RATANA CULT.

Press, Volume LXIII, Issue 18889, 3 January 1927, Page 8

RATANA CULT.

POSITION IN WAIAPU | DIOCESE. v s'| -• ! , A CRISIS COMING 7 ' ■ss • The Bishop of Waiapu in his address ; | to his Synod madd some important jy references to the JRatana cult as ob- jserved in his diocese. 11l two settle- vg menls in the Tauranga districts th» Church people had gone over to Ratana wholly, but these two were exceptional ;■ oases, states the ''Church News.'' V: All along the East Coast among the Xgatiporou and in the part of Bav ot Plenty ministered to by Canon Pahewa, the" Church are tintouched by Ratana's inttimiyx>, and there is little evidence otirlgs influence ~ 'p> in the Rotorua district. -^ In other places where the Ratana movement, has affected the Maori, there is a strong body of Church people standing firm, and there is marked evidence that disaffection of some has been the means of stiffening up and drawing together our Church people. Efforts have been made by Ratanists • , to obtain the use of- our churches for f their worship, but the Bishop has re- ; aisled this on the sound ground that. ;; they had been built for worship ae- ; cording to Anglican rites only. This has had the desired effect, and tho ;; Auckland Court case has checked the organised attempt to seize and use the churches. None of the Maori clergy of the Diocese lias joined tlie movement, but. a. fair number of th» licensed lay readers have done bo — mostly elderly men. "Many followers of lint ana have poured their money into his so-called 'Bank,' There are many sad cases where they have parted with every available penny. The boast that while the Anglican Church is always asking for money from its members, Ratana and his followers ask for nothing, is both absurd and untrue." Ratana holds thousands of pounds of the people's money. "Many Maoris, some personally known to me.' 1 said the Bishop, "realising the fallacy of their action, are asking for their -j moiiey back, but this is, of course, refused, The money is being spent, most of it is already spent.' 1 The Bishop /{ declares that the movement is weaken- < ing and Ratana's actions are pre- n judicing his mana. "There is no religion left in the movement," said a thoughtful, educated Maori to the 1 Bishop. "There is the form of ser- J vice, but tho talk is of lands and money ! i and what they can get." - J Still Hopeful. . & On the other hand, the Rataniste, while admitting that ft crisis is pre- j||| paring in the movement-, are confident • .jgp that they will emerge from it stronger .agp than ever. A Christchurch newspaper w correspondent at Wanganui indicat«s ' that they admit that the power which jk established Ratana's prestige among ,\h the Maoris, liis ■ "faith-healing," is <Je- j» parting from him, but they point.out f.iS that Ratana anticipated tins. The question is whether his mana will with- ~ stand tho shock of failure. A general, ' % assembly of the movemoiit was gatheiing as wo went to press, and the daily papers no doubt will be giving reports , thereof. The newspaper \ reported that whereas "at one time i ■■ nearly every denomination claimed to have something in common . with Ratana's teachings, now that the movement has reached to such large dimensions, they can say nothing too bad of i it." It is rather an amusing way of putting it. The truth is that Baton* , borrowed something from several ing "denominations" to form y"* "creed," but has departed if rule common to Christaih churches, > % namely, that nothing shall be' aqded | to tScriptural teaching. Ratana, for { instance, has added inexplicably, the ! angels to the baptismal formula of our * Lord. And surely the fact that the p "denominations" can say nothing too 1 bad of the movement is ominous/ , I Meanwhile, the great apostasy. of ? : ..Ratana is raising for itself a great 5 I concrete shrine, in liis village up the \ Wanganui, to hold 1000 people. il