Bishop asked to explain

Press, 29 July 1986, Page 7

Bishop asked to explain

PA Dunedin The Bishop of Dunedin, the Right Rev. Peter Mann, was yesterday asked to explain in writing the Anglican Church’s attitude towards the blessing by its clergy of Japanese honeymoon couples visiting New Zealand. The request was made by the Rev. Jeffrey Marsh, vicar of Gladstone, at the Dunedin Diocesan Synod which opened yesterday.

Mr Marsh said he had a copy of a report detailing talks with Nippon Sei Ko Kai Church leaders in Tokyo dated July 1985 on the blessing of Japanese civil marriages by selected clergy of the Anglican Church while the couples were on package tours of New Zealand. “This report,” he said, “seems to contravene the marriage canon of the Church... and give a dif-

ferent theology of marriage and blessing to that expressed in the formularies of the Church.” Mr Marsh asked for the bishop’s comment on the status and authority of the report, to whom it has been distributed, and whether the interpretation of the marriage canon is accepted by New Zealand bishops, the Church’s General Synod and any diocese. “Realising that this report is based on a desire for mission and outreach among the newly married, non-Christian Japanese tourists,” he said, “will the diocese be informed of the important new direction in evangelism?” There was no discussion of Mr Marsh’s request. Bishop Mann is expected to reply this afternoon. The Nippon Sei Ko Kai Church is the AnglicanEpiscopal Church of Japan.