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Salient. An Organ of Student Opinion at Victoria University College, Wellington N.Z. Vol. 21, No. 10. August 6, 1958

Mediator

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Mediator

In this situation the Anglican Society should be in a unique position to mediate between the various groups, if it is true to its nature as part of the "Bridge Church". Within its membership it is possible to have Evangelicals, Liberals and Anglo-Catholics, individuals who are at home in the EU, the SCM or among CSG members. And the biggest defect in the Anglican Society at the present moment is that it does not have this variety in membership. Moderate Anglo-Catholics, through no fault or desire of their own, constitute the bulk of the active membership. Evangelical and Liberal Anglicans have bypassed the Society, and in becoming members of the EU or the SCM only, have caused the Society to become unrepresentative of their Communion. This has impaired their own ability to contribute as Anglicans to the EU or the SCM and has impaired the Society's ability to mediate between the EU, the SCM and the CSG.

But every member of the Anglican Society, of whatever churchmanship, must be a bridge-builder, must draw from personal experience of a Church where the tensions of Christendom meet, the knowledge and the charity which are needed to bring the groups together. And the Society corporately must drive to bring the groups together for discussion and co-operation.

Present efforts of the Anglican Society to bring the groups together informally must be intensified, and above all, its own relations with them must further improve. The most promising way to do this on the corporate level seems to be to convene a combined meeting of representatives from the various group committees, at which can be thrashed out a pattern for future relations. A suggested agenda would include the following:
1.
(a)The objects of co-operation: mutual understanding, personal contact, co-ordination of activities.
(b)The "organ" of co-operation and its status vis-a-vis the groups. It is doubtful whether the combined committee could or should have any official standing over the groups, and its agreements should merely be in the nature of advice to group committees. This is particularly important as the participation of the EU and the CSG will probably depend on a satisfactory settling of this question, and of the next, (c).
(c)The limits of co-operation. For example, an organic union of the groups cannot be invisaged. And it is clearly better to start with a limited and clearly defined field of co-operation inside which all groups can participate wholeheartedly, than a large Vague field, co-operation within which may compromise groups in the eyes of authority outside Victoria and thus cause eventual withdrawal.
2.Ways of increasing mutual understanding:
  • —combined meetings where both sides of a question are aired by selected speakers.
  • —discussion groups.
  • —worship, e.g., praying together, use of agreed intercession leaflets, discussions on traditions of prayer and worship, token attendance at "rival" university services in March.
3.Ways of increasing personal contact, e.g., activities in section 2, and a combined social evening (or whatever social activities seem appropriate).
4.Ways of increasing co-ordination of activities.
  • —co-ordination of programmes to avoid clashes of time and subject.
  • —combined platforms to present the Faith to the University.
  • —religious, drama and music groups.
5.The creation of a Christian-political-sociological-international affairs group at VU, making use of the existing tradition of interest in politics at VU and grafting it on to a Christian stem. Starting with a discussion group, this could well lead to an endowed series of lectures on Christian Sociology or some such field. VU seems to have a great opportunity here to reorient and reestablish an existing tradition on really worthwhile lines.

The writer is well aware that only a fraction of the activities suggested above can be embarked upon in any one year. Nevertheless, it is all the more important to hold in view some picture of the variety and extent of the opportunities and possibilities presenting themselves to us. The writer is also aware that these notes suffer from the limitations of being written from an Anglican Society viewpoint. Much more remains to be said and written on the subject, but these notes may serve to initiate such a discussion.

—An Anglican Society Member

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