BISHOP'S LETTER

Waiapu Church Gazette, Volume 25, Issue 11, 1 November 1935, Page 1

BISHOP'S LETTER

My Brother of Aotearoa and Brethren of the Clergy and Laity, — In welcoming you to the new Session of the Synod, I wish once more to express my thanks to Almighty God for the many blessings he has be•stowed upon this' Diocese during the year that has passed. In Miemioriam, — Let us .remember before God, three former members of the Synod who have passed away, Horace Packe, Priest, Canon; Edgar Ward, Priest; Wiremu Arameta Te Waaka, Priest, and Mr. Wiremu Kingi, Layman, of Ohinemutu: May their souls through the mercy of God rest m peace. Changes. — Archdeacon Chatterton retired from the charge of Rotorua at the end of the year, but is continuing his duties as Archdeacon of Tauranga, where he is now residing. The Rev. R. Hodgson has been appointed Vicar of Rotorua, and the Rev. W. S. C. Stephens of Fitzroy, has taken his place at Waerenga-a-hika. The Rev. A. R. H. Morris resigned the Parochial District of Te Karaka on December 31 and has been succeeded by the Rev. J. D. G. Hodgson; the Rev. F. I. Parsons following him at Tolaga Bay. The Rev. M. Holmes left Tauranga to gain experience m England, and no •one has yet been found to take his place. The Rev. W. Lea has been •compelled to take a year's rest and the Rev. LI. Foulkes, of Auckland, has kindly acted for him at Te Puke. I am glad to be able to report that Mr. ILea's health is much improved. The Hey. F. L. Frost has resigned the parish of Taradale, and the Board of Nomination has appointed the Rev. Canon Hodge to take his place, and the Rev. S. R. Gardiner, of Waverley, to succeed Canon Hodge at St. Augustine's. On April 7th, at Rotorua, I ordained the Rev. F. G.- W. Oulds, Priest, and Mr. J. D. Hogg, Deacon. Mr. Oulds has since been appointed Vicar of Matamata, m the Diocese of Waityaitq, ai}d Mr. Hogg has jbeen licensed as Chaplain to Te Aute College. The Rev. R. Aires has been appointed Curate at Gisborne, and on February 10th I ordained Mr. T. A. Moresby as second Curate m that iParish. The Rev. R. Rangiaho has

been moved to Ruatoki, the Rev. W. Moana to Porangahau and the Rev. W. Rangi to Tokomaru Bay. The Rev. C. Hyde has been asked to return to his old curacy m London, and will probably be leaving for England about the end of June. The Rev. J. J. Anderson will take up the work at Puketapu, and the Rev. A. R. H. Morris will return from England to take Mr. Anderson's place at Waipiro Bay. Miss Newman and Nurse Bartrum are now m charge of the Mission House at Ruatoki; Miss Beswick is at Tokomaru Bay, where she has the help of Miss L. Gray; and Miss Taylor has joined Miss Price at Manutuke. Miss Biddle has arrived from England as a voluntary wojrker among the Maoris. She will be stationed at Te Araroa, where she hopes shortly to be joined hy Miss Hopley and her sister, who have also volunteered for work, and will be arriving about the end of November. Deaconess Esther and Deaconess Isabel have returned from their trip to England and are nominally m retirement, but actually are very busy m Hastings and Napier respectively. Deaconess Mabel Henn has been working at the Hospital and m St. Augustine's parish. Canon Nield has had to undergo a severe operation, and is still m hospital, and making, satisfactory progress. The Rev. P. Hakiwai, who is seriously ill, is lying m a critical condition. May God m his loving mercy grant them both relief. Church Buildings. — On March 17th I consecrated the new chancel of the Church of St. John the Baptist at Dannevirke; and on June 30 the Bishop of Aotearoa consecrated the Church of St. Paul at Ngapuna, Rotorua. Church Army. — Since the last Synod we have had the visit of the Church Army Flying Column to the Diocese. Captain Banyard arranged that practically the whole of the Diocese should be covered. Success varied widely m different parishes and districts. Where the results were disappointing I do not think the Church Army is to be blamed. The members of the Column worked hard; but I felt all the time that it was hardly fair to ask them lo cover the whole of New Zealand after a prolonged campaign

