CHURCH DISCIPLINE

Timaru Herald, Volume CXLVIII, Issue 21624, 9 April 1940, Page 5

CHURCH DISCIPLINE

A STRENGTHENING ADVOCATED By Telegraph —Press Association HASTINGS, April 8‘‘Most of the work of the clergy in New Zealand is connected with converting baptised pagans. Such missionary work should not be necessary in this country after the church has been so long established,” said Bishop Cherrington, of Waikato, when addressing the Anglican Church Congress at Hastings on Saturday, when he urged that there should be a return to discipline in regard to the observation of the Holy Sacraments of the Church. Many Christian people failed to realise their responsibilities in the teaching of their children, he said. If there was any fault with children, it lay at the feet of the parents, who had failed to teach them in their tender years. Capable parents ought to be able to prepare children for the Sacrament of Confirmation, but to-day it had become a practice to regard such training as a part of the duties of the clergy. “To-day we are producing large numbers of baptised pagans,” continued the Bishop. “We should refuse to baptise a baby whose parents are not prepared to abide by their vows and bring the child up in the knowledge of God. It has become a habit to bring a baby to church to be baptised just in the same way as it is taken to the doctor for vaccination. Similar discipline is equally necessary in marriage.”