STRIVING FOR PEACE

Sun (Auckland), Volume III, Issue 772, 19 September 1929, Page 7

STRIVING FOR PEACE

DIFFICULTIES IN WAIKATO DIOCESE ARE CLOUDS ROLLING BY? From Our Own Correspondent HAMILTON, Wednesday. Inquiries whether the bitter | | wrangles and factional differences which have disturbed the Waikato i Diocese for so long are at an end are becoming general throughout the Dominion. i Although it is true that most churchmen who have been prominently connected with the various disputes are striving hard to settle differences amicably and in a spirit of compromise, there is still a strong undercurrent of ill-feeling running through church circles iu Hamilton, ibis will undoubtedly persist while the lawsuit between the Bishop and Lean Barnett • remains unsettled. Immense and w-idespread alarm was created in the Church when a legal battle on the interpretation of the canon law of the Church of England seemed imminent. Now the prolongation of the interim injunction granted the Dean, preventing the Bishop from setting in motion any machinery likely to render unstable Lean’s security of tenure as head of the Cathedral Chapter and district, has been accepted as a matter of course. SYMPATHY WITH BISHOP Before the present Supreme Court S k SSl °? a large me eting of Anglican churchmen and sympathisers pledged themselves to support the Bishop in his defence of the action. All were hopeful a month or so ago that the whole business would be settled, whether in or out of court. The failure of all negotiations so far between the parties and the news that the action will not be heard this session have both keenly disappointed many Anglicans, in Hamilton at all events. It has been remarked that the interim injunction secured by the Dean appears to be having the effect of a permanent injunction. For months now the cathedral district has been Inadequately supplied with clergy, and for some weeks the adjacent parish of Frankton has been ministered by the Bishop. It is recognised that substantial progress, not only in Hamilton but iu the whole diocese, is impossible while the Bishop and the Dean are at loggerheads. OUTSIDE OPPOSITION Judging by their utterances at the last synod, over half the members of the Standing Committee are opposed to the Bishop on certain questions. It is known that since the synod session the views of these members have not changed materially. In fact the position appears to be that whereas a year or more ago the most virulent opposition to the Bishop came from Hamilton, now it would seem to emanate from elsewhere in the diocese. There are still two distinct parties, who, though not widely divergent in their opinions of doctrinal and ritualistic matters can be divided by a sharp line when it comes to the question of supporting the Bishop or the Dean. A feature of the present situation is that both parties shun publicity. A year ago public meetings were held openly; straight talking was the order; and pressmen were welcomed. Today, leading churchmen refuse to be drawn into a discussion when approached, although there are few secrets among themselves. The future is still clouded, but brighter than it has been for two years. Diocesan finances, it is stated, are improving and with the removal of the Hamilton difficulty, the young diocese should be able to rise to useful service over the ashes of the past.