DIOCESAN SYNOD

Otago Daily Times, Issue 21772, 11 October 1932, Page 4

DIOCESAN SYNOD

THE OPENING SESSION BISHOP RICHARDS’S ADDRESS The third session of the twenty-second Synod of the Diocese of Dunedin was opened in the Synod Hall, St. Paul’s Cathedral Schoolroom, yesterday afternoon at 4 o’clock. Bishop Richards presided. ROLL CALL. The roll call was as follows; President —Bishop Richards. Priests—The Revs. G. C. Cruickshauk, W. A. R. Fitchett, J. D. Russell, William Curzon-Siggers, L. G. Whitehead, G. Fynes-Clinton. J. C. Small, E. R. Nevill, A. C. H. Button, C. H. Statham, K. D. Andrews-Baxter, S. J. Cooper, W. A. Curzon-Siggers, W. W. Ewart, F. J. Ferry, F. V. Fisher, C. W. Foreman, H. C. L. Grant, L. D. C. Groves. W. A. H. Hamblett, D. Hillman, W. H. S. Hine, S. A. G. Hurd, W. H. Johnson, J. A. Kempthorne, V. G. B. King, E. C. Lawrence, C. N. Luker, J. A. Lush, J. Morland, C. N. Newton, W. W. L. Powell, A. B. Pywell, W. H. Roberts, I. L. Richards, J. A. G. Simpson, A. W. C. Stace, J. N. Thompson, C. E. P. Webb, E. G. Wilson, G. D, Wilson, A. Wingfield. C. J. G. Samuda. F. L. Irwin, A. R. Wallace, J. E. Holloway, T. Russell, H. S. Bishop, J. L, Anderson, D. Jamieson, J. N. Goodman, A. L. Canter, G., H. Lawrence. Laity—Sir James Allen, Messrs A. H. Allen. A. Goodley, C. Stanley Smith, A. W. Martin, S. Dunkley, C. H. Cunningham, G. Featherstone, G. M. Proctor, A. Bloch, L. D. Ritchie, J, Beecot, J. T. Dawson, W. E. Earnshaw, E, L. Birt. A. Digby-Smith, A. T. Newman, D. L. Mackenzie, T. Bragg, J. R. Wood, D. H. Hastings, P. J. Priest, E. A. Butterfield, H. C. Jones, A. Thorley. A. Taylor, F. W. Knight, L. T. Webb, W. J. Sheat. E. A. Newman, R. B. Williams, G. R. Ritchie, A. J. Gall, A. F. Cheyne, J. H. G. Clarke, J. S. Gerrard, R. Bauchop, J. A. Cook, E. Laley, G. H. Eliot, S. F. Whitcombe, B. Brady, H. H. Horrell, P. Evans. R. C. T. Evans, E. S. Clarke, W. R. Smyth, and H. E. Niven. THE PRESIDENT’S ADDRESS. CHRISTIAN UNITY AND OTHER MATTERS. The president, in his opening address to the synod, spoke as follows: Since our last meeting here .several former members, of our synod, have passed within the veil.

Richard Augustus Woodthorpe, one of the most learned of our clergy, came to us from the diocese of Christchurch in the year 1905. '* He was warden of Selwyn College for 12 years, canon of the cathedral arid examining chaplain from 1907 to 1020. for some time Archdeacon of North Otago, and Archdeacon of Central Otago from 1916 to 1926. For some years he was a lecturer in connection with the W.E.A., and for a time also he held the chair of economics in the University. In 1926 he returned to his native land —Australia — and entered into rest towards the end of 1931.

Ernest Price was for many years a wellknown member of synod, and in addition to being a’ keen supporter of his own parish he was a member of the Pension Board, the Cemetery. Board, the Orphanage Committee, and the Diocesan Trust Board; in fact, he held most of the offices open to laymen, and was ever ready to devote both time and means for the work of the Kingdom of God. He entered into rest early in the year, leaving by his will substantial bequests to the Church.

Arthur Heckler. The diocese is happy in having in every parish a nucleus of faithful laymen who love, the church and serve it with generous devotion. Such a one was Arthur Heckler, who for many years was churchwarden at Waikouaiti and a member of the synod from 1003 to 1932, and it was with unfeigned sorrow that we heard of his death, which occurred in the early part of this year. Walter Frank Knowles was not known to many persons here of this generation. He was ordained, however, in this diocese in the year 1879 and became vicar of Balclutha. In 1884 he was appointed vicar of Governor’s Bay, and he remained in the diocese of Christchurch until his death in March last.

George William Christian, who also died in March, was ordained in this diocese, and was vicar successively of Riverton, of Milton, of Maniototo, and of Port Chalmers. In 1910 he went to the diocese of Christchurch, where he did faithful work in the various districts of which he had charge.

