RATANA'S MISSION

Evening Post, Volume CII, Issue 34, 9 August 1921, Page 8

RATANA'S MISSION

TO ABOLISH MAORISM

DIVINE INSPIRATION CLAIMED.

Tho powers, mission, influence, and objects of Ratana, tho Masri healer, were the subject of an' address by tho Rev. Piri Munro, a Maori clergyman of tho Anglican Church, _ at the annual meeting of the Te Waipounamii Association in Christchurch on Saturday (says.tho Lyttelton Times). . •• '

"Ratana's famo with Europeans rests on his physical healing," Sir. Munro "said. "His great mission,'however, is not to heal, not to help the. Maoris in''their physical troubles. It is a spiritual mission. He is fighting 'the old tohungaism, and, more than anything else, ■ tho modern Maorism. I first met him-in the North Island. He asked me to accompany him on his present tour,. and to help him in his work. I have been in clogo contact with him, and I have had many opportunities for studying him. I am competent to express an opinion on him. Let me try to make you realise what Maoriism means. ■ It is a relic of tohungaism. My grandfather was tho last high-priest, or tohunga, of the Arawa- Tribe. He brought me up to tohungaism. I was in the environment of it. According to it, 'the spirits of a Maori's forefathers are constantly with him. The Maori mind is . subtle, arid tohungaism creates an atmosphere around him from which, ultimately, he cannot escape,. It still is a tremendous force, a force for bad. In spite of our contact with Europeans, in spite of th,o fact that most of us speak English, in spite of the fact that wo have adopted European customs and live in European houses, it haaj a tremendous grip on many of us. We take our cue and our ideas from our European friends, but we are Maoris. At the backj,of our minds there is the old Maori. A time comes with every modern Maori when something draws his mind in a particular direction. His outlook, his disposition, everything are Maori. Tho great lesson Ratana is teaching the Maoris is that they must fight against that tendency. His mission is to fight Maorism and the Maori miiid. He has been specially raised up by God for the work. He believes that a celestial being appeared to him in a cloud and gave him his mission. The result is a' new atmosphere for the Maoris, and a new outlook. Their spiritual environment is being changed. They_ are beinp: made free. They are beginning to believe that the spirits which they believed to be the spirits of their forefathers are the evil spirits of Beelzebub and all his hosts. Ratana is turning their minds to the true God.""

; Mr. Munroo said that Ratana was specially instructed to make his present mission- to all Maori settlements, but that it was limited in time. Ho would continue it until next Christmas, when ho expected t? receive an intimation of a Divine character as to whether it should be continued or not. Ho would invite a gathering of all Maoris on Christmas Day. and mako an announcement to them then. .

Mr. Munroe helps, at Batana's meetings, usually giving an introductory address, with tho object, he said, of removing any opposition or hostility there might be in the minds of the Maoris present.