ORDINATION OF WOMEN

Sun (Auckland), Volume IV, Issue 1042, 5 August 1930, Page 16

ORDINATION OF WOMEN

VICAR OF ST. THOMAS’S AND HIS COMMENT “PHOTOGRAPHED WITH ANGEL” The lack of news concerning the Anglo-Catholic Congress in England is deplored by the Rev. A. Russell Allerton, vicar of the Church of St. Thomas, in his pnrish magazine. Mr. Allerton always comments on the trend of current events in his magazine, and this comment is often amusing. This month he refers to the ordination of women and some photographs of himself which have appeared in the Auckland newspapers. No news that I know of has appeared in the local Press about the AngloCatholic Congress, which is one of the largest (if not the largest) gatherings of Anglicans, ho writes. On the other hand we have had a highly coloured account of one service in which Dr. Cherrington took part out of the countless similar and dissimilar services which many of the bishops visiting England have attended. Space has also been found for noticing a memorandum to the Lambeth Conference of which the importance may bo gauged by the naive admission that it has “not the slightest chance of being approved—the bishops will not look at it.’' Of -course I quite see that even if the bishops won’t look at it that is no reason why we should not laugh at it. The adjective has not yet been devised that will describe the antics of women who want to be ordained to do what they have already seemingly ordained themselves to do. If I were an anti-feminist, which 1 am not, I would say the memorandum showed that women have no sense- of humour, but as ¥ am just a simple parish priest I must be humbly thankful that the strong-minded, learned women who have signed the memorandum recognise my priesthood at all and even modestly admit that their own is “unauthorised, inadequate, undesirable” “from the point of view of order.” Oh! what a fall my country women! To think that these prophetesses want to dwindle into priests “from the point of view of order.” I have no doubt that many have been moved to repent and lead better lives after beholding the melancholy photos of myself that have appeared in the papers. In one photo. I appeared in the company of an angel, and in response to several inquiries I have to explain that the little chap is the angel I