Charles Anderson Fraer was one of the first students at Selwyn College, and, after spending some years as assistant curate in college districts and from 1900 to 1904 as vicar of Waikouaiti, he migrated to the diocese of Christchurch, where he did faithful service until the time of his death in March. He was a priest of ability and devotion whom we could ill afford to lose. But the Church is one; we must learn to cultivate a provincial outlook; and we rejoice that both in this diocese and in Christchurch Charles Anderson’ Fraer fulfilled the promise of his earlier years. A man of outstanding personality and ability was John Hobbs, who died at Hastings in June last. He was ordained in Dunedin in 1876, and held the cures successively of Naseby, Gladstone, and Gore. The greater part of his ministerial "life, however, was spent in the diocese of Waiapu, to which he moved in 1890. Of him, as of all whom we have mentioned, it may be said that they are “ blessed and their works do follow with them.” May they rest in peace, and may light perpetual shine upon them CHANGES. The Rev. E. G. Wilson has moved from Roxburgh and the Rev. G. D. Wilson from Palmerston, to be vicar and assistant curate respectively of the district of Waimea. The Rev. C. J. G. Samuda has moved from Caversham to be assistant curate at St. John’s, Invercargill. The Rev. E. L; Irwin has been appointed assistant curate at the Cathedral. The Rev. J. T. Paddison having returned to England, the Rev. C. E. P. Webb has been appointed to succeed him as vicar of Gore. The Rev. R. A. Fordo also has gone to England, and the bishop has placed the district of Otautau as a temporary arrangement under the charge of the vicar of Riverton. We welcome to our diocese the Rev. J. A. Kempthorne from the diocese of Wellington to succeed the Rev. Canon Small as vicar of Milton; the Rev. C. Melville Newton from the diocese of Waikato to be assistant to the vicar of Waikouaiti: the P,ev. J. N. Thompson from the diocese of Auckland to be vicar of Riverton, and the Rev. A. R. Wallace, of Christchurch, to he his assistant curate. The Rev. Canon Nevill having resigned hip position as vicar of the Cathedral district, we are happy in securing as his successor the Rev. G. C. Cruickshank, who has been appointed also dean of the Cathedral. It may be a matter of interest also that the dean comes from the parish of St. Mark. Remuera, Auckland, of which the bishop was formerly vicar. CHURCH BUILDING.

In the midst of a time of depression it is specially cheering to be able to record the dedication in March last of the Church of St. Mary at Waikawa, also in June the consecration of the first portion of the Church of All Saints’ at Ryal Bush, and the dedication of a church hall at North Invercargill. The church

at Ryal Bush was provided for in the will of the late James Butler, and when completed it will be a model country, church, reminding us' of some of the beautiful buildings at Home. Also at Queenstown, through the munificent bequest of the late Captain Hicks, a beautiful and permanent church is nearing completion, to replace the picturesque church of St. Peter, which is to be removed to Omakau for the use of the congregation there.

