NO COLLECTION MONEY

Evening Star, Issue 21170, 2 August 1932, Page 9

NO COLLECTION MONEY

HO GOOD CLOTHES WHY SOME STOP CHURCH ATTENDANCE [Special to the ‘Stab.’] CHRISTCHURCH, August 1. Though Christchurch clergymen- believe that people are staying away from church because they cannot afford to contribute to the collections, and though they deplore this, they do not see any easy way out of the problem. “ I feel sure some people do stay away because they cannot afford to give,” said Archdeacon Taylor, of St. Luke’s Church, Manchester street. “ I suspect this always happens in a few cases —poor people who are sensitive. The church authorities naturally deplore this, but the only -way to avoid it is to abolish collections and _ provide the finances of the churches in some other way.” Alternative methods _ to the normal collection had been tried, Archdeacon Taylor said, mentioning the envelop© system as one. They were not, however, very common. “I am under the impression that there are a good number of cases in which people don’t go to church because they cannot afford to give,” said the Rev. J. R. Hervey, of St. Stephen’s, Shirley. “There are also people who don’t come to church because they cannot buy new clothes and keep up the tradition of dressing well to go to church. That is quite wrong, of course, for everybody knows _ there are many people who are up against it at present.” The hard times had also affected Sunday school attendances. Children who did not have good clothes or good boots were not sent to Sunday school.