PADRE'S MEMORIES

Evening Post, Volume CXXII, Issue 79, 30 September 1936, Page 13

PADRE'S MEMORIES

HIS PLACE IN WAR

A RESPONSIBLE POSITION

A fine and stirring address on "The Great War from a Padre's Point of View" was given this afternoon by the Bishop of Wellington, the Ht. Rev.' H. St. Barbe Holland, at the monthly luncheon of tls° Wellington Returned Soldiers' . Association. Colonel A. Cowles, president of the association, occupied the chair-.

"A few years- ago most of us were completely.-sick and tired of anythingto do with the war," said the Bishop. "But now it is far enough off for certain memories in its connection to be pleasant. It is a fine thing indeed that the memory tends to eliminate unpleasant episodes.

' "There were- many points of view from which" the War was seen,' and those points of view, and the language in which they . were expressed, were very different. I would ..personally like to hear an. address on The Padre, from the Tommy's Point of View.' .......

"The padre's part was a difficult one in that he was the only one whose objective differed from the common aim. Wej were thrown in without anything in the way. of .training—catapulted within a week into the front trenches. We -were in a responsible position, and many eyes were fastened on us, waiting, and expecting us to make a slip. We knew nothing of the business of war, not even how to salute, and we were always afraid we were about to make a mistake. A parson was always expected to be a fool."

He narrated the misadventures which' followed him. from his landing at Boulogne to the front line, and during part of 'his service. The art of "lorry-jumping" was only one of the arts of war- with which he was unfamiliar. This ignorance of things made a padre's life at the beginning a very arduous one. He was .very apt to be left alone. One had to learn one's job, and its details were often extraordinarily difficult. '■ "We had to avoid looking too much of a fool," said the Bishop, "and that:. wasn't an . easy matter..

"On the surface, the main task of the padre was conducting services and burying the dead. It didn't take up much of our time, and we knew it wasn't our real job. Our job was to try and make God real to the men, to prove to them that behind the tragedy and muck of "war there was a God whose companionship and love and help was even more real than the shells that came over- continually, to give them something eternal to hang on to in the midst of blood and death.

"A padre had> to live his religion. The first thing I had to do' was not to examine the religion of the soldiers, but to look into my own. All the apparatus of religion, was stripped away; you were simply a naked man among naked men. I don't know whether I did any men ahy good, but I know that it did a great deal of good to me. Padres. were men just the same as the soldiers and the officers. They were exposed to the same temptations—thank. God very few, of them did Slip.

"You were faced with the contrast of the hero and the'beast, On the one side there was courage,' sacrifice, and cheerfulness; on ". the.'.. other, the primeval brute. The cheerful.scrounging that went on .was in. itself demoralising. A reign of blasphemy and lust is one of the .almost inevitable results of war. The personalities of men seem to be disintegrated.

"We found that we were talking about a different God than the one whom the men were thinking about. The men blamed God for the war. which was really brought about through man's stupidity arid greed and sin. But the sentimental side appealed to them. They loved singing hymns.

"We padres saw God at work, saw good come out of evil in the murk and din and muck and evil of war. One felt somehow that the job was getting through." A vote of thanks was proposed by Mr. B. J. Jacobs, of Palmerston North. Dominion vice-president of the New Zealand Returned Soldiers' Association, and carried by acclamation. Colonel Cowles extended a welcome to Mr. H. E. Anderson, president of the Rotary Club, who was present. Mr. F. Histed's singing of two songs was much appreciated.

The takings at today's, community sing, which was held in the New Opera House, were very disappointing, the totnl amount collected being £15 13r, ■ 6d. The song leaders were Messrs. Harold Hindle and Charles Proctor. Mr. Frank Crowther was at the piano.