Social Work.

Waiapu Church Gazette, Volume XVII, Issue 1, 1 July 1926, Page 1

Social Work.

The Anglican Church m New Zealand is doing far more work for the poor, the destitute, the erring and the afflicted than most of its members are aware of. She might, of course, do much more if Churchmen would entrust; to their own Church <• the money which they at present give to other agencies; ;; .; .: .. ~. „ All Anglican institutions and societies are ' undenominational m. , the sensje, that^persons, of any or bf np yfeligious deneniiilatioii are received

into them or benefitted by them exactly on the same terms. Our own Diocese has three "Homes" at present, and the. help of Churchpeople is urgently needed for their support. ; ST. MARY'S HOME. This Home is situated on Napier Terrace, Napier. It is a rescue Home for girls who have got into trouble. Girls remain m it, after their confinement, for training* and sympathetic help until they are' spiritually and morally strong enough to. face temptation. Situations are then found for them and they are kept m touch with good influences. If necessary their babies are kept at the Home (there are 18 babies there at present) until they can provide for them themselves, or until they are old enough to be passed on to our CHILDREN'S HOMES. Of these we have two, St. Hilda's Home at Otanfl, which is, without any doubt, the best conducted and the happiest Home m New Zealand. St. Hilda's has accommodation for 25 children; and Abbotsford Home at Waipawa, a fine new building given to the Diocese by the Lissie Rathbone Trustees. Abbotsford Home has accommodation for 30 children. These Homes provide for orphans, and children who have lost one of their parents, or are destitute and without friends. When the relatives are able to contribute towards their maintenance, fees are charged m proportion to ftie means of those responsible for them; but m most cases the children are. either utterly destitute or their relatives are poor and we receive very little or nothing at all towards their support, Abbotsford has an endowment from the Rathbone Trustees amounting to £175 per annum. ; The remainder of the cost of upkeep of ajl our Homes is provided by the Gktoei'al DioccfcJan Fund; a fund . which is .devoted towards tl 9 maintenance of ail exttra parcfchisl work m the Diocese and to the help Of poor parishes. Jf you want to help me social wgrk

of the Diocese send a donation or ah annual subscription, to the ©ipeeoa^ Secretary, Box 227; Napier, >&$i want to allocate it to y any. special branch of this work* earmark it tor that object. Donations . may be JfiyefV either, to the: Capital Fund^ of thje G.D.F; (m which case only the .".infei-?: est will be nsi^cO or to the Annual .requirempnts of: tho work. . • ., .;,.-.:;■ The Diocestv badly needs a Jlome f ttr Boys from 10 to 15i years of age, and a Home far Babies.! : r , The cost of maintenance, of St. Hilda's and Abbotsford is about £2000 per annum, and the average cosfc of St. Mary's Home about £75& There is a debt of about £2000 on ; % building- fund of St. iMary-'sVi^. ."...'■'",:-■ r Besides the Social wor&%>tie m our Homes a very great deal i^donc by Deaconesses m- the town parisl^ and by Chaplains m the public institutions, by voluntary workers m individual parishes^ and by district visitors, and, of course, by parochial clergy m the ordinary course of their duty. The value of such work does not lend itself to statisticial measurement; it is done, as such work should be done, without ostentation or advertisement and. some of it is of too delicate and secret a nature to be publicly described. People who think the clergy have nothing to do but preach two sermons a week fail to appreciate the fact that a very great deal of a Vicar's time is devoted to social work m his own parish^ The General Diocesan Fund helps m; providing deaconesses and chaplains; - The intention of this -article is '(1) to correct as plainly as possible the prevalent but quite erroneous impression that, because the Anglican Church does not trumpet its' good works m the market place, it is doing nothing. The Chureli as a body is doing its utmost; but a large and unthinking number of individual Churchmen give their alms to other religious bodies to administer it for them, whilst their own Church is ctying aloud for help m her endeavor to meet the tremendous demands lieingr- made on her charity. Many s.o-calle^ cjjfiritable institutions m New, Zealand : $v$

than pay their way. The Anglican, Roman, Presbyterian and Methodist institutions, on the other hand, minister to the really needy who cannot pay. Some time ago. certain Government .authorities proposed to compulsprilyMose religious prphanges Tiecause they found that some institu-. tiona were money-making concerns carried oh under the name of Charity, and, not content with their profits, were appealing to the public for further 'support;' but an indignation meeting was held m Dunedin at which representatives of the old and recognised religious bodies showed that their Homes, at any rate, were rim at a heavy loss and maintained only, by the vduntary help of their :owii 'kembelrs. The work of these churches is carried on without any thought but the desire to obey our Lord's commands and to exhibit the fruits of true Christian charity. Thpse who are m charge Of them give their services for a mere pittance, their reward is the knowledge that m caring for the poor and fatherless they are serving the Master. Indeed it is . found difficult to prevent them from spending their own slender incomes oh providing extra comforts, outings,, etc., for the children. The second object of this article is to enlist the personal interest of all Churchpeople m the Church's social work, to ask for their financial help, and above all to beg for their prayers on behalf of those who need our help so much. We frequently read m the newspapers of people who have left legacies, large or small, for the support of institutions; but far too few of these benefactions are left to our own Anglican institutions. We feel sure that it is because, following our •Lord's command, we do not advertise to the world the good work our Church is doing, and our own Churchpeople do not know of it. Whilst we would not advertise the Church's charitable work m the secular press, we" feel that our own Diocesan paper should inform all its readers, and, through them, other Churchpeople that help is urgently needed for our Homes, and that anything they may send m support of them will be economically and efficiently used for the material and spiritual benefit of those who* have been committed to the Church's care. Our ideal is to make them the Homes- of happy families, wherein the love of Jesus is shown, the lost sheep are regained, character is trained, and good citizens both of the earthly State- and of the Heavenly Kingdom are made.

Our Social work receives not a ( penny siibsidy from public funds, and 'Qur homes pay rates and taxes, If ,; f the -churches did not, for love of ";'Ci*isl; ! 'loq (^ .after their wn little oneij r tKese - woxiid be| hjandeid over td

the "tender mercies" of State institutions'and foster homes, and the taxpayer would have to support them ; but we cannot with a clear conscience allow the children of God to be handed over to the State with its indifference to religion and its neglect of spiritual influences.