TASK OF CHURCH

Waikato Times, Volume 126, Issue 21039, 15 February 1940, Page 6

TASK OF CHURCH

RELIGION CHALLENGED I STAND AGAINST OPPRESSOR GENERAL SYNOD OPENS (By Telegraph.—Press Association) NELSON, Thursday A warm tribute to Archbishop Averill’s long and outstanding service to the Church of England in New Zealand was paid by Archbishop Mowll, of Sydney, in the course of an address at the official service of the 28th General Synod, held in the Nelson Cathedral. “To you this meeting of General , Synod will be tinged with a feeling of keen regret when you reflect that it is the last occasion on which your present primate will preside over your deliberations.” said Archbishop Mowll, “For 46 years he had laboured among you, 16 years as parochial clergyman, 30 years as bishop, and 15 years as your primate. That long, faithful and efficient ministry has meant much to the church here.” I The part the Church had to play in meeting the challenge of totalitarianism against religion and democracy was a subject discussed by Dr. Mowll. The weapons of the Church were not carnal but spiritual, the preacher pointed out and its task was an international one in j building bridges of goodwill, and un- ! dertaking co-operation between the i peoples of the world in the realm of understanding and sympathy. Great World Rift “We still see countries as far as the Poles asunder,” he said, “and ] in a moment there has come a great world rift engineered by the rise of totalitarianism and its ruthless attack upon religion and democracy. We in New Zealand and Australia inherit and share with the United States those democratic principles of freedom that were enshrined in our English Magna Carta. The circumstances of the day are forcing us to see more clearly than ever that in these great principles we have our most precious natural asset. “This common inheritance ought i to bind us more closely together in mutual understanding, sympathy and co-operation for the cause of freedom, not only in the Pacific but in the whole world. The Church has its part to play in bringing this about, and stands against the oppressor today.” Two Words Derided The speaker mentioned that the Governor of New South Wales, Lord Wakehurst, in a public speech recently asked his audience to reflect why it was that in the latest utterance of Herr Hitler, the words which called forth the most derision among those whom the Fuehrer was immediately addressing were “religion” and “democracy.” On the same occasion Mr W. W. Hughes, a former Prime Minister of Australia, remarked that the challenge of the German Government was a challenge not to any one of the Christian denominations, but to Christianity as a whole, and that it was at the same time a challenge to democracy. The task of the Church, Archbishop Mowll declared was to wrestle with "spiritual wickedness in high places,” in the spirit of the decision of the World Missionary Con- j ference at Tambaram, which committed itself to the Christian way j of mutual confidence, understanding j and goodwill in settling inter-racial and international political and economic problems.