A DIOCESAN SEAL. The question of the design of a diocesan seal having been committed to the bishop and the chancellor, they have taken it into consideration with the assistance of Canon Nevill, and wilt bring it under notice of the synod. MISSIONARY. On looking at the financial report for the past year, there.arises at first a feeling of disappointment at the fact that this diocese has fallen more than £SOO short of the quota that was assigned to it by the Board of Missions; and it is but small comfort to reflect that some of the other dioceses have fallen short as well. What this means to the mission field we cannot adequately realise. We know, however, that it involves hardship to those who are at the front, and weakening the Church where it ought to be increasingly strong. On the other hand, there is undoubtedly a deepening of missionary feeling amongst us, and it is a matter of no small encouragement that in this year of unprecedented depression this diocese has raised some £73 more than it did last year. We thank God for this; it is surely an earnest of good things to come; and we pray that the time may not be distant when, in every parish, it will be realised that missionary work is not an extra but an integral part of the commission which our Lord has entrusted to His Church. Turning our thoughts now to Melanesia, which, since the inception of the mission there by Bishop Selwyn, has been in a special sense the mission of the Church of New Zealand, we note with sorrow and with sympathy the trying time that the mission has experienced during the past few months. But the prospect has begun to brighten, and although the mission cannot have recovered fully from the shoqk caused by the resignation of the bishop and his departure for England, we have comfort in knowing that his place will soon be filled by one pre-eminently qualified for the position. At a meeting in July the bishops nominated the Rev, W. H. Baddeley to he Bishop of Melanesia, and the nomination was confirmed by the Standing Committee of the General Synod at its meeting in August. The consecration is to take place in Auckland on November 30. NOTABLE MOVEMENTS TOWARDS REUNION. With thankfulness to God we note that the movement towards Christian unity is growing and in some directions is taking practical shape:— I.—METHODIST REUNION. Thus, in England there has been consummated recently the reunion of the Wesleyan Methodist Church, the Primitive Methodist Church, and the United Methodist Church, thus marking the end of sectional Methodism in England and a new beginning of all the sections in one Wesleyan Church. Is it prophetic of future development that after the reunion had been decided upon the conference including its president, attended service on the following Sunday in the Manchester Cathedral, to which it was welcomed by the bishop? During the past year also there has been a notable advance towards reunion both of the Orthodox Eastern Church and of the Old Catholics, respectively, with the Church of England. 2. THE ORTHODOX EASTERN CHURCH. What are we to understand by the Orthodox Eastern Church? It is the oldest church in Christendom, in continuous living fellowship with the Church of Apostolic times, in which the sacred deposit of the faith has been maintained; a church of chequered and glorious history, illuminated by the writings of great theologians, and enriched by the lives of saints and martyrs. It has never accepted the claims to supremacy of the Bishop of Rome, and very largely in consequence of this a formal breach between the Eastern and Western churches occurred in the year 1054. For many centuries the Eastern Church has suffered nameless horrors of Mohammedan persecution; but throughout its long period of sufferings it has borne faithful witness to our Lord, and to-day it comprises 11 autonomous churches with a membership of more than 100,000,000: the living Church against which the gates of hell have tried in vain to prevail. When the great schism, of which we have spoken, occurred in the eleventh century the Church of England,_ 'as part of the Western Church, shared in the separation of East from West. But the Church of England and the Eastern Church have much in common: for a number of years there has been a growing spirit of friendship between them: misunderstandings are being cleared away, and steps are being tyken towards reunion. Things move slowly in this direction, but a notable advance was made in 1930, when an important delegation came from the Orthodox Church to the Lambeth Conference; “the most weighty delegation,” it is said, ever sent by the Orthodox Church to any Western church. As a result of friendly discussions on that occasion a conjoint commission of representatives of both churches was appointed in order to explore the situation thoroughly with a view to ultimate intercommunion. We must not suppose from this that such a happy consummation is to be expected speedily; it may be a matter of several years, but if it is attained it will be the most momentous event in the direction of reunion that has come about for centuries. Pray God that it may come. 3. THE OLD CATHOLICS. It will be remembered that in addition to the delegation from the Eastern Orthodox Church, a delegation also from the Old Catholic Church came to Lambeth. This church, which at present consists of eight self-governing churches in Europe and America, contains two distinct groups of people, the former of which, connected with the Ardiiepiscopal see of Utrecht, came into definite organisation in the eighteenth century, as a protest against Papal authority on the one hand and against Protestant irregularities on the other. The second group was formed amongst German-speaking people, and was composed of those members or the Roman Catholic Church who felt that they could not accept the Vatican decree in 1870 concerning the infallibility and the universal episcopate of the Bishop of Rome. They linked up naturally with the Church of Utrecht, which provided them with the episcopate; and in the declaration of Utrecht in 1889 .the Old Catholic bishops stated generally that— By maintaining and professing faithfully the doctrine of Jesus, Christ, by refusing to admit those errors which by the fault of men have crept into the Catholic Church, by laying aside abuses in ecclesiactical matters, together with the worldly tendencies of the hierarchy, we believe that we shall be able to

combat efficaciously the great evils of our day, which are unbelief and indifference in matters of religion. It is obvious that such a church has points of contact with the Church of England; friendly discussions have taken place from time to time; and at length the following statements, agreed upon by representatives of the Old Catholic Church- and of the churches of. the Anglican communion, were unanimously approved of in January last by the Convocations of Canterbury and York:— 1. Each communion recognises the catholicity and independence of the other, ami maintains its own. 2. Each communion agrees to admit members of the other communion to participate in the sacraments.

3. Intercommunion does not require from either communion the acceptance bf all doctrinal opinion, sacramental devotion, or liturgical practice characteristic of the other, but implies that each believes the other to hold all the essentials of the Christian faith.

