STRONG SPIRIT OF UNITY

Timaru Herald, Volume CXLIII, Issue 20891, 22 November 1937, Page 8

STRONG SPIRIT OF UNITY

WORLD-WIDE CHURCH BISHOP WEST-WATSON RETURNS By Telegraph—Press Association CHRISTCHURCH, November 20. The strength of the spirit of Christian unity, which rises beyond all question of country or colour, was the chief impression gained at the recent combined conferences at Oxford and at Edinburgh by Bishop West-Watson, who arrived in Christchurch this morning after his visit to England. It was that evidence of unity of the Christian spirit and ideal, said the Bishop in an interview, that prevailed when matters of reunion of Christian Churches were discussed.

“Formal reunion is not likely to arrive in time to affect the present world affairs,” he said, “but the spiritual unity felt at that conference gave us courage and encouragement to go forward without waiting for formal reunion.” Throughout the World The ecumenical movement which the conference represented meant the fellow ship of members of the Christian Church throughout the Inhabited world,” said the Bishop. The great attitude which should be appreciated by all was that the Church was supranational, not international. Rather than the uniting of different units, it was the bringing together of parts of the same unit. On the understanding that all Christianity was one whole, the problem was to bring that whole to its true unity. “Colour bars, racial exclusions, including anti-Semitism, and class exclusions are totally at variance with the history and teaching of the Church," said the Bishop. “It is the supranational quality of Christianity which should present something romantic to the conception of youth, something more than the waving flags and salutes of the totalitarian States.”

In The Pacific. One development of the ecumenical movement that Bishop West-Watsin would welcome would be a conference of all the Churches round the Pacific, the zone in which there was strife at present, and which seemed destined to play so large a part in world affairs. The Church’s part in the shaping of youth was not so great a problem in a country like New Zealand, he continued, but the conference had to give deep consideration to the difficulties which faced the churches in totalitarian States, where the State was held up in the schools above religion. “Guardian of Truth” The tendency towards the subjugation of science and the aits for national or other material ends was another thing which should engage the attention of the church. It was realised more strongly than ever before that the Church should function as the zealous guardian of truth and beauty. The Bishop was welcomed this morning by the Dean and members of the clergy, and a thanksgiving service was held at the Cathedral.