THE CHURCHES.

Timaru Herald, Volume CI, Issue 15444, 5 September 1914, Page 3

THE CHURCHES.

At Cliaimois Church at the morning service the Sacrament of the Lord's Kuppsr will bo celebrated. Rev. Chas. Mardonald will be the preacher. Sir Valentine will conduct the service at H.glifield at 6.30. Home M.ss.on Sunday will he observed ;n the churches of the Woodlands Street Methodist circuit. At "Woodlands Street the Rev. R. J. LiddcLl will preach in the morning, and the Rev. B. Dudley, F.R.A.S., of Gerald.ne in the oven ng. At AYa mata.tai at 3 Rev. B. Dudley will conduct the service at at 6.30 "Rev. R. J. Liddell. Air J. Boothrovd will preach at Rosewiil at 2.45.

The Rev. I. Sarglnson will preach itoming and evening in the Congregat onal Church to-morrow. To-morrow is Home mission Sunday in all the Methodist churches, and at all. services collections will be taken up in aid of Homo M ss : ons. At Bank Street Church the services will be conducted by tho Rev. B. Dudley, F.R.A.S., in the morning, and by the Rev. IN. H. Papakakura in the evenirg. During the service Mr Papakakura wll sng "The Lord is my L ght." At Kens'ngton the services will be conducted in the morning by Mr W. G. lrwm, and in the evening by the Rev. Lester M nifie. The Rev. Thomas St nsau will conduet both services in Tr.nity Presbyterian Church to-morrow, and the afternoon service at CuHmanntown v The Sacrament of tho Lord's Supper mil be dispensed at the morning service.

To-morrow the Rev.. T. A. Joughin will conduct the Home Miss'on services in the Geraldine Methodist Church at 11 a m., and Te Moana at 3 p.m., while the Rev. .J. Guy will officiate in the evening at 6.30 p.m.

CARDINAL BOURNE ON FOREIGN MISSIONS. At tlio Catholic Congross, Cardiff, on July 10, Card.nal Bourne delivered an address 'On Some Urgent Needs foj> the Development of tlie • Work of the Cathoiic Church Abroad and at Home.' He referred to the growing interest of all creeds in the work of fore.gn miss.'ons, and said:—"Recent events havo brought homo to Englishmen the tremendous difficulties surrounding m.ss.o.iary effort when its voice is hesitating and even contred.et-O'ry. Tne namo of Kikuyu will not soon iose its menacing import." There was therefore a spec-.at cla.m by foreign in.ss.ons on the aLtenton of the Engi.sh Roman Catholics. Moreover, there never was a time when missionary enterprise was easier or more urgently necessary. It was eas er s.nce tha extension or civilisat.oii had made the tasiK ietss dangerous. It was urgent because—without the preaching ol i.ne gospe..—new countries wou.d exchange their old paganism for a new and more subtle paganism which wouid be completely incredulous of any supernatural revelation.

On English-speaking peoples —because of the worid-w.de extent of tiie Brit.sh Jtmp.re —the responsibility was most gravo. He contiuuajiy received aipfrom distant countries where iot\'.gu pr.tsts were labouring for Eng-i-su-speaking miSSioniu-.es. In i'ands wiiere tner.o were lew of English speech to st-t forth Catholic trut'hs, ' 'Protestnnt.im and the language of the ruling Power came to be regarded as necessarily and mutually inseparable." For tnat reason tneio was iiaidiy any subject of greater importance to an E.igl.sh Nat.una! Catholic and he therefore suggested tliat next year's congress shou.d be devoted mainly to the considerat.on of tUe who»e subject of iore.gn masons, tspje.ally those carried on within ttie sphere of British influence.

No less urgent was tho task of deve.op ng tho Catho.ic M.ss on m England. Rio far as could be judged by stat.stics .ssued by other reugions bod.<.e, Cittnoi.cs a.ione were keeping pace with the grow.ng population o£ uic- iiicy lor their work new apcstol.c vicariates and ultimately new fui'.y constituted diocesan * The.r bishops were sore put to it to make a.ccoi,...ts balance at the end of the year, and for the.r needs no pubi c appeal cou.d eas.ly be made. He yski-d for the establishment, preferably in each ecclesiastical prov.nce of England and Wales, of a spec.al fund for the . creation of new episcopal sees. Cathoics possessed of means for the purpose cou.d do no work more p.easir.g to tho Holy See than the endowment of a new bishupr.c.

WOMEN AND THE PRIESTHOOD. CLAIMS FOR ORDINATION. A movement.lias recently been initiated to consider the qu.-st.on of the ord nat-.on of women to the priesthood oi tlie Church ct' England (says tlhe London "T.mes"). Prei.m.nary .nquiries have, been made among interested m the matter, and it is Understood that if there ,s sufficient support a conference of clergymen's wives and women church workers w.li be ht'id to discuss the possibility of the entry of women into ttie priesthood.- It -s expected t!hat the conference will take p.a-o m Londo.i ;ii the early autumi.— probably m September. For var.ous reaso.is it will be confined to Church people. Of tho letters sent out quite 50 replies have already btfen received m favour both of the' conference and of the ordination of women to the priesthood. It .s contended th.it the priesthood is not necessar.ly a masculine off ce, and should not, Hit!, efore, be confined to men. One reply was as follows: —"Our feeling is that pr.estliaod is a human office, not at all a sexual one, and that s.nce women aro human I>£ ngs it is umeasDnab.e to reluso tinm an opportun.ty of holding it merely boc.iusc tliey are wemen." Another reply goes so far as to anticipate the consecrat.on cif wumea B.shops, and it has also been suggested that tho ordination of existing deaconesses .should be the first step towards the desired end. On the other hand, a number cf unfavourable replies have been rec-ived, and many of the women who received letters have answered that the t.me is not yet ripe for such an experiment. The feeling within the Omrch at present seems to be decidedly against such a step. At tho Representative Church Council two weeks ago it was decided that women should sit en parochial church councils. A further resolution, however, that women should sis as Jay representatives on the Ruridecanal Conferences and of Diocesan Conferences, was rejected by 141 votes to 76. The detailed voting figures were: — For Against. B shops 13 S Clergy 3(5 39 Laity '27 94 li> does not set'm likely, therefore, that the more revolutionary suggestion cf the ordination of 'women as priests will at present meet with much support viiSiiii the Church. The "Guard'an" in a leading article this week, makes a very strong protest against tho suggestion. It states that, "tho proposit.on emanates chiefly, if not entirely, from a !• t.i '•> band of women who have pushed tho claims of their sex "to such a- point that they have lost all sense of proportion. We regret that so extravagant a suggestion should ever have been made, since it tends to obscure the hopes and expectations of reasonable wonici, and, apart from the fact that Catliol : e Order places ail insurmountable barrier in the way of anything oi' that kind, tends to bring ridicule upon a perfectly sane and healthy movement for the Ixtter recou;li t'Oii of the place of women in the Councils cf the Divine Soeietv."