Archbishop sees gloom

Press, 20 April 1982, Page 2

Archbishop sees gloom

PA Wellington “I fear for this generation,” Archbishop Paul Reeves told the Anglican General Synod when it opened in Wellington yesterday. He said this was because \ he was not convinced that a stimulation of exports and an improved balance of payments would necessarily create more jobs. In his presidential address. Archbishop Reeves, who is Primate of the Anglican Church in New. Zealand, said it was hard not to become depressed by the state of society. “A significant number, of people in New Zealand have never participated in the work force," he said. He also expressed concern about the continuing arms race. “We know that it is not

only war, but the rumour of a war. which is deadly.” Of last year's Springbok tour, which he described as “an unhappy winter,” he said that lessons should be learned from the tour because there was no guarantee that it would not happen again.

Some of the lessons were that violence was counterproductive when dealing with conflict in the. community; the Church and the community still had to learn how to handle controversial issues creatively; the. churches were still in a unique position of being in touch with people of all shades of opinion in the community. Of church union. Arqhbishop Reeves said, “Till now, the Anglican-Roman Catholic dialogue has been confined to a commission. The issue is whether we wish to bring that dialogue into the life of the churches. I hope we will. . “Where it leads to, what the outcome may be, and how long it takes are matters for us to discover as we move along in ' faith and witness.”

Archbishop Reeves said that for the last two years, Anglican and Roman Catholic bishops in New Zealand had met to study documents from the Commission of Theologians on Authority in the Church. The bishops plan to meet again in November.