The Daily News SATURDAY, JANUARY 5, 1935. TWO LEADERS PASS.

Taranaki Daily News, 5 January 1935, Page 4

The Daily News

SATURDAY, JANUARY 5, 1935. TWO LEADERS PASS.

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Sympathy extending far beyond its own membership will be felt with the Roman Catholic Church in the loss of its leader in the Dominion, the late Archbishop Redwood. He not only held a high position in the hierarchy of his church, had not only gained a reputation for forceful . eloquence and intellectual ability, but he had also become a great citizen to whom the whole of New Zealand gave honour whenever opportunity offered. It is because of his high citizenship that the death of Archbishop Redwood leaves the Dominion the poorer for the loss of one whose ideals were high, who lived laborious days, and who believed that in affairs secular as well as those connected with the Church New Zealanders were the best material out of which to train men and women for leadership and to carry on the development of the Dominion upon lines that suit its particular opportunities and potentialities. In all matters outside what he considered sacred and inviolate principles Archbishop Redwood was a broadminded, cultured man of the world. He could mix with all sorts and conditions of men, and at an age when many would have felt that restful days were all that were left to them His Grace made long oversea journeys that seemed to rejuvenate him mentally as well as physically, and in which he brought New Zealand before other nations in a manner that was undoubtedly of benefit to the Dominion. Of his work for his Church there will be abounding tribute by those who are best qualified to judge, but in one respect at least the late Archbishop’s policy has earned warm praise from those to whom the theology of his Church does not appeal.. Citizens of the Dominion always respect those who consistently support a belief or a policy to which they adhere. To Roman Catholics in New Zealand the State system of education is considered lacking because it is secular, and even those who believe just as fervently that the State system is best, admired and respected the courage and determination with which the late Archbishop set himself to supply for the children of his church the opportunities of obtaining what was to him the only education worth giving or receiving. His enthusiasm in that cause has left the memorials of his life and work he would most prefer and fine tributes to the zeal he felt himself and inculcated among his people. In his long career Archbishop Redwood saw the spirit of intolerance between the churches diminish considerably. Members of those churches realise to-day that charity towards and co-operation with other denominations denotes no weakening of belief in one’s own, and in social problems at all events there has been found common ground and common need for. the work that any church can do. Those upon whom the work so long performed by the late Archbishop must now devolve can therefore accept their new responsibilities assured of the goodwill of other churches as well as their own. The passing of the Archbishop breaks a link between the New Zealand of the pioneering days and the Dominion of to-day. But retrospect over his career should afford proof that the development he saw and shared in is but an augury for the progress that lies ahead. The Roman Catholic Church has suffered another heavy loss this week in the death in London of His Eminence Cardinal Bourne. Had he lived a few months longer he could have claimed 50 years’ service in the priesthood. Like that of the late Archbishop Redwood, Cardinal Bourne’s influence extended beyond his own church. His appeals to the public conscience

were forceful, eloquent and fearless. He could, and did, rebuke overpager capitalism as sternly as he rebuked laxity in other social laws. He attacked politics from the point of view of rather their ethics than their policy, a lesson he learned from that great Englishman, Cardinal Manning, at whose training college Cardinal Bourne was a student, and who, as Archbishop Manning, admitted the late Archbishop Redwood to the priesthood. Both the Cardinal and Archbishop Redwood were great citizens as well as holding high office in their church. As such the loss caused by their deaths to Great Britain and to New Zealand will be recognised by people of all creeds and of none.