CENTENNIAL OF DIOCESE

Press, Volume XCIV, Issue 28160, 26 December 1956, Page 5

CENTENNIAL OF DIOCESE

Bishop Warren’s Address SECOND CENTURY pioneering

“As we enter the second century of the history of our diocese, we embark on pioneering days, just as did our forefathers—only they are pioneering days with a difference.” said the Bishop of Christchurch (the Rt. Rev. A. K. Warren) in a broadcast sermon last evening. His address to the congregation at the Christmas evensong service in the Christchurch Cathedral described the life and influence of the first Bishop of Christchurch, Henry John Chittty Harper, who was installed at St. Michael’s Church on Christmas Day 100 years ago. “All around us is the appearance of achievement. . . . But in the days that lie ahead of us, our population is increasing with such rapidity that we are hard pressed to keep up with the rightful demand for building sites, church halls and buildings in which to teach our young people: and we need teachers to teach the faith of our forefathers as well as places for the worship of Almighty God,” said Bishop Warren.

“We could easily turn New Zealand into a country that is almost entirely pagan in less than 25 years: or we can continue to build in the Christian tradition.

“It is the character of each and every one that counts, and it is the character that we give to the rising generation which may ensure the continuity of the Christian Church. Too often we say that vou or I can do little about it. Nonsense. That argument is a bit of escapism. Lessons of the Past “Little good is served unless we may learn the lessons of the past.” said Bishop Warren. The words “Never has so much been done by so few in so short a time,” summed up a characteristic of Canterbury’s people in the province’s first 50 years, he said. These words he believed to ha' 7 e been spoken in the early days of Canterbury by the first Superintendent. James Edward Fitz Gerald, who some years earlier had signed the petition to the Crown and to the Archbishop of Canterbury praying that Henry Harper might be appointed bishop. Referring to a similar sentence spoken by Sir Winston Churchill. Bishop Warren said that historians and literary experts had searched for the origin of the quotation. “One thinks that Mr Fitz Gerald was quoting Mr Merivale. Under-secretary of State for the Colonies: another thinks that Mr Merivale was quoting from the great Pitt, and that Sir Winston Churchill was echoing “Whatever their source, those words of Fitz Gerald’s come as a striking object lesson of the times of Henry Harper. The reason they achieved such things as they did was. I believe, because they were Christian men and women who, wherever they lived and worked put Christ first and His work first and their own nieasure and interest second.” said Bishop Warren.