Bishop Julius on Divorced Persons.

Manawatu Herald, 20 October 1898, Page 2

Bishop Julius on Divorced Persons.

At the meeting of the Christchurch Anglican Synod which opened on Wednesday, Bishop Julius, in the course of his annual address, referred to the necessity for training assistant clergy in town parishes. He condemned the regulation making curates a tax upon the clergy. He spoke of the lack of men ready to offer themselves for the ministry, and said an Association of lay readers was being formed in the Diocese. He referred at length to the efforts for the completion, of the Cathedral. He dealt with the re-marriage of divorced persons, and laid it down that by the law of the Church such was illegal. He wished it to be understood that no priest in the diocese was at liberty to celebrate the marriage of divorced persons whether innocent ar not, to pronounce the blessing of the Church on such a marriage or to use any form of the service bereft of all its meaning. If necessary, such persons could marry civilly. The question of admission to the Holy Communion of innocent persons so married, must always be referred to the Bishop. The ritual controversy at Home was a mere question of forms and ceremonies. For years past the spirit of lawlessness prevailed in the Church at Home, but it was rather a good thing only sweeping away artificialities. There was no extreme ritual anywhere in the New Zealand churches, which were comely and the services reverent and decent. A tendency on the part of some to assimilate with the Church of Rome was not a tendency of the whole Church at Home, and a most hopeful sign was the willingness evinced by the leaders to submit themselves to authority.