m Australia. We are most grateful for what they have done. The proposal for a Provincial Centre m New Zealand was not found practicable, but a training institution is to be opened m Auckland, where we shall be able to train workers who are already familiar with New Zealand conditions. We wish tEe venture all success. The Standing Committee has decided to purchase a caravan, which will be operated by a Church Army Officer and should do valuable work m the outlying parts of the Diocese. The Cathedral. — The question of rebuilding the Cathedral has' hot been lost sight of during the year, and will be brought before you by resolution during the present Session. The suggestion has been made that it might be well if the Dean could be spared to pay a visit to England during the coming year m order to arouse interest m the scheme, antl to endeavour to raise the nucleus for a substantial rebuilding fujid. Inquiries from friends m England have, on the whole, brought encouraging replies, and you will be asked to give your sanction to the scheme. Of course, the outbreak of war may mean postponing the venture indefinitely. Amendment of the Constitution. — In my address to you last year I mentioned that the General Synod had passed a Statute the effect of which would be to make material alterations m the method of nominating the Bishop of the Diocese. My own feeling is that Synod allowed the measure to be pushed through without adequate consideration. The wording of many of the clauses is clumsy and undignified; and there was not thorough discussion of how the proposed machinery of the Statute would work m practice. There was no need for this haste, as the provisions of the Statute cannot come into operation until amendments, have been effected m Clause 23 of the Constitution. A proposal to amend the constitution must be brought forward m one General Synod, made known to the several Diocesan Synods and agreed to at the following General Synod. As I have said, I mentioned the proposal to you last year; but Title C, Canon 1., Clause 2, directs that the Bishop should expressly invite the attention of his Synod to the matter. I failed

to do this, and now repair the omission. And m doing so I would call your attention to Clause 3 of the same Canon, which provides that you may by resolution or otherwise, as you think fit, declare your opinion thereon and embody the same m the form of a memorial to the General Synod. As the proposed amendment to the Constitution was framed to meet the provisions of the new Statute for the nomination of a Bishop you can hardly deal adequately with the amendment without reviewing the Statute; and m doing this you will have to inquire whether by the method proposed m the new Statute any objectionable features m the present method are removed, and whether there may not be inherent m the new proposals features which are open to criticism. I trust that a Select Committee will be set up without delay to deal with the matter. The Aotearoa Church Board. — Notice of a motion to deal with this subject has been given to the Synod. Under the Canon dealing with the matter which was passed by the last General Synod the Standing Committee of General Synod was empowered to take the necessary steps to bring the Board into existence if it was satisfied with the financial position, and if not less than two of the North Island Dioceses had, through their Standing Committee, agreed to the constitution of the Board. The Standing Committee of the General Synod, during which exception was taken to the Board on financial and other grounds. I cannot heTe deal at length with these matters, but before the question is discussed m this Synod I wish to make one or two points clear to the members. I still think, as I indicated last year, that the constitution of the Board is very cumberous| Some of the powers conferred upon the Board m dealing with Pastors and Pastorates impinge upon the prerogatives of the Diocesan Bishop. It is true the Bishop will be a member of the Board, but he might find himself outvoted m a matter m which he was best qualified to jUdge. The same remark applies to the control of the Mission Houses. But the main difficulty raised by the Canon rests m the office of the Bishop of Aotearoa. Clause 17 makes the first duty of the Board "to assist

the Bishop of Aotearoa with counsel," and the first of the powers conferred upon it by Clause 18 is "to make regulations m regard to the payment of the stipend and travelling allowances of the Bishop of Aotearoa, and for the provision of a suitable residence." Both of these provisions imply the continuance of the office of the Bishop of Aotearoa. Title A, Canon IV., under which the Bishop is appointed provides that no nomination shall be made "until provision shall have been made to the satisfaction of a majority of the Bishops m the North Island for a stipend of not less than £500 per annum, a suitable residence and reasonable travelling allowances." After the Canon was passed the stipend and travelling allowance were guaranteed for five years by interests m this Diocese, and a house was promised, and money spent upon il by the trustees of the fund. It was hoped that before the expiry of the five years a permanent arrangement for stipend and travelling , would have been effected covering a wider area. Little, howevex*, has been done m this direction, and a portion only of the guarantee has been renewed for a further three years; and the house which was promised has been conveyed to the present Bishop personally. That means that if the present Bishop should have to give up work there would be no official residence, and only very inadequate financial arrangements, m which case the Bishops of the North Island would be most unlikely to sanction another appointment. It seems to me, therefore, to be necessary that steps to secure a succession to the office of Bishop of Aotearoa should be taken before we set up a board which might be left hanging m the air through failure m this respect. This will give time to simplify the composition of the Board, and to review the duties and powers assigned to it. Arrangements for the Session. — I have made a slight modification m the arrangements during the Session. It has for some years been customary for the Bishop to meet the Clergy m conference oh the Friday morning and the Laity on Monday morning. Now, while these conferences are often very useful, they are not part of the Session of the Synod; and it has become increasingly eviuent to me that they

