Y.W.C.A.

Evening Post, Volume CXXVI, Issue 128, 26 November 1938, Page 18

Y.W.C.A.

MATTERS OF WORLD

INTEREST

Mrs. Rudd, president of the Auckland Y.W.C.A., and one of the four New Zealand delegates to the World's Council held recently at Muskoko, Canada, was the guest of honour at an informal morning tea yesterday when the Board of Directors and committee members of the Wellington Y.W.C.A. had the pleasure of hearing first-hand news of the World's Council.

Mrs. Rudd painted a vivid and colourful picture of the council gatherings, -v^hich were attended by representatives of thirty-one different countries. The central theme of the council was "Jesus Christ, the Centre of Life," and the speaker told of the tremendous impression made by the address delivered by Dr. T. Z. Koo, who gave a modern interpretation of the implications of the command' "Love thy neighbour." The council devoted much time to an intensive analysis of the various activities of the Y.W.C.A. The European crisis was at its height when delegates were considering "The Y.W.C.A. as. a Christian International Movement" and representatives of countries at war or on the verge of war with one another, gathered together in the small chapel to intercede in silence for peace and justice—rather a unique and soulstirring moment, but symbolic of the spirit of the World's Y.W.C.A. Mrs. Rudd went on to speak of the Y.W.C.A. as an ecumenical movement, and told not only of discussions but of a service held in an Anglican Cathedral, when representatives of five different nationalities took part. The speaker emphasised the v^lue of such a council to represent"f.?*'es from a small country like New Zealand and urged board and committee members to see to it that New Zealand was always adequately represented. At such an international conference members gained a deep insight into the spirit, work, and ideals of the World's Y.W.C.A.

Mrs. R. Gardner (president of the Wellington Y.W.C.A. Board of Directors) thanked Mrs. Rudd for the wider vision of Y.W.C.A. work that she had given to all present.