CLERGY AND STIPENDS.

New Zealand Herald, Volume LXIV, Issue 19779, 28 October 1927, Page 12

CLERGY AND STIPENDS.

CHURCH UNION QUESTION. "DIFFUSION OF EFFORT." The references to the inadequacy of the stipends of many clergymen which were made by Archbishop Averill in his presidential charge to the Auckland Anglican Synod last week have drawn the following comment from the Otago Daily Times: — "The extent to which the inadequacy of the payments that are made to min isters of religion for their services is due to the vast dissipation of effort on the part of the Christian community is a matter that invites a certain amount of speculation. It is estimated that the churchgoers number 35 to 40 per cent, of the population of the Dominion, but ths larger proportion of these are irregu lar in their attendance at services. For their accommodation 4283 places of wor ship are, as the latest census figures showed, provided by over 35 denominations. The effect of this diffusion of effort is apparent everywhere. . . "The remedy clearly lies in a greater consolidation of effort on the part of the denominations. A translation into actual practice of the principle of Chnrcb union, to which iip-service is so freely given, is required in order to remove from the Christian community the stigma that at taches to it by reason of the fact that a great many of* its servants are underpaid It is obvious that a tremendous waste of effort and of resources is the resplt of tjje multiplication of Church agencies that is to be ohserved on every hand."