WOMEN IN THE CHURCH.

New Zealand Herald, Volume LIX, Issue 18089, 13 May 1922, Page 1 (Supplement)

WOMEN IN THE CHURCH.

LEGAL RECOGNITION.

BY MATANGA,

•By its decision to grant women equality with men in the courts of tho Church, the Anglican General Synod has given proof o:f its chivalry. Let this be reckoned £> it for righteousness, ft have persisted in keeping tho door of office closed to women. The lead of the Lambeth Conference might have been ignored, or some less generous concession to the emancipating spirit of the ago might have been made. Instead, with but few dissenting voices, the enfranchising decision has been reached. It i s a great stop, and is fraught with great issues. Not that there will be any appreciable eagerness of women to tako places hitherto reserved for men; but tiiero will bo a number of them chosen for such honour and duty as this decision now offors them, and a new authority will bo given to tho feminine point of view in all rank-and-filo discussions of Church 'policy. •' What will tho men think of this?" has been a rather hampering consideration when Che women of the parish have exchanged views about their work for it; henceforth, without any sense of subordination, they may face such matters asking only " What "ought tho parish to do ?" This will 'doubtless mako for unified as against merely sectional thinking in Church policy and closer cooperation in all religious activities. The synod did not, apparently, make provision fo r pulpit ministration by Women. That was excepted, although the Lambeth Conference gave considerable j attention to the question: its " defining and encouraging of the Order of DeaI conessps," to quote tho Bishop of Birmingj ham, "startled many clergy, laymen, and, not least, devout laywomeu.'

The Closed Pulpit. Judging by tho courso of events in other communions, and oven in the Anglican communion itself this further departure will como. Why not? Mrs. Philip Snowden has put in a word for it. " The woman preacher," she avers, " would bring to tho new work the conscientiousness and zeal which the woman hag brought to every new work she. has undertaken. The gift of intuition, the instinctive passion for the gi"ng of herself, the mother spirit, all of which make for a. readier recognition of the inwardness cf things and for the awakening of cosmic consciousness, would mako of the woman preacher a competitor in higher things worth striving against. Moreover, it IS quito sure that the women in the pews would not tolerate from the lips of a woman in the pulpit the kind of preaching they are frequently compelled to listen to to-day because it is the best that may tie had." It is certain that thero .would tie no great rush of women to the pulpit, but how mistaken, from the point of view of the community, to close the lips of those who have "been touched with the live coal from the altar for no better reason than that they are women." No mean exponent "of platform practice herself, as many in this country have had opportunity of judging, Mrs. Snowden is excusably "critical of the public speech of some .others, even though her criticism may sound harsh and be too sweeping. At all events, her plea that sex alone should not determine the choice of proclaimers of religious truth is deserving of serious consideration. " The Lord giveth the word: the women who publish the tidings are a great host" is a Biblical warrant of some force in her support, a s against the oft-quoted dictum of St. Paul that women should keep silence in the church; and the whole question is clearly not one to be dismissed merely by the citation of hoary custom.

The Community's Interests. The present concession, however, anticipates only the giving of voice and vote to women" in the practical direction of church business. Well, men have not, succeeded so marvellously well that they can reasonably resent women trying their hands at managing affairs. It is a manJohn Stuart Mill, in his book on " The Subjection of Women "—who has made the great confession. "Is there," he asked, " so great a superfluity of men fit for high duties, that society can afford to reject the service of any competent person? Are we so certain of always finding a man made to our hands for any duty or function of social importance which falls vacant, that we lose nothing by putting a ban on one half of mankind, and refusing beforehand to make their faculties available, however distinguished they may be? And even if we could do without them, would it be consistent with justice to refuse them their fair share of honour and distinction, or to deny to them the equal right of all human beings to choose their occupation (short of injury to others) according, to their own preferences, at their own risk." He proceeds to stress the fact that tlie : ss is borne, not only by the section of sockT whose activities are legally limited, but b\ the whole community. " Nor is tho mjiutic* confined to them." he says of the subjected section: "It is shared by those who are in a position to benefit bv their services. To ordain that any k'ind of person shall not be physicians or shall not be art>- otes, or shall not bo members of Parliament, is to injure not them only, bui all who employ physicians and advocates, o r elect members' of Parliament, and who v--e deprived of tho stimulating effect of greater competition on the exertions of the con;; 1 .". titers, as well_ as restricted to a narrower range of choice."

An Enlarging Sphere. That in religious matters this community loss has been "realised is proved clearly by the steadily extending place given to women in the councils of the Church. lhey have been largely used in the procuring of money for its enterprises, and quite naturally they have claimed and been given a voice in expenditure of that money. Not always have 'they been given openly the right to express themselves in this; but, slowly yet inevitably, they have been granted that, as Uiev contribute so very much to the tiddler, thev may not unreasonably call the tune. They do a big share of the Church s nark and 'so have been granted in practice a growing share in deciding the particular ! nature of that work. The tendency to enlargo the administrative rights of women I in "the rehgious sphere has quietly become ! almost irresistible. The edicts of synods but the registering—the creditably honest registering—-of this tendency. Opponents of the tendency divide themdelves into two classes, one contending that woman will become regrettably mannish in tho exercise of such new liberties, the other that, by her very nature, woman is incapacitated for those liberties. Both parties cannot be right. Their arguments are mutually destructive. If she have nocapacity for these tasks hitherto reserved for man, woman cannot become manlike in their performance; if she should bei come manlike in their doing, this is proof wositive that she does not t lack capacity. Really, neither class of objection is fully valid' ' Without becoming unsexed, woman can undertake much of. the administrative work of the world. Very many women are capable managers of their own homes They control employees, administer an money matters, and generally direct all routine; and they do it a great deal better than many a man might. A few women manage largo establishments, such as schools, orphanages, and similar institutions, with groat credit. Some of them have conducted their commercial businesses riuite cleverly, while some men have succeeded only "in conducting theirs to the bankruptcy' Court. To eive women a greater legal say in the business of tho Church, where they have it alreadv, law or no law, is not an experiment. It has nothing of courage in it. It is an act of rational courtesy, however, and will go far to put heart into tho sex that has often been regarded, according to the Church's doctrinal chronolocry, as the Creator's afterthought. Ah, well! proverbially, eecbnd thoughts are sometimes best.