CHURCH UNITY.

Taranaki Daily News, 18 December 1930, Page 7

CHURCH UNITY.

(To the'Editor.)

Sir,—l have no doubt that most people read with pleasure the, account of the recent combined Sunday schools’ service,. and were particularly gratified .thrnbt&Jtliat the Rev. Mr.. Stephen's,,the. vidar of Holy Trinity' Church, Fifzroy, | had, together with his Sunday scholars, 1 attended this service and taken a very real pqirt in the flame. Tlijs morning, ho.wever, disappointment must have been felt by very many. members of the Church of England (or as our church is called, the Church of the Province Of New Zealand) : at.th®' discordant sentiments expressed by the Rev. Mr. Stephens in his letter .'in io-duy’s.Daily Hews towards this service and your report of the' same, and as an official lay reprefientativfc ■ of. our church I desire to em-. phaticaily and entirely dissociate myself with sentiments. Mr. Stephens bases his complaints upon (1) your report that' “The Rev. ClarenCe Eaton presided and other Protesbthnt ministers took-part in the service,”, and objects to being- included, in the appellation “other Protestant ministers,” and (2) an alleged tacit misrepresentation as to the hhture of. the by thbge responsible for making arrangements for the same, inasmuch as he was never informed- that this service was to be “a gathering solely, of the Protestant Sunday schools 6f NCwi Plymouth and district,” otherwise ho and. his. Sunday scholars would not hive . been present, at the same. Now I ask your readers seriously, can there really have been any misrepresentation, tacit' ; or otherwise, regarding the nature of this gathering? Is it not a wellknown, fact to all church people, of whatever denomination, that as distinguished from ’ the Roman Catholic Church (for whose adherents I have the utmost respect), all the other Christian churches are generally referred to and: known as the Protestant churches; and' I fail to see anything offensive in this tbwatds the Church of England of the Reformation, of which our Church "of the Province of New Zealand is a branch, and to which we profess to loyally belong. .... > • I was intensely interested in the - bfoAd-ihinded utteranebs of our distinguished and worthy Primate (Archbishop, Averill) on his return from the Lambeth Conference, and particularly in hi& statement that from his observation on journeying through the Homeland the churches . that. were the befit attended were those where the services .were of a simple and devotional Character, and devoid Of excessive ceremonial, to which so much objection is constantly raised to-day. I was' also very much interested in His Grace’s encouraging statement regarding the progress being made towards the unity of the Christian churches. But how, I ask, is this latter generally desired object to be attained if we are to persist in such hurtful sentiments as are expressed in the. Rev. Mr. Stephens’ letter towards our friends, the Methodifits, the Presbyterians, the Bhptiste, and the other Christian denominations, and what useful purpose of any- kind can the expression of such flentimenta serve? I do hope that our friends belonging io the other Protestant denominations will accept my Assurance thht these sentiments are not generally shared or endoreed by the lay members of our church. —-t am, etc., THOMAS C.FOOKES, Lay member Waikato Diocesan Synod.