The convocations agreed to “ the establishment of intercommunion between the Church of England and the Old Catholics on these terms.” And on St. John the Baptist’s Day this agreement received happy recognition in St. Paul’s Cathedral, London, when, at the consecration of two bishops of the Qhurch of England, the Most Rev. the Bishop of Haarlem took part with the English bishops in the laying on of hands. We thank God for this. Not only will the union be a source of strength to the churches immediately concerned; it indicates the way of approach towards the attainment of that unity for which our Lord prayed, and is essential if the Church is to go forth in the fulness of power for the conversion of the world. GENERAL. Disarmament. —It is unnecessary to speak at length upon the subject of disarmament, which we attempted to explain in some of its more important aspects in the address to synod last year. It was, perhaps, too much to expect a speedy settlement of such a complicated question bristling with difficulties of many kinds. It was discussed frankly by the Powers in conference at Geneva; generous proposals for the reduction and limitation of armaments were put forth by various representatives assembled there—notably by the British —and, although no definite conclusion was arrived at, no adverse vote was recorded, and the hope remains that the nations may come to realise that security and peace are not to be obtained by senseless piling up of armaments, but by cultivation of principles of brotherhood and mutual trust. Lausanne.—Meanwhile the horizon is perceptibly brighter through the Conference on Reparations at Lausanne, and later through the Empire Conference at Ottawa, It has been said that “ the great achievement of Lausanne is that onesided payments from one country to another group of countries, formerly associated in war, have been abolished, and that all the countries concerned in the settlement are to unite in reconstructing a shattered economic system.” No doubt the full economic value of the conference depends greatly upon the attitude that will be. taken ultimately by America, but the psychological effect should be at least as important as the material, and the gesture of goodwill between the nations in Europe can scarcely fail to be of value towards restoring economic health to the world. Ottawa,—With regard to Ottawa, we have been told on high authority that the true and lasting value of the conference does not lie in the results of bargaining in relation to specific commodities, but in “ the spirit of mutual helpfulness ” consequent upon the meeting of the Empire’s representatives round the same table, in order to discuss each other’s economic and financial problems and difficulties. The material outcome of the conference remains to be tested by experience; the spiritual value in cementing more firmly good fellowship and unity within the Empire seems to have been all that could be desired. ... Diocesan.—Coming now to things immediately at hand, the financial chaos in which the whole world is involved, has had its effect in New Zealand m producing unemployment and poverty unprecedented in severity in the history ot the Dominion. It has called forth heroic measures on the part of the Government, which have been seconded by equally heroic and sympathetic action of our civic authorities. Into all the measures which have been devised for affording relief, the clergy and the laity in our several parishes have thrown themselves with whole-hearted devotion, and I wish to express here my appreciation of the eplendid spirit which they have shown—nowhere more in evidence than in the selfsacrificing efforts of our band of workers at the Mission House. Speaking generally it may be said that the bad times which have come upon us have been met throughout the diocese with courage and with faith; clergy and laity alike have endeavoured to minimise, so far as possible. injurious effects upon the church, and in some respects the sense of brotherhood, in which we are all united m Christ, has been strengthened. We render thanks to God; we'pray that He will mercifully forgive our many shortcomings and our sins; and we brace ourselves for renewed service in His Kingdom in confident assurance of His Presence and blessing. . It was resolved, on the motion of Dean Cruickshank, seconded by the Rev. Canon Small, that the bishop b'e thanked for,his address, and that the address be printed with the proceedings of the synod. OFFICERS OF SYNOD. The following officers were appointed: Chairman of Committees, Mr J. T. Davison; deputy-chairman, Mr F.- WiKnight; clerk of committees, Mr P. J. Priest; secretaries—clerical, Rev, S. J. Cooper; lay, Mr F. W. Knight. HOURS OF SITTING. ' The hours of sitting were fixed as follows:—3 p.m. to 5.30 p.m.; 7.30 p.m. to 10 p.m. SESSIONAL COMMITTEES. The following committees were nominated:— . Diocesan Institutions. —The Dean (convener), the Revs, J. N. Thompson, F. C. Lawrence, F. V. Fisher, Messrs A. T. Newman, W. Roger Smyth, C. H. Cunningham, J. Beecot, F. W. Knight, and R. B, Williams. „ ~ , , Social Questions—Revs. W. H. Johnson (convener), A. B. Pywell, A. W. C. Stace, W. H. S. Hine, Messrs L. D. Ritchie, A. Bloch, George Featherstone, D. S. M'Kenzie. J. S. Gerrard, and Thomas Bragg. . Sunday Schools. —Revs. Canon Button (convener), S A. G. Hurd, C. E. P. Webb, W. A. Hamblett. Messrs A. F. Cheyne, A. J. Gall, S. F. Whitcojnbe, and D. HarnsHastings. ' ■ . , Trusts and Sales of Lands.—Archdeacons Fitchett (convener), Whitehead, and Russell, Rev. IV. A. Curzon-Siggers, Messrs J. A. Cook, J. T. Dawson, W. E. Earnshaw, and E. A. Butterfield. FIRST READINGS. The following Bills were read a first time:—Election of Synodsmen Amendment Bill, Cathedral Statute No. 8 Amendment Bill. MISSIONARY COMMITTEE. On the motion of the Rev. W. A. 11. Hamblett, it was resolved—“ That the statement of receipts and expenditure of the Diocesan Missionary Committee be received, and that consideration be made an order of the day for Thursday afternoon.” The synod adjourned until 3 o clock on Tuesday afternoon. SYNOD SERVICE. The synod . service took . place in St. Paul’s Cathedral last evening, when the Rev, Dr Holloway was the preacher.