THE MARSDEN CENTENARY.

Stratford Evening Post, Volume XXXIX, Issue 33, 30 May 1914, Page 4

THE MARSDEN CENTENARY.

Christmas Day will be the hundredth anniversary of the first Sunday on which Christian service was held in New Zealand, and it is proposed to mark the event by a special series ol commemorative services and gatherings. The centenary celebrations will commence on Friday, December 11th, when there will be a- public meeting in the Auckland Town Hall. On Christmas Day there will be a celebration oi the Holy Communion at, or near, the Marsden Cross, when the Bishop of Auckland, the Maori clergy of the Diocese, and 'as many of the other clergy as can be spared from their parishes will be present. A feature of the celebrations will be the Church Congress to ho held in Auckland on February Bth, 9th and 10th, invitations to which have been sent to the leaders of the Anglican communion throughout the world, and especially to those in Australia. After the Congress. on the evening of Wednesday, February 10th, a steamer will leave Auckland to take any members of the Congress, or others desirous of going, to Russell and other places of interest in connection with the landing of Marsden and the establishment or Christianity in New Zealand. In order to bring the celebrations within the reach of every member of the Anglican Church in Now Zealand, special services will be held on Christmas Day throughout the Dominion. In addition it has been resolved to appeal for a special thanksgiving fund of £20,000 for educational purposes, and a further sum of not less than £30,000 for augmenting the stipends of the clerg\. It is hoped that the celebrations will bo of a national character, since occupancy of New Zealand is in a measure due to the work of Marsden and other early missionaries. Marsden has a peculiar claim on the gratitude of those outside the Anglican communion. seeing that, though he was a devoted son of the Church of England, ho was, nevertheless, always ready to give liberal belt) to the work, of other religious bodies. He advanced £750 towards building a Presby-

terian Church in Sydney, and he presented the Wesleyans with a valuable piece of land on which to erect a Church at Windsor.