ANGLICAN CHURCH

Hokitika Guardian, 21 April 1926, Page 3

ANGLICAN CHURCH

AUSTRALLAN CONSTITUTION, SYDNEY, April 7. Interest in tho General Convention of tho Anglican Church of Australia in Sydney towards the end of the year —it will bo epoch-making, for it will practically mould the constitution of the Church of England in Australia into the form which it will preserve probably for many years—is indicated by the controversy which has been aroused in tho open columns of the Press by the draft Bill of the new constitution for the church, which has been circulated among the diocesan Synods. The " eotntrovensy 'indicates clearly that church people are carefully studying the Bill, and not without justification apparently, for the constitution of tho Anglican Church throughout the Commonwealth will, in effect, he thrown into tho melting pot, and it is not of course quite certain precisely what will come out of it, for church legislation, like that affecting

the State*, lias not always the results which were hoped for when it finds its place on the Statute Book.

The Bill, judging from clauses of it which have been published, is a long and complex document and introduces into tlie constitution of tlie church changes which will inevitably arouse still keener controversy and probably no little opposition when the assembly meets. Incidentally it affects not only members of the Anglican Church, but members of other Christian bodies ,for, according to one prominent churchman who has made a statesmanlike analysis of the Bill, many aspects of the movement towards reunion aro bound to be modified seriously by some of the proposed amendments, d they are carried into law. The tinivotition will be. one of the biggest tests of church statesmanship in the history of Australia. The Bill in one of its vital clauses provides against any “cutting of the painter.” Ihe Church of England in Austialia.. it sets out, will not hv its own act or will, sever communion, with the Church of England in England, ‘‘nor with other national regional or provincial churches maintaining communion with that Church."