KELBURN ANGLICAN CHURCH

Evening Post, Volume XCIV, Issue 67, 17 September 1917, Page 8

KELBURN ANGLICAN CHURCH

INSTITUTION OP REV. A. W. ■ \ ' . PAYNF.v ■■•■. ' ..

At St.- Michael and All Angels' Churchroom, Kelburn, yesterday morning, the Bishop of Wellington (the Right Rev. Dr. T. H. Sprott) formally instituted the Rev. A. W. Payne, M.A.; as the.., first vicar of the newly-formed Parochial District ' of' Kelburn. There was a. large 'congregation; the churchroom being filled to overflowing, affording ample proof of the growth of the district and the development of its church life., .■'■■■!,

i'reaching at the subsequent celebration of the Holy Communion, the Bishop said that he was glad to sep Kelburn established as a separate district, and that for two reasons. The first was that from a Diocesan point of view, it was beneficial to the Church thai new parochial districts should be established in the more populous centres, so as to provide opportunities for giving to country clergy a change from work which afforded them insufficient scope for the use of their qualities, and was liable, if too prolonged, to be prepudicial to them as well as to the Church. The second reason was because he felt the time had arrived when Kelburn had become consciously a separate place, wiih itn own individuality, and it would be as harmful not to throw it upon its own responsibility by severing it from the mother Parish of St. Peter as for a grown-up so.n of a family not to be given the control of his own destiny. The Bishop, after commending the new vicar (who has for nearly two years been in charge of the district while part of St.. feters Parish) to the sympathetic co-operation of the people, urged them not to relax, but to redouble their efforts to provide a worthy,church building. Ho hoped that th<, stimulus which those efforts received last year would be continued, and that before very long the building, so greatly needed, would be commenced. He trusted that they would not be discouraged by any suggestion thai such a work should stand aside because of the troublous times through 'which the Empfte was paesing, but that it might be possible for future generations to say: "Our forefathers had enough faith and courage to commence to build this beautiful church at a time when the world was torn by the greatest war in history." He reminded them how there had been justiEed the faith of the prophet Jeremiah, who, when his nation was on the eve of exile to Babylon, used his right to purchase and redeem the family inheritance though there seemed no hope that '.'houses and fields .and vineyards should be possessed again in the land."