VICAR DEFIES THREATS

Waikato Times, Volume 124, Issue 20740, 25 February 1939, Page 2 (Supplement)

VICAR DEFIES THREATS

Village Scandalmongers Denounced Boycott Suggestion Ignored

j Defying boycott threats by several ! of his parishioners, the Rev. Walter iOrainge White, grev-haired former j missionary Vicar of Haughley, near jlpswich, denounced village scandal jfrom his pulpit. > Only about 30 of his usual congregation heard him say that “blackmail” , efforts to stop him “speaking his 'mind” would not succeed, j The vicar declared war on local gossips after he heard of a “malicious rumour” in the village, and he chose as his text a verse from Chap. iv. of the Epistle to the Ephesians: “Speak even.- man truth with his neighbour: ; for we are members one of another.” | He declared: “There is a tendency . to tell me what I shall say or shall not say in church. They say that if the vicar says something they don’t like ; they will absent themselves from church and try to get others to do the • same. ! “But people who know me know ; that that form of blackmail has no ! effect on me whatever. | “I don’t expect to stamp out gossip that is quite harmless, although it is . carried to a ridiculous extent some-

times. But I do want you to be careful to leave malice out of gossip. “«e Dealt With” “You cannot get rid of responsibility for slander by saying that someone told you so. “The person who does this can be dealt with. If you hear things about me it is your duty to tell me. "I have done this this evening to clear the air so that you can have a very happy Christmas. It is time we had a healthier and more wholesome tone in this parish.” Afterwards, in an interview. Mr White related that he was approached by certain people and warned not to carry out his intention of admonishing scandal-mongers. “They told me that if I did so they would give up attending my churcn. but when I \va» a missionary I risked my life to preach the Gospel. “I hope my pulpit admonition will have an effect on the gossips. For 17 years I have been fighting the scandalmongers, and I have myself suffered from their wagging tongues.”