MOVIES IN CHURCH.

Hauraki Plains Gazette, Volume XXXIV, Issue 4581, 2 July 1923, Page 3

MOVIES IN CHURCH.

INCREASING attendances. At the invitation of members of the Institute of Advertising Men, the Rev. R. G. Nichols, of St. Mark’s, Fitzroy, Melbourne,, who came under public notice some months ago by introducing moving pictures into service at St. Mark's gave an interesting outline of the methods adopted by him to revitalise the parish. The church, he said, was originally one of the finest in Melbourne, but it had, been allowed to go to ruin, and he ■was .now trying to raise £lOOO to put it in order. Mr Nichols toldhow his moving pictures and other enterprises had increased the attendance at tlie church, and spoke of the various activities he hoped to launch to attract young people to church. One of these was “ courting night/’ in a room attached to the church, to give young people a chance of meeting each other in respectable surroundings. “The clergy are against me, but they can go to the devil, all of them,” said Mr Nichols t amid loud laughter. He had had inquiries from various churches as to his methods, and it was going to be his lot Lb convert many of the “ high-brow ” pa-sons to the value of the moving picture.