The Rev. F. E. Maynard, B.Sc.

This clever, remarkable preacher, a keen student of economics, came from England to be Rector of Gladstone in 1910. From there he went to Mount Morgan where he remained until becoming Mission Chaplain in the Diocese of Brisbane in 1921. This position he resigned the following year as he wished to further his studies in economics. He became sub-warden of St. John's College, the Anglican University College, but, on Father Nightingale's resignation, Archbishop Sharp requested him to accept the position of Rector of the Church and Parish of All Saints. As he did not wish to do so, at an interview with the Archbishop he said: "Your Grace, if I accept the living, I will feel compelled to make a number of changes." On being asked what these would be, he replied: "Well, first of all I will want to introduce the use of incense and then I shall want to reserve the Blessed Sacrament." The Archbishop drew a long breath and enquired, "Anything else?" to, which query Father Maynard replied, "I think that will do for a beginning."

The Archbishop then said: "So far you have not mentioned anything to which I could possibly take exception." And so, much as he wished to continue his studies, Father Maynard was constrained to accept the Rectorship of the Church and Parish of All Saints, Brisbane.

He was inducted on August 1st, 1922, and his first step was to alter the Communion Services to conform with Ritual Notes and to introduce the English Hymnal. Soon after his arrival the Town Council gave notice that they would require the hall to be repaired so he had to set about the task of having it repaired or enlarged. He also decided to convert the rectory into a hostel for young men.

At the end of 1923 he obtained a faculty for the removal of the Annie Dickson Memorial Tablet from its position on the wall behind the pulpit and for enlarging the vestry by enclosing a part of the church around the pulpit. He also spoke of the need of enlarging the Sanctuary and of raising the east windows to a more suitable height. Incense he had already put into use and he had opened a fund for making provision for the reservation of the Blessed Sacrament.

In 1924 the Rev. C. Dunn, after being some years in the parish, resigned and the Rev. R. Free came as curate. During this year the congregation were already looking forward to being able to place a Crucifix in the church (this was finally done in 1926) and the Tabernacle was built into the re-table on the Lady Chapel altar, although the Sacrament was at first reserved only on week days as it was feared that the opposition of the more Protestant-minded of the congregation might cause irreverence to be done to It on Sundays. These innovations caused a storm in the Diocese which culminated in an outbreak in Synod which was only curbed by Archbishop Sharp's wisdom, love and justice. One priest tabled a motion against Anglo-Catholic teaching but, before this was put to the vote, the Archbishop amended it to "any lawless alteration to the services as set forth in the book of Common Prayer either by commission or omission," thus turning the motion into a two-edged sword equally capable of use against the instigators of the opposition against All Saints' as against that church itself.

Father Maynard, reviewing the matter in the "Gazette," remarked that in the "Gentleman's Magazine," 1814, there had been a protest against the use of hymns in services. Incense, like hymns, was one of the things that was neither ordered nor forbidden by the Book of Common Prayer and Reservation was definitely implied by the office for the Communion of the sick.

In Synod, 1925, it was asked if any action had been taken on the previous year's motion regarding unswerving loyalty to the Book of Common Prayer and petitions against the services at Auchenflower and Bundaberg were presented. The Archbishop replied that he had enquired into the matter at Auchenflower and he had obtained from the vicar a promise to comply with the rubrics but went on to say that it was Reservation of the Blessed Sacrament that the enquirer had in mind and that the only church in the diocese where this was the rule was at All Saints', and he himself had given permission for it there.

The Hostel at the rectory had already been commenced so there remained but the Hall to rebuild to complete the scheme of activities which Father Maynard had set himself. This had been somewhat delayed as it was found necessary to obtain a special act of Parliament to enable the land to be mortgaged in order to raise funds for the rebuilding. This Act was passed in 1924 and enabled the trustees to "make application to Synod to raise funds for improvements by means of mortgage of the land."

Permission was given for leasing or letting any building thereon, the money so obtained to be used to pay the interest and to repay the loan and "for such Church of England purposes in connection with All Saints' as the trustees may think proper."

There were four proposed lines of action: (1) To reroof and overhaul the old hall, (2) to extend the old hall, (3) to build a new small hall, or (4) to build a very large hall.

The decision was influenced by the fact that the resultant hall would have to be revenue producing in order to repay the mortgage. Finally the second scheme was decided upon and the work was commenced. Thus the new hall rests upon the foundations laid in 1884. The total cost of the alterations was about £6000 which it was planned to repay over a period of twenty-five years. The new hall was used for the first time for a Missionary Day on February 13th, 1926.

