CHANGING TIMES

Northern Advocate, 9 June 1933, Page 2

CHANGING TIMES

;- DUTY OF THE CHURCH. “LIVE UP TO THE PEOPLE.’’ VIEWS OF CLERGYMAN. (Special to “Northern Advocate.”) NEW PLYMOUTH, Thursday. The necessity For the church to accommodate itself to tin 1 changing times and the recognition that the church must face the present position as far as the observation of Sunday is concerned, were features of the opinions expressed at the annual meeting of the Taranaki Archdeaconry Board. A motion moved by. Air A. H. .Martin, disapproving of the violation ol the sacredness of Sunday by the organisation of pastimes for pleasure, money reward, or -charity was witlnliawn after a full discussion. Mr Martin," in support of his motion, said he looked on Sunday competition in sport as desecration of Sunday. The Railway Department, a public-owned service, even contributed to the desecration, of the day by organising picnic and tramping tours. Canon T. ‘.I. Veale (Stratford) said; he thought a mistake was made in hit ting' so much at the many people who began their worship early and spent the remainder of the day in amusement. There wore just as many who did not begin their Sunday worship until late in day. People should be prepared to ‘agree to differ.’ Archdeacon G, H, Gavin (New Plymouth) thought the motion should be withdrawn. If it were passed, the church would be called a kill-joy. It would only alienate sympathy from the'ideal the church was trying to inculcate. He was himself a lover of the old English Sunday, but be thought it was passing, and the church had to face that fact. Mr G. Gibson (Okato) said they were not now in the old days of the English Church, and the church today had to live up to the people. Every ; association had to justify its existence, : the church as well as any other. In Taranaki, especially with the dairying industry, Sunday was a very different thing from what it was in England. The Bishop of Waikato (the Rt. Rev. • C. A. Cherrington), said Tie could see a difficulty in the motion. Many people had been brought up in certain ways on Sundays, and nothing would make Them depart from them. But lie was ' certain that the church had to accommodate itself to circumstances. When a: clergyman, could hold a service only once -a week, or perhaps only once a ;month, what were religiously inclined .people to do? “I think it is perfectly ‘right for young people to organise some- activity for themselves,-’’ the Bishop addel. “We must face the different times.”