AWAKENING IN THE EAST

Taranaki Daily News, 18 October 1927, Page 6

AWAKENING IN THE EAST

WORK FOR MISSIONARIES. London, Aug. 27. The Rev. Cyril Fay and the Rev. Basil Foster, the former from England and the latter from New Zealand, both destined for missionary work in the Near East, were ordained deacons in the Latin Patriachal Cathedral, Jerusalem, on August 7 by Bishop Godric Kean. In his address, the bishop referred in terms of high praise to the Fathers of the Seminary responsible for the training of the young Levites, and paid a glowing compliment to the great Benedictine Order to which these Fathers belonged The first of the Orders founded in the Western world, and the fruitful parent of many offshoots, it had come down in unbroken succession for nigh 1500 years, instructing the world by its learning, edifying the world by its piety, and enriching the world by its labours. The two new missionaries, continued the bishop, had a vast field of labour before them. If they faced actual facts, they would find millions calling out in one way or another for light and guidance. Modern movements in the political world had changed both the Near and the Far East. There has been a general awakening of Oriental peoples. A contact with Western thought, the influx of Western ideas, the new civilisation which had ar lived, was profoundly affecting them. A spirit of religious inquiry was abroad.