“MANLY AND COURTEOUS”

Sun (Auckland), Volume I, Issue 295, 5 March 1928, Page 11

“MANLY AND COURTEOUS”

BISHOP AND VICAR ROMAN CATHOLIC UNITY Though St. Peter, after being invested with supreme power failed and even denied being a follower of Christ, he was retained and confirmed in his unique position. Bishop Liston, Co-adjutor Roman Catholic Bishop of Auckland, made this statement at St. Benedict’s Church yesterday when replying to the objection that there had been days in his church when wickedness was abroad and anti-popes struggled for recognition to the bewilderment of many The Bishop declared that he wished to make brief comment on the “manly and courteous statement” published last week by the vicar of St. Sepulchre’s (the Rev. G. Gordon Bell). “It. is best,” Dr.. Liston said, “for all of us to face realities frankly and to state convictions plainly. That is the first step to the removal o£ misunderstandings and difficulties. It is well for all of us to say what is m our minds with all courtesy, for the religion of Christ cannot be built up on the ruins of charity.” Bishop Liston gave an outline of a letter on religious unity recently issued by Pope Pius XI. The statement was summarised thus: “God has given a revelation to mankind and Christ has founded a Church to guard and interpret it. That church is the Catholic Church, which possesses Christian truth in fulness and purity. The successor of Peter, is by Divine appointment, its visible head. The path to unity as Christ wished it is therefore the path to Rome and the only way, not of compromise on doctrine, but of submission to Christ the supreme teacher and His representative on earth. While others are seeking unity the Catholic Church possesses it—-unity of faith, of worship and of government.”