A CHALLENGE TO FAITH

Nelson Evening Mail, Volume LXXII, 13 April 1939, Page 14

A CHALLENGE TO FAITH

, MORAL REARMAMENT Far beyond the bounds of his own diocese, the Easter message given to his people by the Bishop of Waiapu. Bishop Gerard, should be read and heeded (remarks the "New Zealand Herald”). Here is a young man, called (only recently to high office in the j Church, who finds in a troubled world a challenge to Christian strength. For I his own part, he is willing to accept i the challenge in whatever form it may be interpreted—both in the defence of his own country and in an onslaught l on those internal evils which may be more silently menacing than the enemy j from without. New Zealand. says ! Bishop Gerard, is emphatically worth defending, but it is with a full sense I of responsibility that he adds: "There I are things in her midst for which no! blood could justly be shed.” Laziness,! self-satisfaction, intolerance and hypocrisy—these are the national faults' which Bishop Gerard underlines. They ! are faults that have sapped the moral fibre of older peoples and have brought their civilisations down in ruins; and 1 to-day. with democracy threatened on every hand, with people impatient of! authority and fearful of sacrifice, thenmust be a disciplining of thought as! well as of action in the renewal of moral strength. Of what use is an ! effort to provide a community with all ' the material comforts of life unless, there is an accompanying and equally; determined effort to cherish the ideal I of service, without which no material j comforts can last? The potential j strength of a people lies more in its i moral character than in its physical! wealth or power, and unity of purpose* is the supreme need in holding back humanity from a plunge into an abyss* of barbarism. Bishop Gerard has thus , joined in the plea for "moral rearmament.” and it is one which is wisely ! sounded.