are proving a hindrance to the proper prosecution of the work of the Synod. There are certain regular Sessional Committees, and always a number of Special Committees are asked for. Again and again it has been evident from the reports of these committees that the subjects referred to them have not received the consideration which was necessary. I have therefore decided to leave the morning of Friday free for committee work, and I will be pleased to meet the Clergy m conference on Monday, and I can further meet the Laity on Tuesday morning if there are any matters they would wish to discuss with me. World Affairs.— Affairs m the world at large still give cause for grave apprehension. The financial depression has lifted but little, and very slight improvement has been achieved m the unemployment situation. And now it appears possible that the world may be plunged m war. Italy, a member of the. League of Nations, has made exorbitant demands upon Ethiopia, a weaker nation, and also a member of the League; and has from the first announced her determination to achieve these demands, if not through the decision of the League, then by force of arms. On the plea of upholding civilisation, and maintaining peace she has pressed on her warlike preparations, and massed her troops on the Ethiopian frontier, and has insolently defied the League to interfere. After months of patient negotiation by the members of the League she has opened hostilities m the face of the universal disapproval of the nations of the world. And who can tell where the trouble will end? In times such as this one hears harsh criticism of the* Church, criticism from widely differing quarters. On the one hand, there are those — often but little interested m the Church — who ask scornfully, "What is the Church doing" "Why does she not boldly demand the reduction of armaments?" . "What has she done to relieve the trouble of unemployment?" and so on. On the other hand, when efforts are being made resentment is shown, the Clergy are told not to meddle m affairs which are not their business, and to keep their hands off politics. The critics of the Church have generally very vague ideas of what constitutes the Church. It cannot be too strongly emphasised.

that the padres of this denomination or that are not the Church. Any defect which may be charged against the Church must be placed to the account of the laity as well as the Clergy. It is not the function of the €hurch by direct corporate action to bring about the reduction of armaments, for instance. At best this is but dealing with a symptom of a deepseated disease — the war spirit, which may find channels of hostile activity which do not involve the use of arms. Finance and Unemployment.— Similarly, m the field of finance m which our troubles of depression and unemployment lie. We may feel deeply that drastic reforms are due m the rules under which the grim game of finance is played; but it is not the Church's function to draft these changes. A consistent Christian may be conscientiously convinced that at present the maintenance of armaments is necessary; and no one is authorised to speak m such a way as may seem to equate sound Christianity with the acceptance of some attractive theory for removing all our financial woes by a change m the ■source of credit. Such schemes, again touch only the externals of the disease. And yet all these things are ■emphatically the concern of the Church; it is her duty to probe the source of the trouble, and to seek a remedy; and we must, with shame, admit that the Church's failure is m large measure at the root of all the trouble. The first demand made by Our Lord upon a would-be disciple is that he shall deny himself. This :self-denial claims no rights for the Christian, but ever recognises his responsibility to Sis brother man — such is the teaching of the Sermon on the Mount and of the whole New Testament. But this primary Christian virtue has long been dormant, and now largely fails to affect our national, our civic, and even our personal lives. Acquisitiveness, rather than selfdenial, is obviously the motive of much of our conduct. Material wealth has become the dominant measure of value, and hence springs every form of unhealthy rivalry. Friendly emulation may fee a valuable spur to industry, but under modern conditions ljusiness competition has transformed much of our industry into a soul-less and soul-destroying machine. As far

as we can judge, greed and national pride are the sole causes of the present war. The relentless pursuit of wealth — of money — is the main factor m the impasse which we have reached m the financial field the affirmation of the Christian principle of selfdenial will operate m all fields — and this is the Church's paramount duty. It is an interesting reflection that no word of Our Saviour or of His Apostles is recorded m condemnation of slavery; but ultimately adherence to Christian principles made slavery repugnant to the Christian conscience, and it was abandoned. It is not too much to hope that similarly if we return to our allegiance the time may come, and may not be far distant, when the Christian conscience will refuse longer to tolerate the crime of war, and will repudiate the unequal distribution of the fruits of the earth, and of the results of labour. It is for this consummation that we must work and pray; we must practice and propagate the denial of self. I am not without hope for the future; but it is folly to shut our eyes to the fact that if these ends are not obtained by Christian means attempts will not longbe delayed to achieve them apart from Christ. It is the Church's opportunity — may she not betray Her Lord. I pray that God will direct our deliberations now and at all times to the furtherance of His work and the Glory of His Holy Name.