Church and State Must Unite in Human Service

Manawatu Times, Volume 61, Issue 70, 24 March 1936, Page 8

Church and State Must Unite in Human Service

ONLY TRUE SOLUTION OF TROUBLES, SAYS PADRE

Tho opinion that only when Church and State recovered an essential harmony of purpose and practice in the guidance of mankind would an abiding solution of tho world’s troubles be achieved, was expressed yesterday by Padre H. W. Newell, of Wellington, when addressing tho Palmerston North Rotary Club. There was a passionate need to-day for unity of nations and classes, and this could be achieved only when Church and State were restored to their former harmony, declared Mr Newell. Only thus would lasting peace be achieved. Tho human race to-day was like a man in a nightmare, from which escape was possible only by utterance of the word unity. Every statesman was probably imbued with a desire for national equality, yet tho nations seemed to go further apart and nearer to catastrophe. Imminent risks were all about us; financial ruin threatened millions; combative philosophies dwelt side by side as in Russia and Germany, and yet every leader was conscious of the actual peril. There was little real hope that more rapid transport w-ould serve to establish abiding cosmopolitan unity among the peoples of tho earth; past experience had not supported such a contention. Nor did the force of self-interest suffice to compel men into a joint course toward world salvation. Likewise, tho imminence of disaster, whilst it made men more aware of their plight, failed to bind them in essential unity. Another bond must be found, and the speaker suggested that this lay in a return to the fundamenal unity once found in religion. The quesion of Church and State was a vital one, as witness the experiences of contemporary Germany, Austria, Spain, Mexico, and Russia. Tho reconciliation of these two great institutions was imperative. In New Zealand there was a dangerous condition, for the State virtually ignored the Church, w'hich turned more and more upon itself and away from the State. They co-exist-, ed as two entities, and this was to the grave loss and danger of the community. A similar position obtained almost throughout the British Empire In Other Days Tho speaker instanced the unity that the world enjoyed under the Roman Empire —a unity never known since the collapse of that empire. Confusion then beset the world with a widespread reversion to barbarism, and for centuries no really eminent leader was known in Europe. Alone of all institutions the Church in Rome sustained the old ideals of unity, and it was under the blessing of the Pope that Charlemagne sought to restore unity to Europe. Himself a Frank, he called himself the Emperor of Rome, and founded the Holy Roman Empire, which for centuries was the main political fabric of Europe. Under the Holy Roman Empire, Church and State were as partners in the mainstay of Christendom, neither subservient to the other. The overlordship of Emperor and Pope over States and churches endured for many centuries. The harmony was often disrupted, but the “working partnership” nevertheless survived as a paramount influence among men. The impression grew that there could be no unity not based upon justice, and that there could be no justice not founded in spiritual things. Recognition of the State as a spiritual body, which must work for the will of God and not for its personal ambition, gave life a sweetness and contentment now lost. Spiritual injunctions guided most of the human activities; the strictures of the Church fell upon economic and educational as well as political life. The Church gave a social unity not now enjoyed, and the citizens were strongly protected from material starvation with a security greater even than was possible today. Ramifications of Church influence extended throughout the activities of mankind.

Something should bo done to restore stability to the present-day world by finding a new balanco of unity between spiritual and political things Nothing like a return to the old order under papal hierarchy was possible, but spiritual unity could bo achieved otnerwise. Englishmen to-day could do everything together except worship together. There was no real reason why men should not come together in their reverence for God; that would be the first step towards the greater unity of Church and State, which was tho paramount need of a distressed and dismayed world, concluded the padre.

Thanks to the speaker were voiced by Rotarian G. G. Hancox.

Visitors welcomed to the luncheon were Mrs Newell, Mrs W. E. Winks, Mrs J. Murray, Mr and Mrs C. A. Small, Mr J. W. Hadfield, Mr J. A. Wilkinson, Mr C. R. Robotham (Palmerston North). The club extended a special welcome to Rotarian James Wallace, an honary life member, who was present for the first occasion for some time.