ANGLICAN FRIAR

Press, Volume CVII, Issue 31381, 29 May 1967, Page 20

ANGLICAN FRIAR

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Christchurch is "an ecclesiastical centre” compared with other parts of New Zealand, according to Brother Brian, an Anglican Francisan friar who conducted a parish weekend in Avonside.

Brother Brian, the principal of an evangelistic training centre in New Guinea, has been in New Zealand for the last eight weeks, mostly in the North Island conducting retreats, and will leave'Christchurch for New Guinea on Tuesday. He was last in Christchurch in 1964 when he conducted a twi-week mission at Avonside.

Racial tensions and problems of integration between the indigenous people and Europeans in New Guinea existed, but at higher levels there was gradual improvement, Brother Brian said. Asked if there were any likelihood of the Franciscans opening a friary in New Zealand, he said that this might come when there were sufficient numbers of New Zealand men wishing to try the religious life, and if the church in New Zealand wanted it. There were several indications that it would be welcomed, he said. New Zealand was part of the order’s South Pacific conference, and for the last six years a brother had come to New Zealand for two months, he added. Brother Brian said that religious orders had an important and integral part to play in the Anglican church because their main work was that of prayer, and giving service and example to those 'they lived and worked beside.