New Society From Renewed Church

Press, Volume CVI, Issue 31319, 15 March 1967, Page 2

New Society From Renewed Church

A new society might emerge from the influence of a renewed church in New Zealand, the Rev. R. M. O’Grady said at the Inter-Church School for Women in Christchurch yesterday.

Mr O’Grady foresaw a renewal of the church through a renewal of personal faith and devotion and through a new conception of religious buildings.

A renewed church would have a smaller membership than at present The essential change here would be one of quality rather than quantity, he said. “In time we may see a revival of numbers attending worship, but in the first place, it seems to me, we will see the church as a remnant,” he said. The church had been most effective throughout its history when it was a small core of inspiration, he said. The Ministry In a renewed church an altered concept of the ministry could be expected. Many of the clergy would find a fuller vocation as workerpriests. Laymen would accept a fuller ministry. Specialist ministries and team ministries would develop to cope with the arti- . fidal situations of a mobile

population. The erection of new, purely religious buildings would slow down and some of the present buildings would be pulled down, he said. They would be replaced by clergy houses put up for team ministries and inner-city service centres, counselling centres and coffee rooms. The movement toward church union would accelerate and all Christians would have a sense of being in a job together. Church worship would go

through an upheaval to bring it into the twentieth century. New hymns would be written, prayers would be centred on real needs, sermons would give an opportunity for dialogue before or after the service.

“Joy and expectancy would be rediscovered by the congregation,” he said. New church budgets could be expected, with less money available for administrative purposes and more for spending on community and overseas projects.

Synonymous with these internal changes in the church, the framework of society might be expected to alter in the community. The economy of the country would change. “Selfish ‘Kiwis’ ” “At the present time the nation’s expenditure on drink and gambling alone reaches

the incredible sum of £l6B million a year,” he said. “When this is compared with the £3 million a year given in overseas aid, it becomes clear just how selfish is the ‘Kiwi’ way of life.” Racial relations could be expected to increase to the point of more complete equality. By this he did not mean the “Europeanisation” of the Maori, the Islander, the Chinese and Indian in New Zealand. Rather it would mean mutual acceptance of each other in an atmosphere where New Zealanders could learn more about each other and grow together, he said. Immigration policies would be affected as the net increase of population would be higher.

Social issues would be given more sympathy. Problem groups, such as alcoholics, sexual deviants and criminals would be helped more. The aged and the orphans would be cared for more extensively and the mentally disturbed helped to find a meaning ’n life.

Family Of Man “New Zealand would become part of the whole family of man, not only in giving more overseas aid but in sending personnel abroad and in receiving more students and workers from under-de-veloped countries,” he said. In external affairs New Zealand would gain a name for honest and fair dealing. It would be non-aligned, not in the sense of being a party to a host of defence agreements but by meeting every situation on its merits and by acting responsibly in “doing to others as we would have others do to us”, Mr O’Grady said. The new society would look for new and exciting developments in fields as diverse as education and town planning; the right use of mass media, the arts and advertising. Mr O’Grady said it would be argued that his ideas looked like idealism; that he was envisaging New Zealand as a kind of utopia. “This is true. But it is the goal towards which we should be working,” he said. About 300 women attended the school, the third to be held by the women’s committee of the Christchurch branch of the National Council of Churches. They represented the Anglican, Presbyterian, Methodist, Church of Christ, Salvation Army, Congregational, Baptist and Greek Orthodox denominations and the Society of Friends. Two observers from the Roman Catholic Church attended.