"ROMANIZING" AT AUCKLAND

New Zealand Tablet, Volume XXXII, Issue 43, 27 October 1904, Page 17

"ROMANIZING" AT AUCKLAND

*&& ' — * — 'ffc-rrj-S^ lIEKK is both a comae and a pathetic sMe to rjil <bll the so-called ' Romanizing ' incident wnkh jjp' ijoj has figured so prominently in the daily ~ZlJs£ks Papers and caused such a flutter in the nor■JV<^^ lihern city. The facts in rhe caise are siifh*K^» clcntl y m .P le - Some four or rive years' ago f Jsjp^r a society was established in Auckland in * connection with l«he Anglican Clhurch and under a constitution drawn up by the A^can Cathedral Chapter with the title o? the Miss inn of the Gcod Shepherd. Its objects were stated to be mission work, rescue work, visiting of piiblic instit«tiotis, and aid to parish clergy. In August of last year the Catihedral Chapter reorganised the ' Mission ' and repprted to the

Synod that they had approved of a new constitution under the title of the ' Order ' of the Good Shepherd. No hint was given that a radical change had been eflecled in the constitution of the Society, but in time it leaked out that instead of being a simple charitable and philanthropic organisation, it was now a quasiOrder who.se object®, as set forth in t/he conskitutioto, weic ' t|he cultivation a<n4 deepening of t/he devotional hie muuiu&t women as&ocuted together under control of the Bishop. Women wishing to enter this sisterhood must surrender their income to the Order during membership, or arrange for its disposition otherwise, in accordance with the directions of the Chapter ; 'they mju.st vow to remain unmarried while in the Order ; tihey must vow to obey the Bishop,, as head of the Ordc\r, " m all ttungs lawful and honest l) »; alnd they must hold themselves bound by these vows until the Bishop shall " dispense " them from their declaration.' The true blues at once scented a ' Romanizing ' movement and in feverish haste brought the matter before the Synod, where, after a heated discussion in which the Bishop was flouted to the face, a resolution was duly carried requesting the Chapter to reconsider the terms of the constitution and providing that in the meantime no change should b$ rn'ade in the otigjinal rules governing the ' Order.'

'ihe comic aspect of the affair lies in the spectacle of a number of presumably sensible ar\d well-meaning ni'cn making such a very great fuss over sluch a very amall matter. These anti-Romanizers take themselves so very seriously— they imagine they have gpt a glorious mission to save the Church and keep Christianity pure, when all they have got is a mission to make themselves ridiculous. In the case in question we axe gravely told that) amongst x\.uckland Anglicans the matter has 1 created a great sensation ' ; that the institution of such an '> Order ' is a ' reversion toward practices and doctrines which the martyr founders of the Reformed Church died to overthrow ' ; and one paper supporting tho .protesting party goes, so tar as to slay that the prop(osad l Order ' is ' fraught with g?a,ve perij, niot cinly) to tho English Church, but to the whole community.' And all this because halt a dojzen harmless wojiietnr— proba,bly no longer young—w ish to band themselves together in a religious community ! It is perfectly ttrue, of cojur.se, that there? are not in the Anglican Organisation the samo safeguards, and careful afrd complete pro-vision for ascertaining! and fostering vocations, as 1 exist withim the Catholic Church ; but, allowing for all that, the statement that this poor pale copy ol a religious Order is ' fraught with grave peril to t/he whole community ' is cit.hdr particularly haid on Bishop Neligan amd his cl(*c^y on it is a very heavy indictment of jfche writer's common-sense.

The pathetic side of the incident is in the fresh illustration which it affords of the wistful eagerness with which 'a certain section of Anglicans cling to the shadow of Catholicity long generations after their Church has completely lost the suttstance. 'They are to some extent Catholic-minded, have more or less Catholic sympathies, and are moat diligetnt tio frame their outwardi worship according to Catholic cerempny and us'agie. And all the time the one gveat Reality— the adorable Presence on the altar — that ever nourishes, s-ustjaiins, and vivifies the Church, is not, and canjnjoti be, theirs. Their position is truly pathetic, aoi'd the sentinxenrts cf tender sympathy which Catholics feel toward their Church could not be more delicately exjpiessetfl tihan in the beautiful words of Cardinal Wi'semlaji : ' I cannot but look on her ay I should upon one whom God's hand hath taiicheid, in whom the light of reason is dar,kcaied though tthe feelings of t/he heart have not keen seatfeid ; w!ho presses tio» her bosom >t!he e.m|',ty locket that once contained the image of all hhe loved on earthy and continues to rock the cradle of her departed child. 1