African Priests as Army Chaplains.

Waiapu Church Gazette, Volume 35, Issue 7, 1 September 1944, Page 4

African Priests as Army Chaplains.

Three African priests have been commissioned as Army chaplains m the diocese of the Niger. They have taken their place m the European officers' messes and received a welcome from all ranks. These are notable events for the African people, m which the whole Christian Church may also rejoice. The African ministry was trained by missionaries of practical foresight. Their selection might have been thought over-strict; their probation was at first stern and their training long. As a result there is no finer body of men than these devoted African priests. Many men of the Forces stationed m Africa have gone for their Communion to native mission churches, where at the altar black' arid white kneel together as the children of bile Father. Now these three representative? of the Negro people, ordained within the Anglican Communion, the King's subjects, bearing .His Majesty's commission, are to minister, it may be, many thousands of miles away from their homes, and to celebrate the most comfortable sacrament at base altars and for men going into battle. The prayers of the Church go with them.— Church Times.