"Order of The Good Shepherd."

It is but a short time since a member of Synod called attention, by way of resolution, to the proposed establishment under a "Constitution," stated to be issued by "authority," of a Sisterhood pledged to celibacy, poverty, and obedience. This page 11 Sisterhood was to be a continuation of what was known in Auckland as "The Mission to Streets and Lanes," a very excellent institution, working under rules approved by Diocesan Synod many years since. The name of the newly-constituted body, according to the "authorised" Constitution, was to be "The Order of the Good Shepherd." The work of the Society, both in its old form and in its new, was undoubtedly of a high character, deserving of all praise. But the Constitution of the "Order" in its new form contained elements of a nature which required to be carefully considered before embodiment in the rules governing a Sisterhood connected with the Reformed Church of England. But these rules, strange to say, though an enlargement and material alteration of those originally adopted by Synod for the government of the Mission to Streets and Lanes, were never submitted to Synod at all, and their authority had to be challenged by resolution. On the express terms of a resolution unanimously passed, providing that the rules would be recast and brought before the following year's Synod for confirmation or otherwise, a vote condemnatory of this conventual institution was avoided. Next year, however, the Chapter, which was the body nominally responsible for the Constitution in its objectionable form, distinctly ignored the resolution of Synod, and failed to produce or make any reference to the revised rules. When questioned, the clerical representative of the Chapter calmly informed Synod that the establishment of the Sisterhood was a "spiritual matter" for which that "spiritual body," the Chapter, was not responsible to Synod. This statement was made in face of the fact that the Chapter exists by Act of the Synod, and it is required by that Act to report its proceedings year by year to the Synod. As there existed no sufficient firmness in the Synod to assert its rights, the extraordinary position has been reached that, by the action of the Diocesan, the Sisters were "received," and the institution goes on under an unlawful constitution, containing what many members of the Church believe to be unChristian and unnatural rules for the control of women.

Once the power of the Bishop and the Chapter to do this thing is admitted, there is nothing in Synod to prevent them from transforming a self-governing Church into a system where the so-called governing body can act merely at the will or caprice of one of its three orders—the Episcopate. The day when this action took place marks the blasting in the minds of many laymen, anxious to assist to the utmost of their ability in the advancement of the spiritual life of the Diocese, of the hope they had cherished that under the new regime the Diocese would be governed with a spirit entirely free, as formerly, from ecclesiastical autocracy. This statement of a painful incident is put on record with a sense of extreme regret : but it is necessary that the facts should be stated in order that those of the Laity who do not recognise the seriousness of the position thereby created, may be aroused to a sense of the danger which threatens their rights as Churchmen in consequence of the new policy of the Episcopate.