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Hokitika Guardian, 8 October 1925, Page 2

PRESENT DAY SLUM,OX'S. A BISHOP'S VIEWS. (Received this clay tit. 9.30 a.in.) I.OXDOX. Oct. 7. The Archbishop of Canterbury, in a monientou- utterance at the Church Congress at Eastbourne, which was in the nature of a warning that the present day sermon was out of date, said the churches were emptv while the golf courses were crowded and the countryside filled with picnickers. Complaints regarding the inadequacy of the sermons of to-dav were rife. The fact that they were inadequate was without di-pnte. Every clerical meeting harp- up m spar-er congregation-. There v ere many reason.-’ therefore. Bicvele-. motor- and charabancs contribute. al-.o goli and the Sunday newspaper- The prime eau.-e was the fact that the average -ermon did not keep pace with the education advance <

men and women's wider interest in all sports, human knowledge and world affairs. The Bishop called peremptorily for something lietter. Tt was intolerable the clergy should leave the responsibility to newspapers and novelists to give guidance and suggest study. He thought the average thought and average preaching nowadays were less painstaking. Once, a preacher, because of bis higher education. stood on a higher level than his hearers. That was no longer the ease and preachers use merely thin words in presenting the gospel. The message was often resented hv the educated listener. They were faced with the paramount necessity (which rested alike on English homes, schools and colleges') of seeing the Ministry rightly manned.