CHURCH RITES.

New Zealand Herald, Volume XXV, Issue 9096, 3 July 1888, Page 3

CHURCH RITES.

TO THE EDITOR.

Sib, —There appears to me no part of your valuable paper that, affords more instruction, and at the same time amusement, than the correspondence column. From the excellent letters of such -writers as Messrs. S. Vaile, Upton, Ewington, A. Campbell, Mrs. Steadman Aldis, and a host of others, down to the singular jumble of subjects that appear over the signature of writers like " Jehovahshalom" (a very irreverent norn de plume, by the way), one can always get something from solid information down to a hearty laugh. In the olla podrida furnished by the last-named writer, the Bishop of Ballarat, altars, John Hubs, flowers, and "obeisance to choirs" (whatever that means), are strangely blended together. "What . does it all mean?" one feels inclined to say. It is, however, quite easy to detect a little weakhanded fling at the good incumbent of St. Mary's Pro-Cathedral. Everyone knows that Mr. Walpole is too firmly fixed in the confidence and affection of his parishioners to need any defender. That . the feeling is reciprocal is shown by Mr. Walpole's refusal to accept two different offers from leading churches in another diocese. However, as it is in human nature to find fault, the said amusing writer complains hazily of "innovations" in the Church services. Mr. Walpole's cathedral experience in England, and the attention he has given to the subject, render him one of the best authorities in Auckland on the subject of Church rites. If in doubt on any point of the kind, there is no man I should consult with more confidence than Mr. Walpole, and to my own knowledge he is strictly correct in stating that the service at St. Mary's is such as is " common to all cathedrals belonging to the Anglican communion whether at home or abroad," with, of course, this difference, that the service is much more elaborate in many of the English and colonial cathedrals. The reference to Dr. Moorhouse as opposed to " innovations" is singularly unfortunate. Among the " innovations " during the time that he was Bishop of Melbourne may be mentioned the following:— Permission to a Presbyterian clergyman to preach in the Cathedral Church ; (2) license granted to a clergyman, a member of the E.C.U.; (3) approval of the eastward position, &c. Previous to the Bishop's appointment, tht services in the diocese of Melbourne were remarkable for the absence of anything like advanced ritual, and according to the Argus, their puritanical simplicity had alienated many of the best members of the Church of England. With the advent of Bishop Moorhouse, all was changed. Ha sternly discouraged any attempt on the part of piivate individuals to interfere with the ritual of any Church, such ritual being approved by the incumbent and vestry. His own rule was to conform to the particular ritual of each Church in which he officiated. If the eastward position was taken in a church, the bishop also took it, and vice versa. Although not & ■ man who attached much importance to any particular form of ritual, his personal preferences were in favour of musical services, surpliced choirs, and what ould be considered in the colonies a High Church service. The style of service at St. Mary's is one Bishop Moorhouse would delight in. Our poor little services nere are very tame compared to St. Paul's Cathedral Church, Melbourne, where even the lady choristers wear surplices and trencher hats ! There is a wrinkle for our poor friend. I remember Bishop Moorhouse expressing his emphatic dislike of two 'chinas : (1) A man running to the bishop with tittle-tattle about his clergyman ; and (2) the cowardly habit of anonymous attacks upon individuals through the columns of the public PrA«K — T am Ar«r»_ _ F. H. Long.