CANON W. S. BEAN

Hokitika Guardian, 5 July 1932, Page 6

CANON W. S. BEAN

EULOGISED BY BISHOP CHRISTCHURCH, July 4. The culminateion of forty years ser--1 vice as vicar of St. Mary’s Addington, was commemorated last evening when Canon W. S. Bean was honoured at the evening service at the church. His I Lordship .Bishop, AVest-AVa tspn, preachj ing the ,sermon, -eulogised Canon Bean ( for his untiring and. effective work in the parish. Canon Bean had been the vicar of the parish when, at the end of the nineteenth century, it experienced one of the hardest "periods in its history, and lie had guided H ie destinies of St. Mary’s in all its difficulties up te the present time.

It was a record of wonderful service, said the Bishop, and one which would be looked back to in the future as one of tho greatest periods in the history of the parish. Canon Bean had been a great minister in that he had the gift of finding the God which was in every (man, and had shown- his love of God by his love of man. It was common to- both clergy and laity -to have a religion which concerned God and themselves and had flo thought for their neighbour. “He that lovoth not his brother that lie has seen, how can he love God that he has not seen”—lie gave them that text as the supreme test of" man’s religion. It was difficult sometimes, to see. beyond the faults of our neighbours. One had to look with the eyes of the sculptor who said' “In that stone is a statue and I’ve got to get it out.” Canon Bean looked at things in that way. He had a belief .in people and could bring out the best 111 them.