The Hawaiian gazette., 1918-03-19
WORLDWARWIL
AWAKEN CHURCH :
|SBEL|EF Of BISHOP
Club Of Well Dressed People Who
Listen To Sermons and Attend
To Own Affairs Must Go
CANNOT ANY LONGER !
REMAIN fAPATHETIc
Unemployment, Class lniusticeS
and Community Uplift Must Be
Part Of Work, Says. Leonard

AS pHIl Ut new SOtlalf Ofuef WnlCn
he expects to emerge from the furnace
Of the world war, Bishop A. W. Leon.
ard Of the San FraHGfsco Area of the
Methodist Episcopal Church, who is
presiding officer ut the thirteenth an
nual conference at the Methodist Mis-
sion, said yesterday that the institu.
ton Of the, church will have to under.
go reconstruction which will render
it scarcely recognizable.
AHent his sermon on "The Church
and the World Crisis, which he de-
hvered at the Methodist Church last
night, Bishop Leonard told The Adyer-
tiser that the Church must in the
course Of the next few years suffer
complete sOeializing and demOcratizing
in order to hold its proper place as
moral influence of the future
1.-THE church as club of well
dressed people who listen at stated in
tervals to sermons, foster a few ex-
elusive church societies and attend to
their own little affairs to the exclusion
OF the welfare of the community Of
which it is a part has been a traVesty
on Christianity, and the great changes
OF the future have no place for such
an Indifferent attitude as the Church
has maintained and grown into in the
course of the last decade,' he said.
win Be Social Center
Bishop Leonard declared that true
Democracy which he expects to come
back to civilization out Of the infiu-
e1ce Of the trenches, will demand that
churches take on n new character ~
true social centers; that the Church
may no longer remain apathetic to
matters of Unemployment, class injus-
tees and community uplift; that it
will undoubtedly contain departments
for furnishing legal counsel to poor
"eOnle, taking the, leading interest In
the health and contentment Of all the
Ieopie within it's sphere of influence,
md searching out the roots of class
hatreds. He hastehed to add, however,
that he does not believe this should
take the place of evangelistie work,
but should be made an integral part
II it.
There is no denying the fact that
the Church has failed in its part in
hese matters and has become divorced
from the lives of millions of people
who have found that their most press
ing social problems have found no
answer in the accepted institution Of
love and sympathy said Bishop
| Leonard. "There win and must now
be an organized and applied Christian.
ity based on the teachings Of the
Christ"
Religious slackers
Bishop Leonard said that slackers
the future duties Of society towards
is members will be as cordially hat
ed as siackers in the great war to es.
,, tablish democracy in the world.
1.-THE war strikes me as being the
only thing that could have brought
these wonderful things about in so
hort a time said he. There is
rue democracy in the trenches, and
even if the world were unaware of the
changes that are impending and I'M
responsive to them, the returning sol
diers would bring with them IDEAS that
would serve to reconstruct society even
| against it's will"
Bishop Leonard says that so far as
the Methodist Church, at least, is con
cerned, the machinery is even now in
operation to bring about the establish
ment of the church on greater and
more comprehensive model. The pre-
liminary spreading Of the necessity for
the change has been appOrtioned to
several Of the bishops of the Metho.
dist Church who, under the operation
Of the War Council Of the board of
bishops, will take different sections of
the country and conduct great mass
meetings in every leading community,
which are to teach the responsibility
| Of the Church in the conduct of the
war as in the recOnstruetiOn. These
meetings will be sponsored by the com,
mercial organizations and fraternal or.
ders of the various cities and pre-.
sided over by mayors and governors
Plan For Work
Bishop Leonard, together with Bish,
op Homer Stuntz, of Omaha, Nebraska
Will have the Southwest district for
his purpose and they have already
completed arrangements for mass meet
WIS in every lar"e Cali faruia town
These ecclesiastics have been released
rom their ordinary area duties by the
board of bishops. Bishop Theodore IL
Henderson of st. Louis and many 9th
er prominent men of the denomination
will have charge of the campaign il
the various sections into which the
country has been divided
Wish Bishop Leonard at the Youns
Hotel is A. O. Stevens ex.secretary nj
the War Emergency Commission Of thu
Methodist Church. All that can be un
dertaken by them in the program o.
the deh6rhihationl'a at Honolulu is t,
make an estimate of what member
of the Methodist Church are represent
ed in the $4,000 soldiers and sailor
over whom they win have supervision
here.