CHURCH SPONSORS REFUGEE

Press, Volume XCVIII, Issue 28980, 22 August 1959, Page 15

CHURCH SPONSORS REFUGEE

Permit To Enter N.Z. Granted

A permit to enter New Zealand had been issued for the young Jugoslav refugee to whom the congregation of St. Mark’s Presbyterian Church, Upper Riccarton, was acting as sponsor, said the minister (the Rev. Keith Cree), at the annual meeting of the congregation recently. He said that the refugee, aged 24, fled his country because of Communist oppression and found refuge in Paris, where he had worked as an engineer and studied French and English while awaiting the opportunity to con.e to New Zealand. Mr Cree said that the young man was not a Presbyterian, although sponsored by a Presbyterian congregation. He was a member of the Greek Orthodox Church, whose adherents in Christchurch use the St. Michael’s Anglican Church as their headquarters. The arrangements for the refugee’s passage from Paris to Christchurch had been made by officers of the World Council of Churches in Geneva through the Rev. Alan Brash, secretary of the National Council of Churches in New Zealand. Film of Church A coloured film strip with recorded speech entitled, “A Kindled Flame,” the script for which was written by Mr Cree and which features St. Mark’s Church, and some of its members, was shown in the church at the annual meeting. The film was produced by the publicity committee of the Presbyterian Church of New Zealand. The film had already had a very enthusiastic reception in Christchurch and had been distributed throughout the country, said a spokesman for the church. The publicity committee was following a progressive policy in the production of colour sound films, both movie and still, and already was thinking in terms of television.