DISCUSSIONS ON CHURCH UNION

Press, Volume LXXXIX, Issue 27165, 8 October 1953, Page 7

DISCUSSIONS ON CHURCH UNION

Support By Diocesan Synod PROPOSED MEMBERSHIP OF JOINT COMMITTEE The Synod of the diocese o' Christchurch decided yesterday tu ask the General Synod to appoint delegates to represent the Anglican Church on the Joint Standing Committee on Church Union, on. which, sit representatives of the Presbyterian and Methodist Churches and the Congregational Union.

The Synod said it hoped the church would accept any invitation from the joint committee to share in preliminary talks on church union. Seconding this resolution, the Rev. Canon H. M. Cocks, who is chairman of the Canterbury branch of the National Council of Churches, said that in spite of the separation of the churches in New Zealand. Anglicans still owed a great deal to Christians of other denominations. Clergy were conscious of the debt they owed to the ministers of other churches for their co-operation in schools and other parochial work, said Canon Cocks. In this, there had been evident a spirit of inter-communion, if not in the more specialised sacramental sense. In New Zealand a new way of life was developing, which none of the churches, with their roots in other countries, fully expressed. A new framework was required which faced up to reality. It was unfortunate that some people in the Anglican Church thought that there were no Christians in any of the other churches, said the Rev. J. Evans (Kaiapoi). The Rev. W. G. Heerdegen said the man in the street was constantly heard expressing the opinion: “Why don’t you chaps get together?” A lot of progress haa been made in the last 10 years towards closer relations, not only between Anglicans and other churches, but within the Anglican Church itself. “But I don’t feel that much good can come from the so-called ‘combined services’—this is not the way to greater unity,” he said. There was nothing: contentious in the proposal, but he dia not think it would take the church very far—it was just the first step, said Mr G. M. Morgan. “All Necessary Elements” The Ven. Archdeacon F. N. Taylor ■ said there 'were within the Anglican communion all the elements necessary 1 for a successful ecumenical moveinent. ■ There were already a great variety of t opinion'on methods of approach to the 1 problems of the day—divorce, for ini stance. “However, we mustn’t think of t selves in an insular way,” said Archi deacon Taylor. “We in New Zealand are just a small part of the Anglican communion. Also there is danger in impatience and short cuts. It has

taken 400 years to produce the present state of disunity in the Christian church, and we cannot expect reunion to come overnight.” The “combined services” had done a lot- of damage to the cause which they were intended to advance. Archdeacon Taylor said. They took for granted a degree of unity that did not exist The Dean of Christchurch (the Very Rev. Martin Sullivan) said he thought the other churches were no so frightened of episcopacy as many Anglicans were inclined to assume. r ‘lf they are prepared to offer us a bishop or two, we should be prepared to return a few Geneva gowns, he said. Dean Sullivan said: “From talks I have had with some young Presbyterian ministers, I have reached the conclusion that many of them are too ‘high church’ for me. and should have to demand great sacrifices from them.” He thought the term “ecumenical” was too often confused with “economical,” said Dean Sullivan. “The idea, apparently, is that if there is a Presbyterian church on one corner, and an Anglican one on the Other, we should take advantage of a sort of specious union in order to double the plant and halve the overhead. That would be a very attractive proposition.” The Bishop of Christchurch (the Rt. Rev. A. K. Warren) said it had often been said that any move towards union would come from the laity, and that the clergy tended to be so cautious that it was seldom that they took a step forward. •