“Fantastic problem” faced by U.S.

Press, Volume CXI, Issue 32700, 1 September 1971, Page 18

“Fantastic problem” faced by U.S.

America was facing the most fantastic problems in the world at the moment, with no immediate hope of solving them, said the Rev. J. D. Grocott in Christchurch yesterday.

Mr Grocott, a former president of the Methodist Church in New Zealand, has recently returned from overseas, and has spent two years in the Methodist Church in New York.

“Minority groups who do not want to associate with the rest of society, such as Puerto Ricans, Spanish, Russians and Jews, are one of the main problems of the country,” he said.

“Another cause of trouble is the tremendous disparity between the rich and poor, where there are 200,000 millionaires, and yet some of the poorest people in the world.” Mr Grocott sees America as comparable to an adolescent youth facing the problems of adulthood, and needing cultural and social stability, instead of being so easily swayed by every change in political loyalties. After his year of presidency, Mr Grocott was approached by the Bishop of the Methodist Church of Central New York and asked if he would like to take up a year's appointment in the diocese. “The diocese, which was called Syracuse, was larger than the city of Christchurch, and I was asked by the Bishop when I got there if I would involve myself in the total life of the diocese,” said Mr Grocott. “As a result I gave 35 lectures all over the state of New York on New Zealand, its life and church." When he had completed his service there, he was asked by the secretary of the Methodist World Peace Committee if he would spend a year in the Methodist Church for the United Nations. “This church was directly opposite the United Nations headquarters and its specific responsibility is to understand and speak to United Nations personnel,” he said. “Although it started out as a Methodist Church, it is now pretty well multi-denomi-national.” ♦ Mr Grocott said that while

-he was working there, he f lived in an apartment in Har- - lem and found himself inf volved in what he called the i confusion, chaos, poverty and : crime of the area. “One develops a caution > for one’s life and property, r Seldom a week passed with- , out a robbery or an assault ! in our apartment building," f he said. s “I joined several organiseI tions that were involved in I welfare work in this area, s and was associated with a r drug rehabilitation clinic that ’ was staffed entirely by I Negroes, but it was a devai statingly disheartening task : because of the tremendous ■ number of those needing i help,” he said. > From America, Mr Grocott went to England for two r months, where he attended s the British Methodist Confer- : ence at Harrogate as an offi- • cial New Zealand delegate. 1 He also visited Paris, Gen- • eva, Israel and Hong Kong, i where he met his son, Mr • Paul Grocott, who was at the - time about to leave for China with the student party he is s leading.