Problems Seen In Church Union Plan

Press, Volume CIX, Issue 32114, 9 October 1969, Page 18

Problems Seen In Church Union Plan

The problem of a bishop and the autonomy of the diocese were the two major problems Anglicans had to face in the proposed plan for church union, the principal of Christchurch College (the Rev. J. O. Rymer) told the annual synod of the Anglican Diocese of Christchurch last evening.

Canon Rymer was speaking on a motion pased by the synod welcoming the plan of union and commending it to parishes for study. Canon Rymer said that he was concerned with the responsibility a bishop had for the protection of the faith in his own diocese—a personal responsibility which the bishop must exercise. In the proposed plan of union the bishop’s veto in the matter of faith only allowed for a delay of 12 months.

“The experience of the Anglican Church has been that a collective conscience is not as valuable as the personal conscience exercised by a bishop,” he said.

Anglican tradition gave great autonomy to the diocese which elected its own bishop. In the plan for union, however, the election of a bishop was shared between an electoral committee of the national assembly and a similar committee of the synod of the diocese. “We have to decide if with our own experience of autonomy this is better than that of the proposed national assembly,” he said. The Ven. W. M. Davies

(Avonside) who put the motion said that the church had taken too lightly the tragedies of its divisions. In fact it was bedevilled by its

divisions, he said. The Rev. G. S. Lamont (Spreydon-Hoon Hay), who supported the plan, said that he felt that many persons who criticised the plan were too often accused of trying to sabotage or sink it. When discussing the plan, Anglicans should not look at it as the board of directors of a company might when about to make a take-over bid for another company, said the Rev. K. T. Davy (Fairlie). They should not be angling for the best position and they should not be looking for the perks.

Concern about the proposed name of the church—the Church of Christ In New Zealand—was expressed by the Rev. J. F. B. Keith (St Peter’s, Upper Riccarton). He said that he personally felt that the Church of New Zealand was a fine and comprehensive name.