CHURCH AND FINANCE.

Hauraki Plains Gazette, Volume XXXX, Issue 5496, 4 November 1929, Page 2

CHURCH AND FINANCE.

BISHOP CHERRINGTON’S VIEWS. “ABOLITION OF COLLECTIONS.” In an interview granted a representative of the Hauraki Plains Gazette on Thursday last the Lord Bishop of the Waikato Diocese, the Rt. Rev. C. A. Cherrington, made interesting re-, ferences to th> subject of Church and Finance. His Lordship was of the opinion that there should be no connection between a full congregation and £ s. d. He considered that with the duplex system of envelopes introduced into churches there should be no need for plate collections, other than for purposes entirely apart from church funds —for instance, unemployment, earthquake relief, etc. Collecting for funds in church was not in keeping with the atmosphere or spirit of the place. Under the duplex system every parishioner would be supplied with tso envelopes. In one could be stated on a slip what the parishioner was prepared to contribute to church funds, and in the other the amount for foreign missions and other external funds. By this means those who attended church regularly need not be embarrrassed by plate collections in church, and those who were unable to atend regularly could make their contributions with equal facility. The system was in vogue in many churches to-day, and everywhere where adopted it had proved an unqualified success, funds being in each instance considerably augmented. His Lordship announced that Captain Watson, the originator of the duplex system, would expound and explain his idea at St. Paul’s, Paeroa, on November 17. Bishop Cherrington said he was not in favour of church bazaars, either, as a means of raising church funds. Voluntary contributions of a set sum for a period were infinitely better than those cajoled. The Anglican Church in N.Z. Speaking of the work of the Church of England in New Zealand, the Bishop said it was greatly hampered by both lack of funds and the size of the parishes. A' priest, instead of being able to devote all his time and energies to the people of the home circuit, had to cover a great deal of territory, and in so doing adjust himself to the aspirations, ideas, and social conditions of each small district, which in the course of a day’s journey could be found to be quite divergent. Of the work being carried out by the vicar of Paeroa, the Rev. W. G. H. Weadon, the Bishop spoke most iyNew Zealand Newspapers. On the subject of newspapers in New Zealand, Bishop Cherrington remarked his surprise at the number of splendid country newspapers in the Dominion. They were of a much higher standard, and greater in number, than those at Home.