Oxford that he gave evidence of those interests which, apart from his work for the Church, have distinguished his later career—educa-

tion and the social and economic conditions of the people. He was interested, too, in philosophy, and on taking his degree was elected Fellow and Lecturer of Queen's College.

At the age of 29 he left Oxford to become chaplain to the Archbishop of Canterbury, and afterwards was successively headmaster at Repton School, rector of St. James', Piccadilly, Canon of Westminster, and from 1921 to 1929, Bishop of Manchester. He was also an honorary chaplain to the King. Became a "Jjow Churchman." Dr. Temple was early regarded as a Low Churchman. He created great surprise in ecclesiastical circles shortly before he became Archbishop of York by declaring that the Church of England Communion was not only for the members of the Church. Equally notable was his remark, some years previously, that "if it ever appears that Establishment is the bar to the union of the Church in this land I shall start an agitation for disestablishment." From 1908 to 1924 he was president of the Workers' Educational Association, and for many years took an active interest in the affairs of Ruskin College, the workingclass educational institution *-, at Oxford. He also showed his sympathy with modern industrial movements by becoming a member of the

Labour party and by being actively associated with the Industrial Christian Fellowship. He was the founder of the Life and Liberty movement, aiming at adapting the Church of England, on sane lines, to the needs of the times and the Empire, in the years which followed the last war.

As a preacher he early won wide renown. He frequently spoke for an hour on the most abstruse theological subject without a note. He has always paid tribute to the great influence on his life of his distinguished father.