ST. GEORGE'S HOSPITAL CHAPLAINCY.

Press, Volume LXVIII, Issue 20622, 11 August 1932, Page 7

ST. GEORGE'S HOSPITAL CHAPLAINCY.

TO 1-HR ISDITOB or TUB press Sir,—A friend has told me to take no notice of anonymous correspondents. But it seems to me that "The Dragon's" anonymity allows me to speak to him without being personal. He does not want this thing to be, but v. ouid he not be wiser remembering the .•ulvice of old ?—"11 tbis work be of men it will come to nought; but if it be of God yo cannot overthrow it." He called it a luxury and our purses began to fill, lie has changed his ground this morning; well, we shall see. If he had gone to Matins to-day, he would have heard in the Ist Lesson, ••Oh do noD this abominable thing that I hate"; and in the 2nd he would have seen that one wants more than ;i sound body and a sane mind. The dragon will never come out, until ho has seen something fiko the visions and the revelations which St.. Paul talks of ihero. Then he will he able to seo things moro clearly and then it is 1 want him to read a letter I am just pasting to someone. Here is a copy or' it: Dear Mr —, Will you let me write to you about a matter of great importance to St. George's Hospiital? k is all the harder to do so because the difficulty which I am trying to overcome has been caused by a step j which I myself have been obliged to l take. Hard as it will be for me to j leave my work in "New Zealand, I have no choice but to go back to j England. lam realising every day | .something of the sorrow those early pilgrims must have experienced when | they too had to leave. When, coni cerning one of our purso names, I wrote yesterday, "He returned to England in 1879," I felt some of the pangs that he must have felt. But ' my going leaves St. George's llosJ pital withoutan organiser and without a chaplain, and the thought is j almost unbearable to me. We want j a chaplain for those devoted sisters of ours. 'We want a chaplain for the nurses. We want and we must have a chaplain who can understand and appreciate the difficulties of all that young life that is giving so nobly of its best tin at St. George's. We want a chaplain to comfort the sick and the dying and to tell all the patients who want, to hear that underneath are the Everlasting Arms." We want a chaplain who is content to do all this and at the same time will help to lead Canterbury to Almighty God bv pointing the way to tne self-sacrifice which will give us free beds for the poor and a hospital free of debt. Such a chaplain 1 long to see appointed before I go. I know it will mean a sacrifice for you to do it, but I confidently ask your help and beg of you to fill one ot our pilgrim purses for us. This means either a cheque for £2O at "nee or £lO now and £lO next year. J our own happiness in giving will be greater than mine in receiving, and mine will be greater than words can express. '—Yours, ,4c., J. RUSSELL WII/FORD. College House, August 10th, 1932. ' lO TH£ EDITOB OF TUB PRESS, Sir,—"Churchman Also" and "The Dragon" exactly typify the attitude of that portion of the laity of the Church of England to which I referred in. my ! first letter. Does anyone know of a denomination which so persistently cries down any enterprise emanating from itself as the Church of England? It is a .matter of melancholy admiration for us to note the solidarity, the loyalty, the clannishness even, of almost every other denomination. The history ot our Church teems Kith instances of the unwantedness of any tiresome person whose energy needs an outlet, from John Wesley onwards, it is so inconvenient, so tiresome, to act up to such high ideals. Hence a Church of England Hospital is bound to meet with opposition, and, sad to say, quite definitely from.within its own Church, its own worst enemy. I say definitely that the only hope for a church hospital of any denomination is to bo under the direct supervision of a religious community. If it is not, th»» day must come when troubles which may be left to the imagination will arise. "Churchman Also" typifies the train of thought to which I have referred, when he suggests (and inferentially hopes) that the community lacks the sympathy of the Church of Engl find laity. The community has no such lack of support; it has, in addition, the completely unanimous support of its executive,' who realise that their greatest hope of success is in the cotamunifcv—a statement which my name, known to you, Sir, authorises me to make. Also" in the last sentence of his letter voices a hope that will never eventuate. I write this letter as an apneal to the Church of for a display of sympathy towards St. George's such as has been somewhat lackinc: an appeal to all to remember that the Church should be, and is. wide enough to accommodate all shades of thought within her; an ar>oeal to remember that works and not words count most.—Vonrs etc.. CHURCHMAN. August 10th, 1932. IO THE EDITOR or THE fEKSS. Sir, —If "Nelson Diocese" will send his £1 to me and guarantee another nexi year, I will undertake at once to form a syndicate and collect £lO this year, and £lO next for the St. George's Chaplaiucy Fund. If anyone else likes to follow suit, so much the better.—Yours, etc., G. A. MILLER. 30 Casliel street West,'Christchurch, August 10th, 1932.