RATANA CULT

Nelson Evening Mail, Volume LXI, 5 January 1927, Page 2

RATANA CULT

POSITION IN WAIAPU DIOCESE

A CRISIS COMING?

The Bishop of Wniapu in his address Lu hid Synod made .s-o-me important references Lo tin; Ratana cult us observed in his diocese. In two settlements ir: tin* Tauranga districts the Church people had gone over to Ratana wholly; but those two were exceptional cases, Mates the "Church News." All along tiie East Coast among the Ngatiporou and in the part of Hay of Plenty ministered to by Canon Pahewa,

the Church people are untouched by Ratana's influence, and there is little evidence of his influence in the Rotorua district. In other places where the Ratana movement has affected the Maori, ihero is a strong body of Church people .standing firm, and there is marked evidence that disaffection of _, some has been the means of .stiffening; up and drawing together oftr Church people. Efforts have been made by Ratanists to obtain Ihe use of our churches for their worship, but the Bishop has. resisted this on the. sound. ground that they had been built for worship according" lo Anglican riles only. This hdi had the d isired effect, and the Auckland Coifrt case has cheeked the organised attempt to seize and . uso the churches. None of the Maori clergy of the Diocese has joined the movement, hut a fair number of the licensed lay readers have done so—mostly elderly meji>" "Many followers of Ratana have poured their money into his so-called 'Bank.' There are many sad cases where they have parted with every available penny. The boast that while the Anglican Church is always, asking for money from its members, Ratana. and his followers; ask for nothing, is both absurd and untrue." Ratana holds thousands of pounds of the people's' money. , "Many Maoris, .' some personally known to. me," said the Bishop, "realising the fallacy of their action, are asking for their money back, but this-is, of course, refused. The money is being 'spent, most of it is already : i spent," 1 The Bishop declares that' the movement is weakening, and Ratana's actions are prejudicing his mana. "There is no religion left in the movement," said a thoughtful, educated Maori .to the Bishop. "There is the form of service, but the talk is of lands and rlonev and what they can get."

STILL HOPEFUL On the other hand, the Ratanists, while admitting that a crisis is- preparing in, the. movement, are. confident that they will emerge from it stronger than ever. - A.Christchurch newspaper correspondent at Wanganui indicates that they admit that the power which established ■• Rataria'sprestige among the Maoris, his "faith-healing, - ' is departing from km( bft they point out that Ratana anticipated this., The question is whether his maiia ■.."-will withstand the shock of failure; -• A general assembly of. the movement was gathering as we went, to press, and the daily papers no doubt wilt be" giving reports thereof. The newspaper correspondent reported that wh'ereas'''at one time nearly every de- ' nomination claimed to have something ' \ in*common with Ratana's teachings, now that'trie movement,has reached to such large'dimensions, they can say nothing too.bad.of it." It is rather an. amusing • way; of putting it. The truth is .that •Ratana borrowed something from several existing "denominations" to form his "creed," but has departed/from the rule common to Christian churches, namely, , • that nothing shall be added to Scriptural teaching. Ratana, for instance, has added inexplicably, the angels to the baptismal formula of our Lord. And surely the 'fact that the "denominations" can say nothing too baa of the movement is ominous. Meanwhile, the great apostasy of Ratana is raising fotitself a great concrete shine in his village. up the Wanganui, to hold 1000 people. ~,., aiiis ihjkiijjji