MEN FOR THE MINISTRY

Press, Volume LXV, Issue 13468, 7 July 1909, Page 8

MEN FOR THE MINISTRY

SPEECH BY BISHOP WALLIS.

(press association- TELEGRAM.) WELLINGTON, July «- In his opening address to the Wellington Diocesan Synod to-day. Bishop Wallis said that in spit© of the decline in th© number of candidates for the ministry, there seemed to him to be clear signs that the tide had turned. In New Zealand there was very murh to make them hopeful. It was a special joy to him to find that the first work awaiting him on bus return to New Zealand in January was the ordination of four men to "the diaconate. a. larger number than he had ever admitted before at a single ordination. In addition ho knew that- a considerable number of men were at present preparing te offer themselves for the ministry, and though at present one or two parishes were seriously hampered by the lack of an assistant curate, it was better to make the sacrifice of delaying their ordination until they had fulfilled th© requirements he had laid down than to let the immediate supply of the need diminish tjieir future usefulness. He pointed out- further that it was a bounden duty to see that none should be unable to obey this call for proper training on account of want of means to attain it. In this connection the Lambeth Conference had urged that an ordination candidates' fund and committee or some similar organisation should form part of the normal, equipment ©f the chinch to assist bishops in, discovering such men and enabling them to respond to their call, and that all Churchmen should be taught to Tegard it as their duty to contribute to this object. Could they wonder that many parents were reluctant to bring the thought of ordination before their sons, when they knew that th© lads wer© pretty certain, if they took holy orders, to be poor men all their lives? The sacrifice ought to be, and constantly was, made, but they had no right to render it unnecessarily great. In view of th© recent increase in the cost of living, the stipends of most of th© clergy were insufficient, and they ought to remedy this state of affairs as soon as possible, and this was the matter to which ho desired' to call special attention. At the present moment th© trouble was seriously aggravated when even these small stipends were not punctually paid. He wished therefore to point out that at th© last meeting of the Standing Committee a fortnight ago it was found that nine districts were owing a total 6um of £249. due as far back as March 31st last, on their assessments to the General Church Fund, making an average of nearly £28 each. They knew that the money due so long ago would' bo paid some day. It had always been a matter of gratification to them that no clergyman had ever left this diocese with a penny of his stipend owing to him. It had been found possible partially to remedy the very serious inconvenience resulting from this delay by advances- from the bishop's reserve fund, but the fund, of course, was not yet large enough to meet all such deficiencies He hoped, therefore, that the committee would find some method of securing that in future the parochial authorities might forward their payments more regularly.