Council Of Churches' 25th Annual Meeting

Press, Volume CVI, Issue 31121, 26 July 1966, Page 14

Council Of Churches' 25th Annual Meeting

Representatives of National Council of Churches’ branches from Whangarei to Invercargill will attend the council’s twenty-fifth annual meeting in Christchurch on July 29. Observers from the Roman Catholic, Apostolic, Liberal Catholic, Ukrainian Orthodox and Evangelical Luteran churches will be present The Prime Minister (Mr Holyoake) will be represented by the Minister of Lands (Mr Gerard), who will speak at the evening meal. Other speakers will be the president of the council (the Very Rev. M. W. Wilson), who will honour the founders of the council, and the recently retired Bishop of Christchurch (the Rt. Rev. A. K. Warren) who will reply on their behalf. Of the 18 members who attended the meeting on July 23, 1941, when the constitution of the council was formally adopted, nine have died, and three live in Australia. Those still living in New Zealand have been invited to this gathering and two are expected to be present, Bishop Warren and the Rev. L. A. North. The Australian Council of Churches will be represented by the Rev. C. R. Sprackett, formerly of Christchurch. Other visitors will be the Rev. 0. Kitchingham, chaplain at Manapouri hydro village, Miss Ranjini Wickramaratne, of Ceylon, and the Rev. E. Buckle, Auckland. Observers from the Roman Catholic Church will be the Rev. B. Cunneen, administrator of the Cathedral of the Blessed Sacrament, Christchurch; and the Rev. B. Meeking, yvho will arrive back in New •», Zealand after three

years’ study in Rome and Geneva. Father Meeking is the first Roman Catholic from New Zealand to spend three months living at the Ecumenical Institute, Bossey, Switzerland, with 30 other Christians of different nationalities and denominations, in the Graduate School for Ecumenical Studies.

The twenty-fifth anniversary is being marked by a consultation on confessing the faith in New Zealand on July 27 and 28. As preparatory documents, 16 papers have been circulated for study. They are written by persons with various qualifications including sociologists and a statistician. At the annual meeting, reports will be received from the executive committee, the Maori section, the women's committee, the youth committee, and other groups. An address will be given by the council’s inter-church aid secretary, Mr F. G. Heard, who will arrive after attending a world conference on interchurch aid. The commission on international affairs will report on its actions concerning Vietnam and Rhodesia. “The annual report shows that the council has had a good year, with increasing support for its many services to Hie people of this country and of many countries abroad,” said the general secretary (the Rev. D. M. Taylor).

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