CHURCH OF ENGLAND NEWSPAPER

Press, Volume LXXV, Issue 22768, 21 July 1939, Page 10

CHURCH OF ENGLAND NEWSPAPER

Weekly Publication Proposed ADDRESS TO WELLINGTON SYNOD [THE PRESS Special Service.] WELLINGTON, July 20. A proposal to establish a weekly Church of England newspaper of Dominion-wide circulation, and so increase the influence of the church was laid before the Wellington Diocesan Synod to-day. Addressing the synod by invitation, Mr. C. T. C. Watson, editor of the “Church Chronicle,” said tfye idea of a New Zealandwide church paper was not new. Such a project had been considered by various synods and, he understood, by general synod itself. An unsuccessful attempt had been made in Dunedin some years ago to produce such a paper. There appeared to be fairly general approval of such a project in principle. At present the seven dioceses within New Zealand all published their own monthly magazines. In the aggregate they reached about 15,000 church homes monthly. Most were in a struggling condition financially, an anxiety to their editors and to the various synods. Their basic malady was that they no longer filled a real need in church life, and depended mainly on goodwill- subscriptions, not on sales through intrinsic merit. These papers provided no medium through which the voice of the church might be heard with authority in the land. Theirs was a church lacking a voice in print, and without the challenging statesmanship which the times so surely required. There was nothing to declare the church’s opinion as a province united on questions of the day. The hour had surely come when dioceses should lay aside individual publications in favour of one great church journal, speaking with the authority none possessed under the present system. After inspecting the leading church journals of the world he concluded that the ideal journal would be a weekly newspaper, sold at not more than 3d a copy. It should be a family newspaper for all church people, and for that wider circle whom the church sought to influence. Archdeacon J. R. Young moved that synod should commend to general synod the project of a provincial church paper. “I think it will be a tragedy if this proposal is not taken up,” he said. He was in favour of its being published by a limited liability company. If the scheme went to general synod, two things must be asked—the goodwill and blessing of general synod on its inauguration, and that dioceses be asked to discontinue their own respective papers. Mr H. A. Huggins supported the proposal. Discussion was deferred,