OPUNAKE DAY OF PRAYER

Taranaki Daily News, 11 September 1940, Page 10

OPUNAKE DAY OF PRAYER

Large congregations were present at all churches at Opunake on the day of national prayer on Sunday. Services in the country districts also were well attended and in all places the occasion was suitably observed by special hymns and intercessions for the victory of the cause of right and justice. To all believers in God the realisation was ineseapable that Europe was suffering for its manifold sins, declared the Rev. Father W. Walsh in the course of his address at St. Mary's Catholic Church. The time had arrived for plain speaking and the proclamation of unpleasant truths and for the abandonment of service to false gods. By breaking down pretences and distinctions men would find the friendliness and strength of true brotherhood, said the Rev. J. C. W. Mutter, L.Th., at St. Barnabas' Anglican Church. War had made men realise that there was more in life than material things. If it was not for the wastage of life and property, it could honestly be said "Thank God for the war," he declared. Spiritual values were involved in the present struggle and it was right to pray for victory, said Ihe Rev. J. H. Bailey, who addressed a large Methodist congregation. The Rev. G. W. Wood, St. Andrew's Presbyterian Church, said that humility was as much a part of prayer as was thanksgiving.