Repentance in churches on Waitangi Day urged

Press, 1 February 1983, Page 6

Repentance in churches on Waitangi Day urged

PA Wellington The Presbyterian Assembly and the Methodist Conference have urged their cogregations to include “appropriate acts of repentance” for the performance of New Zealand since the signing of the Treaty of Waitangi. The call came in a statement issued yesterday under the letterhead of the National Council of Churches. Contacts for the council

were given as the Rev. Angus MacLeod and the Rev. Brian Turner. Mr McLeod is the general secretary of the council. The statement said that churches in many parts of. New Zealand on Sunday, Waitangi Day, will hold special services of repentance and hope. “The churches and the community have to face up honestly to the fact that despite much good will over

the years. New Zealand has failed to live up to the promises made in the treaty,” Mr McLeod said. “Over the last 150 years, Maori culture and land rights have often been overridden with an appearance of legality by the pakeha majority. “We need to repent for the injustices that have been done and turn away from false myths about our own history, but repentance leads to hope. “We are also challenging the churches to do whatever can be done now to bring about a more just situation,” he said.