DEARTH OF CLERGY.

Taranaki Daily News, Volume LIV, Issue 179, 27 January 1912, Page 4

DEARTH OF CLERGY.

NEED FOR ACTION. " BISHOP CROSSLEY'S REMARKS. -dearthSof xlefgjt*was tli(£ssubject' of some outspoken comment by Bishop Crossley- fct St. Mary's Church last evening. "Where am I," he asked his congregation, "to find a sufficient sup? ply of clergy?" He ndded\ that since he came to the diocese he had lost five vicars, ami had gained none. He qualified the latter part of bis statement by sayiug that the vacancies were filled from within the diocese's own ranks. The position was serious, and he did not' think the people required proof that the present system of "refills" could not go on for long. He reminded his congregation of the resolutions which the Synod had unanimously adopted at •.his, instance, to at once do what had never been done in the past, to provide clergymen Out of New Zealand for their own diocese. As things were, students obtaining a degree of Divinity at St. John's College, Auckland, were under no obligation to serve the church. The church' had no claim on them. In order to remedy matters somewhat we should raise funds without delay to send at least two men, every year, for the next three years, to St. John's, in order to prepare them for the ministry of the diocese of Auckland. For the purpose of financing the proposals it would be necessary to raise £2OO at once, £4OO ' next year, £OOO the year after, and £O,OO for every year following. These students would, on completion of their course, be bound over for service in the diocese of Auckland. The funds necessary should be raised with the greatest care. As regards New Plymouth, all that was required was two or three men of the Church of England Men's Society to distribute envelopes three times a year at every Church of England house in the town, for the purpose of periodical pence collection. Having got the clergymen, continued the Bishop, it would be .necessary to train them well. He held that every minister should first serve under some other clergyman in charge of a parish before assuming the responsibilities of a cure. New Plymouth offered a natural training ground for curates, and to his mind it 'would not be asking one whit too much to expect the parish to provide another three curates.