A MINISTRY OF WOMEN.

Press, Volume LXVII, Issue 20169, 23 February 1931, Page 16

A MINISTRY OF WOMEN.

1 TO THE ZDITOB 07 THE PEESS. ( gi r> —In the correspondence column of Thb Pbjsss on Monday last I drew the attention of your readers to a term used at the recent Synod by the Very Rev. Dean Julius. In his, remarks anent the new Deaconesses' Training College, which is being established in Christchurch, he is reported to have said that a College which will thoroughly test a woman's vocation "will deliver us from .what have been called 'sob-sisters'." I ashed the Dean to tell us what he nteant by "sob-sisters," but to date he has not made the explanation asked for. This, 1 think, is to be regretted, because some of us have a rather clear recollection of what, during the war, was meant by "sob-sisters"; and to think that Dean Julius would apply this term to any woman engaged- in Christian work is a thing we do not like to think of, and the matter takes a more serious aspect when the Dean ignores a simple yet courteous request to make his meaning clear. - "Sob-sister," Sir, was a term applied ,by our soldiers during the war to a type of actress who appeared on the stage of third-rate theatres and low music-halls, singing very sentimental and somewhat questionable songs, of which "I'm Sorry I Made You Cry' w an instance. At least, Sir, if the Dean did not mean by "sob-sister'' the type mentioned above, be should explain what he did mean. What could he mean by using this term in connexion with the ministry of women in the Church? As I suggested in my first letter, does Dean Julius disapprove of the noble women who, with their loving ,and tender hearts, enter into the sorrows of the people to whom-they-minister,, and,, as the Scripture puts it, "Weep with those who weep"P , *■ ~ N There are many women' working in and out. of the Church for the benefit of mankind, and working most sue, cessfully too, and we would .like,-to-know if the Dean would designatethem as "sob-sisters."—Yours, etc.,-. .V.:/-; t - ~ CLARITY^;,. February 21st,, 1931. i* -, ■^w.-'W'',!-/,'