“STEP DOWN FROM YOUR PEDESTAL”

Sun (Auckland), Volume I, Issue 185, 26 October 1927, Page 16

“STEP DOWN FROM YOUR PEDESTAL”

MAORI PLEA TO SYNOD DIOCESE OF AOTEA-ROA A N eloquent plea for the federation of the fragments of the Maori Mission into the Diocese of Aotea-roa was made to the Auckland Synod by the Rev. W. N. Panapa yesterday. He pointed out that the canon creating the diocese had been passed by General Synod, and he urged the members of the Auckland Synod “to step down from your pedestals" and “try to see things from the viewpoint of the Maoris." “The idea of a Maori diocese, or some such form * .of . self-governing church organisation, is not new," said Mr. Panapa. “As far back as 1880 there was a memorial from the Maori Church Board asking for a Maori suffragan to work among the natives. It is interesting to know that t.he idea has been in the minds of the Maoris for 47 years, and as far as we are concerned we look upon the creation of a special diocese as the natural culmination of the development of the Maori Mission." “As long as you look upon the Maori Mission as a side-line in all the activities of the Church of the province, so long will it remain in a backwash, where it is to-day. There has always been a desire on the part of the Maoris, or of the tribes, throughout the Dominion, for some form of kotahitanga or federation.” Archbishop Averill said that at a special conference last week the Maori clergy had passed a resolution in which they agreed to the first bishop of the diocese being a Maori-speaking Pakeha. It was suggested that the diocese should support the aims of the Maoris, and show General Synod that it favoured the fulfilment of the promise contained in the canon.

Synod decided to support the wish of the Maoris.