LOST ITS RELIGION

Poverty Bay Herald, Volume LXVI, Issue 19882, 8 March 1939, Page 12

LOST ITS RELIGION

WHY CHURCH IS HELPLESS

ARCHDEACON CRITICAL

“There are clergymen in , our parishes who are not religious . . .

whose devotional life has no resemblance whatever to the devotional life of our Lord; men for the most part clean-living, lovable, but not religious They may be good organisers, clever journalists, or gifted preachers, but they are not at heart religious. There are people coming regularly to services, and 'communicants, who are the same.

These remarks were made toy Archdeacon H. W. Monaghan to a big congregation in the Anglican Cathedral, Christchurch, when a people’s service was held as part of a “Forward Movement” of the Christchurch diocese.

The archdeacon made these statements in reply to questions of his own which he put to himself for lack of questions that were requested from the congregation. A system of putting questions on paper in a special box was arranged, and a time was set aside m the service as “question time,” and the archdeacon had undertaken to answer from the pulpit.

“Morality is not religion.” he said. "Plenty of men lead moral lives who are not religious. If morality were religion all we would need in the town would be a Rotary Club and no Catholic Church.

“Why is the church helpless on seeing the Godless world?’ was a question put up by the archdeacon. “Because the church has lost religion, he said. Later, in his sermon, he exhorted the congregation to return to older standards and rediscover religion, which was the purpose of the Forward Movemeet. _____