ANGLICAN SYNOD

Evening Star, Issue 17959, 4 May 1922, Page 10

ANGLICAN SYNOD

“TINKERING WITH MARRIAGE,” “LIFELONG " STANDARD- AFFIRMED. Tlw Synod resumed at Auckland yester - day the‘di-halo on Bishop Averill’a motion tl'uA tho Synod as.sociato itself with resolution 6? of the .1 jam both Conference of 1920 as follows : -“•The conferenco affirms as our Lord’s principle of the standard of marriage a lifelong amt indissoluble union, for better or for worse, of one wan with olio woman, to the exclusion ot all others mi either side, and rail.; on all Christum people to maintain and hear witness to Ibis standard. Tim ireulerencc, while fnllv recognising the extreme difficulty ot Governments in flaming the marriage, laws for citizens, many of whom do not a-ocept the Christian standard, expresses the firm belief that in every country the Church should bo free to hear witness to tnal standard through its powers of administration and discipline exercised in relation to its own members.’’ Bishop Sloinml (Melanesia) drew attention to the difficulty of introducing a more lax marriage, bond among the primitive people of his diocese. Dean Kitchcit (Dunedin) said marrnygo belonged to the race, not ho tho Church. He, deprecated tho attempt, mad© to dispute tho authority of particular passages of the Gospel. MrX. Burton said there was a tendency on the part of the State to treat ministers as servants of the Stale as far as tho administration of the mai-iage. law was roiKHH'iu'd, and l>v tins toiulenry, if Lio Slate allowed for the remarriage of divorced persons, it was .sheer rebellion to ; refuse to officiate at such maiiiagos. He had been told that ii marriage legislation was strictly enforced it would bo an offenco for ministers to read in public those portions of the Riblo referring to tho

1 Lord's teaching. Ho strongly denounced tho ignorant and l reckless tinkering with tho marriage institution on the part of the State. Tho motion was carried unanimously. OTHER BUSINESS. Tho Synod passed a. resolution commemorating tho life and work of the Into Primate (Bishop Novill), who siudaincd to . an advanced age,. with self-sacrificing energy, tho duties of his high office. Tho Synod recorded an appreciation of the life, character, and work of the Into Archdeacon Harper. The Military Affairs Committee reported Hint its period of usefulness was drawing to a. close, its activities being chiefly for the benefit of patients in military hospitals and sanatoria. 'Hie committee was arranging with the War Funds Office to be released from Government control, and thus be uiabled to wind up its alfairs. Mr C. A. Do Lautour moved that a- commission representative of all (hr orders of tho Church bo appointed by the. Primate and bishops to inquire into and report on the following As a branch of the Anglican community, has the Church of tho province in New Zealand developed its constitutional government so ns to make the fullest use of tho capacities of its members for service. If not, what development is possible (a) within tho constitution as it stands, or (b) by permissible amendment of the constitution'.''’ —The motion was; defeated. Archdeacon Williams moved the second reading of a Bill to permit clergymen in deacons’ orders, or clergymen holding permission to officiate, to Inree a scat on the Diocesan Synod without the right to vote, —Rejected by 29 to 20. Mr S. R. Robertson moved the second reading of a Bill to empower tin- diiocesan trustees, with the consent of the diocesan ' svnod, to transfer any property or funds held for parochial purposes to parochial trustees, to bo held by them for the same trust and for tho same purposes; and to give such trustees power, subject to tho

consent of the diocesan synod, to mortgage by way of security the whole, nr any part of any property hold by them for tho purpose of raising money for making permanent improvement to same nr other parochial property. A second clause in the Bill sought an amendment of a. (danse in the canon determining tho conditions upon which trust moneys should be in-vested.—-Tho first portion of tho 33il 1 was reejeted in cumudtlcc, and the second amended ns follows: —“No trustee shall invest trust moneys upon leasehold security, unless at tho"time of making the advance at least forty years of tho term shall have expired, or unless the lease is a renewable, lease, granted in terms of too Public Bodies’ Leasing Act, 1908. Mr C. Hudson njuved the second reading of a bill to -cttlc the question of the control of parisn halls, providing that in the event of a. dispute between tho vicar and the vestry an. appeal i e» d ho mad© to the .Standing Committee of tho diocese. — Carried.