CLERGY’S APPEAL

Press, Volume LXXIX, Issue 23973, 14 June 1943, Page 4

CLERGY’S APPEAL

Behaviour of Wives And Fiancees DISTRESS AMONG MEN AT FRONT The following pronouncement was authorised yesterday by \ he (Archbishop West-Watson) toe Ro man Catholic Archbishop of Welting 2S (Archbishop O’Shea), the Moderator of the Presbyterian Church of N e * Zealand (the Rt. ’ the president of the Methodist Confer, ence (the Rev. C. H. Olds), the president of the New Zealand Baptist U" l ™ (the Rev F A. Parry), and the chairman of the New Zealand Congregational Union (the Rev. J. Gordon Smith): — , . “Official information has been received .by us of a matter which is causing great concern to the chaplains o_ one of our divisions on active service A number of men are receiving letters from New Zealand telling oi broken engagements and unfaithfulness among married women whose husbands are with the forces. One padre alone was handling 15 cases, and there must be many which the padres do not hear about at all. Naturally,* the men concerned are distressed and disturbed. “We desire, therefore, to make a most earnest appeal to all girls engaged to soldiers on 'active service and to ail wives of such soldiers, to remember that their men are enduring danger, fatigue and discomfort on behalf of all of us One of their greatest supports is the thought of their loved ones at home, their pride in protecting them, and their hope of cheering letters from them. Bad news from home and the feeling of impotence to intervene might easily be responsible for many a nervous collapse. “Cruelty and Treachery” “It is nard to believe that any of our women could be guilty of the cruelty and treachery of betraying the very men who are risking their lives to protect them. We know well that the break-up of homes due to the callingup of husbands and fathers has made life very difficult for many a wife, but how many wives could truly say that their hardships are as great as those which their absent husbands are called to bear? Soldiers’ wives and fiancees have it in their power, by their faithful courage, to send their men into .battle gallant and high-hearted, or to break their morale by callousness and forgetfulness. Surely we do not need to remind our womenfolk that the campaign is being lost or won not only in the Middle East or in the Pacific, but also in the towns and'countryside of New Zealand; not only by the men on service abroad, but by the women at home. “And this is not all. Every home broken up by heartlessness and disloyalty is going to prove a defective part in the new order which we hope to build after the war. It is going to let the building down. What kind of foundation for a better order is one who can write to her husband that she does not love him any more; that she wants a divorce, and that if he stops her pay she will put the children in a home and go out to work? Is this the way we want the children of our nation trained up who are to bear the burdens of citizenship 20 and 30 years hence? Stern Condemnation ■■“ And what are we to say of the men who take advantage of women who are betrothed to men far away at the front, or vVomen who are feeling the loneliness of long separation from their husbands? These are the kind of people who are a poison in the lifeblood of any community, men who are light-heartedly wrecking those very ideals which their brothers at the front are fighting to maintain. We realise that war conditions make life difficult for everyone, but we strenuously deny that war brings a moratorium in decency. loyalty, or honour. “Finally, we would urge upon our men and women that what we are contending for is not merely the observance of human conventions or regulations, but compliance with the will of God for the truest happiness and welfare of human beings. Where He commands He gives the power to obey. If we seek it from Him we may surely find “grace to help in time of need.” It would be the tragedy of tragedies if we were to win the war and lose our own souls.’’