CHURCH AND LABOUR.

Dominion, Volume 4, Issue 972, 12 November 1910, Page 9

CHURCH AND LABOUR.

"A VERY PARLOUS' CONDITIONS J Dr. Mercer, Bishop of Tasmania, vigorously appealed to Churchmen at; the Anglican Synod held at Sydney recently, to prove that- they were genuinely in' sympathy with the working community; even if politically removed. He warmly indicted the Church with being conserva-' tive. •

The Bishop of Perth pointed, out thai the workers in Australia were not to be found in the Church in large num r bers. They did not want patronage, they, wanted sympathy and help. Canon Boyce claimed that old-age peiw sions in Australia had been originated by, a ' Church of England clergyman. Invalids' pensions had also - originated in. tho Church of England, so had the liquor question, and a committee appointed by the Church of England had waited 'oii ; the Lord Mayor of Sydney in connection with the slums of Sydney, and now at'an; expense of ,£IOO,OOO the slum areas • were to be remodelled, laid out afresh, and the conditions of housing of the poor raised to a higher level. The Bishop of Tasmania asked was it a fact that Australia was. divided, roughly, into two sections? He would not name the sections politically—he would avoid politics, and speak of the ,social condition of the people from the point of. view of a Churchman. Was' it a fact that with one of those parties the Church' had no connection? (Cries of "No! 1 ') '

Dr. Mercer continued that the Church' had no connection worth speaking of' vrith' half the people of Australia; yet Churchmen talked about the Church of England being a national-Church, and all the rest of the fine phrases. But until the Church got hold of : 'tho nation's men it would not be a national Church. The Church was downright "conservative, as a whole. He had received an abusive letter telling him a subscription would be withdrawn from a v poor, starving country rector. because he,'the Bishop r of Tasmania, was a Socialist.' "I am a Christian Socialist," asserted Dr. Mercer warmly, "but I have committed myself to no political party." He believed tlie Church in Australia was in a very parlous condition. "We are allowing these fellows to. feel that the Church does not make it possible for churchmen to take any keen, living interest in their national asnirations. When I go among them, do you think I barrack for Socialism? I never touch it.. I speak of brotherhood, and a higher plane of living. I have nothing to do with any political platform at all; but I. do keenly feel that we at present are losing opportunities of making the Anglican Church the really national Church. They should rise above the turmoil and dust of political battle, and so feel. that they had tlie one Father, one Saviour, and one Holy Spirit to point them to God. ' A resolution favouring the closer identification of the Anglican Church with the "highest social ideals and national aspirations of the young Australian Commonwealth" .was adopted.