LETTER FROM THE BISHOP

Waiapu Church Gazette, Volume XVII, Issue 11, 2 May 1927, Page 1

LETTER FROM THE BISHOP

My dear people. — I am writing this from England where we arrived safely after a very favourable voyage, We got our first glimpse of England — the Scilly Isles on February Bth, and sailed up the English Channel m glorious weather. In this we were most fortunate. The ships, a day or two ahead of us, were delayed 9 or 10 days m dense fog — : the most continuous fog known on the English coast, we were told, for twenty years. There were at one time as many as eighty to a hundred ships anchored off Dungeness, waiting for the fog to lift, whereas we steamed up channel' at 'fifteen knots. Influenza is very prevalent. Our people are down with it, so we are here at present m rooms. The weather has been cold and wet, but March has come m with brighter and warmer weather, so it is hoped influenza will disappear — blown away by March winds. A good deal of interest centres on China.. The Labour Party m the. House of Commons, at any rate the extremists, protesting against British troops- being sent there m

spite of ; the Foreign Secretary's repeated statement that they are there not to uphold one side or the other, but merely to protect our own British people. The other great interest amongst Church people centres on the revision of the 3?rayer Book, which is reaching its ■'"final stages. There is a feeling against it, headed by the Bishop of Norwich, and supported by some members of the Lower House of Convocation of Canterbury. This controversy centres practically and chiefly upon the office of Holy Communion, especially the Canon. An attempt was made m the Lower House of Convocation to divide the Prayer Book into three sections and deal with them separately, so that the controversial portion could be dealt with apart from the non-con-troversial, but this was not carried, s nor was a later amendment to divide it into two sections. || At the close of Convocation, a"^ deputation waited on the Arch-j|| •bishop of Canterbury to petition! against the Revision , urgiiig it was contrary to. the wishes ofj| the bulk o4 the Church people. m However, the Archbishop of Can-ra terbury did not accept this Rtate-|g ment. M Since the Lower House sat, theM Bishops (the Upper House) have|| met and considered the amend-ffl ments of the meeting by the Lowerffl House. The result of their meetings has not yet reached the public ;H but the Bishop of Gloucester, m anH able letteii to the editor of theH "Morning Post," to-day's issue, M strongly defends it, saying (I) that.M m hifi opinion, there is not a strong™ opposition 'to the Revision} (2}H that there is a great need of affl change if the law of the Church ipjjffl to correspond to its customs; (3)M| (.hut the revised Prayer Book i?Hj more Catholic — that is, more in|H accordance with the whole histori-W cal. tradition of the ChristianJH Church ; (4) that it is less Romanfflj m character. In dealing with Reser-H vation he says, ''we only make ;law-H ful a custom which has grown upH quite naturally amongst those whcH are quite loyal to all the traditionsH i.f the Church of England." ■ I am here quoting the opinion offl this Bishop m particular, who satff m the Upper House, because itffl| seems to me that he makes a greaißH point when he says that "changesffll are necessary to make the law ofjflj the Church correspond to itsfflH custom." £|

The following statement has been issued by the Archbishop of Canterbury m to-day's, papers. — '"the House of Bishops has been m cbntinuo.us session foi' four days iihil has considered m detail all {lie suggestions which were sent tlji by the Lower Houses of Canterbury and York. The Bishops have now concluded this work and have referred the Book .and Measure to a drafting committee, which will report to a final meeting of the House of Bishops on March 15th , after which the Book will be made public and will be presented officially to the Convocation on . March 29th." All members of the House of Bishops were present at Lambeth with the exception of the Bishop of London (who is still abroad) and the Bishop of Norwich. ;■.# There is much more ' I could ..write, but I must not now. You '|are much in* my thoughts during ;!|the Season of Lent, praying that it may be a time of spiritual growth for my clergy and people. We shall he thinking specially of you all at Eastertide with its message of: joy and life for us all both here and m the world to come. I am Yours ever sincerely m Christ, Wm. WALMSLEY WAIAPU.