BAN UPON CLERGYMAN.

New Zealand Herald, Volume LXV, Issue 20072, 9 October 1928, Page 8

BAN UPON CLERGYMAN.

REV. ROBERTSON ORR. ASSEMBLY'S EDICT IGNORED. CONTINUATION OF- PREACHING. SUPPORT FROM CONGREGATION* [from our own correspondent. ] VANCOUVER. Sept. 19. The Rev. Robertson Orr, former pastor of a Wellington Presbyterian Church, is ■continuing to preach regularly here, in spite of the ban placed on him by the General Assembly of the Presbyterian Chu;rch, pending the hearing of a petition of divorce, in which he is named as corespondent. The council warned Mr. Orr of the consequences of his continuing to preach, and also warned the congregation that its members ran the risk of losing their membership. In spito of this, Mr. Orr's weekly congregation is growing, and he is determined to go on ministering to it. In a statement in reply to the General Assembly, Mr. Orr writes:—"For 14 months wo have had examples of the ■worst in human nature. Let there be an end to dissension." Reviewing his treatment at the hands of a commission of inquiry, Mr. Orr lias asked that his connection with the Presbyterian Church in Canada be terminated. He cannot see, he says, how otherwise he will ba able to minister satisfactorily to ! the largo following that desires his ministry. Four hundred members of his congregation have signed a petition to the General Assembly, praying it to set aside the findings of the commission. Among these are two King's Counsel, two doctors, who are office-bearers, and the presidents and leading workers of all the organisations in Central Presbyterian Church, Vancouver, to which Mr. Orr ministered.