“Not official Church view”

Press, Volume CXII, Issue 32902, 28 April 1972, Page 1

“Not official Church view”

(New Zealand Preu Attociation)

WELLINGTON, April 27.

The recent statement made against the South African Rugby tour of New Zealand by the Peace and Justice Commission of the Roman Catholic Church was not the official view of the Church and was not binding on Catholics, a Roman Catholic Rugby administrator said today.

The Rev. N. J. Scambury, S.M., a former vicepresident of the Wellington Rugby Union and former president of the Wellington Secondary Schools’ Rugby Association, said in a statement that he had almost become impatient with the flood of telephone calls and questions he had received on the Church’s attitude to the tour. The Church had made no authoritative statement on the tour, he said, but in spite of that, confusion and an erroneous impression had been given Catholics in particular by headlines in two

Catholic newspapers. One headlined its story, "Call off the Bok Tour, says the Voice of the Church," and the other carried the headline, “Call it off. Church Condemns Rugby Tour." Father Scambury, sports master at St Patrick’s Col-

lege, Wellington, said that in spite of the unauthorised statement by the Catholic press about the tour, his feelings were still those exSressed by the Prime Mincer (Mr Marshall).

MARIST-HUTT The Marist-Hutt Valley Rugby Club and the president of the Hamilton Marist Rugby Club have also condemned the commission.

A special committee meeting of the Hutt Valley club supported a statement from its president, Mr S. T. Mahony, who last week "repudiated and rejected” the commission’s statement. Members were angry that the commission had made its statement without asking Marist clubs or Rugby unions for their views, it said. In Hamilton, the president of the club, Mr P. A. Honiss, said the club had not discussed the issue "but as a club, I would say we are very much for the tour.”

He questioned whether the Church as a whole was opposed to the tour. He claimed objections to the tour had come from small groups within the Church. The commission was fully supported by the Christchurch branch of the Catholic Peace Fellowship, the branch secretary (Mr M. O’Neill) said yesterday. "The commission has reaffirmed the intimate connection between racial justice and world peace and given a courageous lead to Catholics to oppose this tour by all legitimate means," he said. Mr O’Neill said the branch also called for cancellation of the Springbok tour and suggested that the cancellation be announced on South African Freedom Day.