HELPING RE-UNION

New Zealand Herald, Volume LXXVIII, Issue 23861, 11 January 1941, Page 12

HELPING RE-UNION

Ri r .—The idea of the re-union ot , churches lias again appeared in your | c<>lllinns recently. To-dav the eilort, is j more urgently needed than e\er. \\ rit- < ing from the Anglican standpoint, aii'i j man v vents' experience in Australia and New Zealand I may «ay tnal,| although horn and bred in the Church | of Kngland, I have had some years ol j work and fellowship wit h non-Anglicans j before mv ordination, and can under-; stand their views. As far ax I can make j out, the Anglican Church does not] officially claim the right to excommtini- j onto any baptised Christina people at- ; all This is emphasised in the Lambeth Conference report of 19-' SO. Ah the late Bishop Neligan s following Bishop ; Creignton. said at a conference of 1 clergy in Auckland, we legislate for our ■ own people alone, and have the right j to require of them Confirmation be-} fore Communion, and we may and should admit to Holy Communion the communicant members of other Christian churches, at their own request and on their own responsibility. There is no such person as an Anglican priest, nor an Anglican altar. The one was ordained l 'a priest in the Church of Gou," and the other is our Lord's altar. If these primary principles are duly considered the cause of true re-union would be helped forward, Lxtremists, right and left, seem to ignore them. .J. G. Fusskll, Wairnate Northj