ANGLICAN AND OTHER CATHEDRALS

Dominion, Volume 12, Issue 79, 28 December 1918, Page 8

ANGLICAN AND OTHER CATHEDRALS

Sir-Now that we can regard the war as over, and that the Christians of the Dominion appear to entertain the vaea that the State has made •generous provision for nil uho responded to the country's call, or who have euftered, directlj or indirectly, from the death of, or injuries to, tlieir relatives on the bat efield what more natural than that the members and adherents of our great churches should'appeal to "themselves for funds to commemorate the glorious ervces of their fallen? The question of an Anglican Cathedral » purely a question for Anglicans. If any attempt were made to represent the building of such a cathedral as a 'national ailair, the people of tho ,Dounmon might, well and naturally, resent it. Why should not the other churches (Presbjto, Methodist, Catholic, etc.) also appeal to their own members for funds to commemorate (by the building of eome ecclesiastical or institutional edifice) the noble services of their fallen members m adherents? Wealth abounds, in this Dominion, and has accumulated eno - mously during the war under the .deft and dexterous manipulation in the mat- , te of war-finance and the incidence of taxation) of out "wizard of finance ! TheVe must, therefore, be largo numbers even of the friends and patrons of out Christian churches who would regard it as a first call on their consciences to contribute liberally (.by way of .reparation to High Heaven) from the accumulated proceeds of unearned increment and economic, exploitation, to great and grand ecclesiastical pro ecte such as the bin dinfof cathedrals churches and chapes! Some of the grandest ecclesiastical edifices in the -world are sin-offerings-i.0., "offerings" to compound for sm AH the churches deserve well of the Dominion! If some of the clergy and teachers in ecclesiastically-controlled Xls were forbidden to volunteer for military service proper, yel.it ■remembered that they nmainejrboh,id to pray! One of our most New Zealand ecclesiastics recently nffinned'that the war.was won by prayer as and erect worthy ecclesiastical ™™>™>'» to their gallant fallen. Wo shall ha« tilousands of the manned and halt back among us directly; it is for our P™ Governments to make provision for them. If not, that is their off air. Jhe Churches havo other work .to do. Them itw to commemorate their fallen members. Let the "dead" (i.e., the State) bury its dead. It is the .duty of the Church ("the livin«") to commemorate its dead by providing spiritual luxuries (cathedrals, clurches, or chapels) far tlio living. On tno tatlehelde of the past four year, Jew and Gentile, Catholic and Proliant \nglican, Presbyterian, Motho list, etc Ho side by side in death or share a cmnmon grave. In death, tjiey are not divided. But. surely their 'memory deserves a better .fate! A national and collective memorial is not good enough. I'Let the Churches see to it that their memory is kept scctariaiily and sehisnwHcally evergreen. Now (when the Gcaeminent and the people of the Dominion have made such generous provision ior all who have had to suffer and sorrow because of the war and the recent epidemic) is the psychologies moment for the Churches to wise funds to commemorate their dead and to provide spiritual luxuries for themselves. The poor we have (and shall have) always with us; but unless we work hard, pray unceasingly, and give of our. means liberally the' Churches may soon vanish like His baseless fabric of a dream. Perhaps, however, it is not too late to suggest that the Churches of New Zealand (forthe sacrifices they have mado and the services rendered during. the past four years) claim through Mr. Mossey and Sir Joseph Ward a special indemnity from the Germans, mi that the Churches may be able fittingly to commemorate their fallen. Why not communicate with the Premier and Sir Joseph by wireless or cable, m.-iking the suggestion.', n I they succeeded in getting a "reparative i dole from the Germans for this purpose it would be a richly-deserved humiliation for the godlos* priests, parsons, and professors of Germany who tried so Hara to outprav us for victory—l am, etc., JONATHAN SWIFT (Junior).