“MISSION PRIESTS’” WORK

Greymouth Evening Star, 17 April 1940, Page 2

“MISSION PRIESTS’” WORK

CELL BATE CLERGY PROPOSAL.

LONDON, March 19

' It is stated that a proposal that young unmarried priests of the Church of England should form themselves into a company of mission priests, foregoing all but the bare necessaries of life, has received the warm commendation of the Archbishop of Canterbury. The project has 1 been put forward by the heads of the principal religious orders for men—-namely, the Society of St. John the Evangelist (whose superior is the Rev. W. B. O’Brien), the Community of the resurrection, Mirfield (the Rev. E. K. Talbot is the superior) and the Society of the Sacred Mission (of which the Rev. R. H. Tribe is director). All three point out that the issue is the spiritual one of practical self-sacrifice on the part of the clergy, and that the question of marriage is central to the issue raised. The authors of the proposal argue that the married priest, enjoying his natural post in society as a family man, is likely to remain the norm in the Church of England for many years to come. But they ask whether it is not becoming increasingly necessary to supplement his ministry with that of a large body of men living and working on a different and more detached basis which may, perhaps, be called that of “mission priests.” The scheme is designed to enable the ministry of the church to be maintained in spite of the financial stringency due to the war. Something of the sort has been inaugurated at St. German’s Roath, South Wales, where the vicar and his curates live together in the vicarage and share a common purse.