CHRISTCHURCH SYNOD.

Dominion, Volume 2, Issue 333, 21 October 1908, Page 6

CHRISTCHURCH SYNOD.

ADDRESS BY BISHOP JULIUS. THE CHURCH CONSTITUTION. • IMPORTANT REFORMS NEEDED. ; (by TELEaairn—ritEss association—corTaionT.) .Christchurch, October 20. Tho Christchurch Diocesan Synod was opened this afternoon, there being a largo attendance of clergy and laity. Bishop Julius, in his address, referred to diocesan changes, the Lambeth Conference, and the, supply of clergy. He dealt at length with the question of the relation between tli.e Church in New Zealand and the Church at Home, and went on to say: "Now, of all the provincial churches of the Anglican Communion outsido the British Isles we are the only one tied and bound hand and foot. If the table of affinity is au integral part of the Book of Common Prayer, we cannot sanction any departure from it even if we be so minded. We can make'no change of rule in regard to the liturgical use of the Athanasiari Creed.. We cannot authorise the use of the Revised Version of Holy Scripture, and if the Book of Common Prayer be revised by competent authority without the sanction of the English Parliament,- we cannot adopt it. The Bisliops in conference assembled regard a provinoial church as free to deal with such matters. We have no such freedom. We are all agreed that no change must be made without grave deliberation. Wo are ready_ to adopt every reasonable precaution ■ against rash and ill-considered changes, _ but the fundamental clauses of the • constitution are not precautionary but prohibitive. Wo are far distant from the Old Country, and the circumstances under which we live are widely different from those which obtain there. There is grave and urgent need for greater variety and flexibility in our services. As a province, it is within our rights to provide a freer use of the Psalter and of the Lectioriary, and.to remove the most obvious stumbling blocks in the way of our people. But as the Church of the Province of New Zealand, we can do none of these things, nor can we determine those questions for ourselves which the Lambeth Conference has deliberately thrust upon us. Of course the Church of fifty years ago can only bind us to-day in respect of property. An application to the Parliament of. this Dominion made-by our General Synod, .with the consent and approval of the Diocesan Synods, will set us free at once. We have talked; about "it for the last twenty years. Why should we waste further time? I sincerely hope that at this or your next session you will petition the General Synod to take such steps as may be necessary to the. amendment of the.fundamental provisions of_ the constitution of the Church of this province. No constitution framed by human ingenuity can be regaTded as unalterable in a living Church." PAN-ANGLICAN CONCRESS. THE CHURCH AND THE PRESS. (BI'TELEORAPH.—SPECIAL CORRESPONDENT.) - Christchurch, October 20. ' In the course of his address to the clergy and the laity at the opening of the Anglican Synod: te-dayj Bishop Julius, in referring to the recent- Pan-Anglican Congress in London, said: "No reports,, however graphic, can convey the' colour and warmth .of those ' great services 'arid meetings/ those brotherly gatherings'of, men: from .every corner'of the world, 'and : we,'received •• wore, neither 'fiill ricir graphic,"' : but' meagre in the extreme. We did'.hea'r that someone had said that there were many pagans in New Zealand, but we knew that long ago. There was little else; so we made the most of it. Why should we blame the press? The fault is ours. It would have been worth some trouble to' prepare and send out news for which churchmen in every part of the world were' tlWs'tirigj and which our daily papers j.wQuld have gladly conveyed to uSj ;but we have'nevei'-yet learned to use the press as we ought. As it is, we "await belated information in religious newspapers which the mass of the people neither read nor see. Ido not love religious newspapers. Like religious seminaries,, they provoke , reaction. The things of Christ and, His Church aro at their best when-they come in contact with a naughty world. The. press of to-day is the world's pulpit, and with all its faults and inconsistencies the. press of New Zealand is generally on ,the , side of righteousness. It, is a pulpit open to us as to others, and we must not neglect it if. wo would be neard by : the thousands who never enter a church."- : According to the Bishop, much of the romance is, fading from the mission field and .the colohialiidioceses.'.'c He said: "As' for .ourselv.es,(in ,thoJ)ioceso of Christchurch wo are .'almost _as..;sober ,and dull as they: are.at Home.; (..-.lt-is impossible'to be-eaten and al-. most as difficult to be drowned. The work, of a deacon' whom I have-lately sent to serve on. the Midland Railway is certainly romantic." In the course of further remarks, the Bishop stated that the report of the governing body of the proposed diocesan high school for girls amounted to a confession of failure. The result, of the personal canvass of a few likely citizens _ was very small indeed, so that in ' addition to the sum of £1000 given by Mr. Studholme there was less than £400. It wasi now recommended that a house in Cranmer Square be leased to the school at a nominal rent for tho purpose of a boarding-house, that a head mistress be obtained, that the Church property trustees be instructed to make a grant of £3000 for the building and equipment of the school, and that the school be opened on a small scale as soon as possible.. He had received a deputation from several members of the' clergy asking that an application should be' made to the Kelburn Sisters (Dunedin) to establish a branch of St." Hilda's College in Christchurch,- and he believed that such overtures would be favourably received. The Church was'in great danger of handing over her work of education to other communions.