FAITH-HEALING METHODS

New Zealand Herald, Volume LXIX, Issue 21326, 29 October 1932, Page 11

FAITH-HEALING METHODS

BISHOP'S CONDEMNATION " BOTH SILLY AND WRONG " DOCTORS* SACRED VOCATION [from our own correspondent] HAMILTON, Friday Unqualified opposition to "faith-heal-ing" meetings, as carried on in Hamilton, is expressed by Bishop Cherrington in a statement published in the Cathe'dral parish magazine, urging members of the Anglican Church to refrain from attending them. The statement is as follows : "On September 25 in the Cathedral, and in October at their monthly meetings to the Church of England Men's Society and Mothers' Union, the bishop has spoken on the so-called faith-heal-ing. It is not the bishop's business to say what people who are not of his Church shall or shall not do in this matter. That, ho thinks, is for their own clergy and pastors to say. But he does most emphatically say that it is simply wrong on the part of churchpeople to play about with such nonsense, whether carried on under the guise of religion or otherwise. "And that for two reasons: (a) We are part of the Catholic Church of our Blessed Lord; and in* that Church wo can obtain all necessary spiritual blessings : Prayer, Holy ' Communion, Holy Unction with the laying on of hands in sickness (if we desire it), the New Testament and Christian fellowship. Rightly used and thoroughly carried out, the Church's system is all-sufficing, (b) God has so abundantly blessed men in their diligent and painstaking work for the cure of ailments and illnesses that it must be a direct offence against Him, to support that we can legain health by any silly 'short-cuts.' "Hypnotism and auto-suggestion are methods of cure and should be employed by medical men only; for they only can understand the special need of each patient. To claim 'faith-healing' in this century as a cure because our Lord and His Apostles cured in this way is (1) to misunderstand the New Testament; and (2) to disparago trie wonderful gifts of healing given by God to His servants, the doctors and nurses of our day. It is quite true —and religious-minded doctors (and which of them are not?) — would be the first to agree, and if the spirit and tho will be aided by prayer and sacrament, the ailments of the body arc helped by the influence of that spirit and will. "We clergy have every facility in the way of approach to patients. We may offer prayer, give communion, brace up the will-power of sufferers in every hospital, public or private, in the land. Our ministrations are always welcome, with one consideration, of course, on our part, as to the time and day, for the convenience of those who give their lives in the cure of disease. The bishop earnestly hopes that all churchpeople will refrain from these exhibitions, which, in his opinion, are both silly and wrong, and in the long run can only do harm to those attending and taking part." COMMITTEE OP INQUIRY MISSIONER'S HELP INVITED A decision to invite the co-operation of Mr. A. H. Dallimore in the inquiry into the results of his faith-healing mission was made yesterday by the committee of investigation recently constituted. The committee, which includes in its personnel university professors, representative medical practitioners, ministers of religion and a well-known member of the legal profession, repudiates any suggestion of persecution and promises an impartial finding in every case submitted. Its objective is the elucidation of the facts in regard to the cases under treatment. All persons who have had any experience of healing by faith are asked to report their cases to the committee, through either a qualified medical practitioner or a minister. Those who prefer to report directly in writing may do so either through Mr. R. G. Sellar, of 109 Queen Street, or through Miss N. L. Dash, Cooke's Buildings, Queen Street.