CHURCHGOERS’ DRESS

Press, Volume XCIII, Issue 27912, 8 March 1956, Page 7

CHURCHGOERS’ DRESS

AUCKLAND VICAR’S INVITATION (New Zealand Press Association) AUCKLAND, March 7. Churchgoers in the Mount Roskill Anglican parish should wear to services clothing suited to the hot summer weather —even sports shirts —says the March issue of the parish magazine. The article, headed “Calling All Men,’’ says that Auckland has an enviable climate, and one of its joys in the fine, warm summer weather “However,’’ it adds, “on hot days most men envy the womenfolk their cool frocks, and find a collar and tie and suit can. to say the very least, be most trying. “We can’t install air conditioning in our churches (not yet at any rate), but we can dress to fit the weather. On hot Sundays the vicar (the Rev. Herbert G. Boniface) will be very pleased to see you at church in a sports shirt. “Perhaps in the past you have not been able to face an hour’s broiling in church. Well, in future dress according to the weather, and then come to church.’’

The Rev. Canon E. Blackwood Moor, of St. Matthew’s Anglican Church, supported Mr Boniface’s suggestion. “We must,’’ he said, “always have a sense of the fitness of things. In very high temperatures and equally high humidity you cannot expect persons to flock to worship. Although I would be glad to see sports shirts among my congregation, I would not welcofne people coming in bathing suits or—what do you call them?— bikinis. That is going from one extreme to the other. “It is merely a question of common sense,’’ said Canon Moor. “The people should be comfortable, but 1 am not saying that religion should be made as comfortable as possible.’’ The Rev. Robert Thornley, of thi Pitt Street Methodist Church, said hii “immediate reaction’’ was that as long as churchgoers were dressed decently he would happily welcome informa 1 or sports wear. However, he felt tha( the matter should not be taken as far as the “leave your golf clubs on the porch” idea. “People need not be dressed formally, as long as they come,’’ he said. The Rev. R. J. Currie, moderator of the Auckland Presbytery, also agreed with the idea, “as long as it is not overdone.”