RELIGION AND PEOPLE

Press, Volume LXXXIX, Issue 26986, 11 March 1953, Page 8

RELIGION AND PEOPLE

PRIMATE’S HOPES FOR FUTURE WELCOME TO ARCHBISHOP OWEN “Responsible leaders in our political and civic life are looking today more and more to the Church to supply something which they know the State cannot supply. If we clergy and Christian laity ’ can rise to our day and opportunity, we shall see in our time and generation an advance all along the line,” said the Primate and Archbishop of New Zealand (the Most Rev. JR. H. Owen) when he preached at evensong in the Christchurch Cathedral last evening after he had been welcomed to the diocese on his first official visit by the Bishop of Christchurch (the Rt. Rev. A. K. Warren).

Archbishop Owen was met at the door of the Cathedral by the Dean of Christchurch (the Very Rev. Martin Sullivan), the Cathedral Chapter,’ and archdeacons of the diocese. While the j processional hymn was sung by the large congregation, Archbishop Owen and Bishop Warren walked up the. aisle, followed by the Cathedral Chapter, ‘ clergy, and theological students from College House. “A little more than 100 years ago the whole of New Zealand was one diocese of the Anglican communion,” said Bishop Warren in his welcome to the archbishop. “Bishop Selwyn, guided by our first Maori evangelist, Tamihana Te Rauparaha, in 1844 put in in a small sailing vessel to the bay of Peraki in Banks Peninsula. He came to visit converts made in the Maori pas four years previously by Tamihana, and took the first Church of England services in Canterbury that year. A storm arose, the ship could not put to sea, so Bishop Selwyn calmly decided to walk to what is now Otago. “Where the journeying of Bishop Selwyn and Bishop Harper took weeks, your Grace will move in hours,” said Bishop Warren. “But we are not unmindful that today your Grace’s province embraces two missionary dioceses in the Pacific, and seven within New Zealand. A century has passed, the population has increased, new dioceses have been formed. But with the evolution of seven separate sees we have also become conscious that we have lacked something in unity. We are thankful that the last General Synod, held in Christchurch, gave assistance to the Primate so that in some measure he might be freed from his own diocese to give more time to the welfare and the problems of the province. Historic Occasion “In the past there have been many visits of primates to this city and other places in our see, but this is for us an historic occasion when for the first time a Primate has been able to make a visitation to the greater part of the diocese. May your Grace’s visits foster that spirit of unity within the province that we know to be dear to your heart, and may the inspiration that you bring to us strengthen God’s Kingdom in our midst.”

In his reply Archbishop Owen recalled how after his appointment by the General Synod he had received the Primatial cross, the symbol of his office, from the senior bishop, and the clergy and laity of the province had offered to him their loyalty and support. It was a moving experience which he would never forget. “Tonight it is a more intimate ceremony,” said Archbishop Owen. “You •and your Dean and Chapter represent the family of the diocese of Christchurch, and you have welcomed me into the family circle; and how glad I am to enter it. The warmth of ycgirwelcome is typical of the kindness and affection that Christchurch has always shown to me, and it arouses in me a deep gratitude. I know that I am among friends.”

Archbishoj) Owen referred to the Canterbury Pilgrims as not mere colonists seeking for wealth, but men and women- of the Church of England who came from England to reproduce in Canterbury the Church of their fathers. “That tradition of loyalty to the Church of England has been finely preserved in your diocese.” he said. ‘Your names of Canterbury and Christchurch, and your most English cathedral remind us that we in this distant Dominion belong to that worldwide Anglican communion which has always looked to the Canterbury of England with loyalty and reverence and affection.”

In his sermon. Archbishop Owen quoted from Isaiah: “Thus saith the Lord, behold I will do a new thing.” ‘Many people think that God is not doing very much today,” he said. “But is not the right answer that He is waiting for us to make ourselves into men and women through whom He can do a new thing, and that He will not act without us? . . . Are we the kind of people whom God can still use to serve His great cause? Are we trying to become the kind of people through whom, God could do a new thing? Confidence in Future ""

I see no reason for despondency. Breaches of the law gain publicity. The quiet goodness, the quiet devotion to daily duty of thousands of our people has no public record. The work of revival has not halted; in some quarters it is going forward. These are the grounds of my confidence. “First, it has been publicly acknowledged by some of our leaders—and I am not thinking of church leaders, I am thinking of political and civic leaders—that a purely material civilisation does not work, and of itself does not bring peace and happiness. In this country, broadly speaking, the State is the friend of the Church; and responsible leaders in our political and bivic life are looking today more and more to the Church to supply something which jthey know the State cannot supply. “Second, history shows that it is in recognisable communities that men and women come alive for work and service. 'And the Church is the recognisable community of all those who long for God to do some new thing for our country. It is in the community of the Church that Christian work comes alive, Christian enthusiasm comes alive, and we/'Uhristians come alive. And this old Church of ours, this Anglican Communion with its roots so deep back in the past, is showing new life and vigour. Far from being a spent force, it is in many places showing fresh life. “It is true that we churchgoers are m a minority in the community, and that the majority pass the open doors of our churches/’ said Archbishop Owen. “But that is no reason for despondency. God has always worked through a loyal minority to do some new thing, and He will work through a loyal minority now if we show ourselves the kind of men and women whom He can use.”

Canon W. A. Orange, precentor of the Cathedral, took the service. The first lesson was read by the Dean, and the second lesson by Bishop Warren. At the request of Bishop Warren, the Archbishop gave the blessing.