In 1925 two stained glass windows in the north wall of the church were given in memory of Dr. Cameron and a small one over the vestry door, representing the journey of the Wise Men to Bethlehem, was given in memory of Mrs. E. Mills. An attempt was made to revive Father Nightingale's scheme for funds to be raised to fill the two windows in the Lady Chapel with stained glass in memory of Mrs. Mary Peattie and the Venerable Archdeacon David, but it was only found practicable to erect the former and the Lady Chapel is today still sadly in need of another window to make it a harmonious whole. The window in memory of Mrs. M. Peattie was dedicated in May, 1926. A schema for filling the windows in the nave of the church with stained glass to represent the four evangelists and twelve other saints (a commemoration of one of them to fall in each month of the year) was urged upon the congregation as a fitting way in which to erect memorials to departed friends, but nothing has yet been done to carry out this plan.

In 1925 in an attempt to reduce the number of nonfasting communions made, any member of the congregation wishing to communicate at the late Masses was required to fulfil the Prayer Book injunction of giving notice of his intention to receive. Two years previously, Mr. Marriot had been ordained to the minor order of subdeacon by the Archbishop in order that there should be three ministers for the celebration of High Mass. In August, 1925, Father Maynard stated that after the Dedication Festival of that year it was his intention to have High Mass every Sunday since High Mass is the correct standard of worship, Low Mass being but a permissible reduction. Already complete white, green and purple sets of High Mass vestments had been made, so red were the only ones lacking. A complete sick communion set was given at about this time and the ringing of the Angelus was begun. The need for the enlargement of the sanctuary was again stressed and it was suggested that a plan should be made to raise the money for this purpose over a period of two years. In 1926 the grounds were considerably improved by being raised and terraced with the earth dug out in the building of the hall and the grounds were fenced.

In July, 1926, Father Maynard was offered the living at St. Peter's, Eastern Hill, Melbourne. He did not wish to go but, not trusting to his own judgement, he asked the Bishop of Riverina and the Rev. Dr. Micklem to decide the question for him. Since they decided it was his duty to accept that parish he told the congregation at All Saints', "It must be best for all parties, for you, for them and for Me."

Prior to his departure he was accorded a farewell by the parishioners and the following report of that function appeared in the "Gazette": "It is just as well that we had our new parish hall, otherwise we would not have been able to seat those who came to show by their presence that they appreciated the work of Father Maynard in this parish. Though the Archbishop could not come, the letter which he sent and which we publish below, showed exactly what he felt at the departure of so able and faithful a priest.

Bishopsbourne,
Brisbane, 10th October, 1926.

I much regret that the necessity of my being in Sydney will prevent my being present at the meeting called to bid farewell to the Rev. Farnham Maynard, for I should have liked to say in person rather than by letter, to the people of All Saints' how much I sympathise with them and to him how deeply sorry I am that he is going.

You people of All Saints' are losing one who has been to you a friend, a teacher and a priest of much devotion and great ability. He is one who has made his influence felt far beyond the limits of All Saints' Parish and congregation. I hoped that we had him "for good and all," but it was not to be so.

I met him first in 1910 and conceived an immediate affection for him, as I think he well knows, and it was a happy day for me when I knew that he was willing to stay in this diocese, and when I was able to announce to you on one memorable night in 1922, that he was to be your rector.

The word "sympathise" means "suffer with," so I repeat I sympathise with you, for you are suffering in heart because he is going, and so am I.

(Signed) Gerald, Brisbane."

The Archbishop wrote in the "Chronicle": "To my very great regret the Rev. F. E. Maynard is leaving this diocese for the very important parish of St. Peter's, Melbourne. I suppose I ought not to say that I greatly regret a man doing a thing he is sure God has called him to do, but one cannot lose Mr. Maynard's services and feel entire equanimity over the loss."

The most important event of the last year of Father. Maynard's incumbency was his stand against Synod's ruling that the Mass should not be broadcast. This, he contended, was a retrograde step that would tend to make Matins again be considered as the chief Sunday service, a place it had wrongfully occupied for a great many years. The Sunday after Synod he got over the difficulty by broadcasting the Holy Eucharist except for a short break from the beginning of the Prayer of Consecration until after the Communion. Later, it being realised that this measure was really prompted by a false reverence the ruling dropped into abeyance.

The services at All Saints' were slightly changed during this year in order to bring them in line with English custom and the booklet "The English Mass" was brought into use at the children's Mass. Father Maynard, to prepare the way for it, had written: "Through opposition and obloquy this church has led the way in the Catholic Revival in this State, but prejudice is fast disappearing. Canon Jones was made to suffer for introducing things which are now a commonplace in even the lowest of churches."

Deeply grieved by the growing irreligion and Bolshevism, Father Maynard in 1924, inaugurated yearly Christian Evidence lectures. The first series were: "Does Religion Conflict With Science?" "What is the Bible?" "Did Jesus Rise from the Dead?" and "Has Christianity Helped the World?' The next year they were: "Evolution and the Fall," "The Problem of Pain," "The Trustworthiness of the Gospel Records," "The Christian Idea of God," and "Miracles." In 1926 the lecturer was Father Baker, one of the Church's few experts on social questions, who spoke on "Christianity as a Creative Influence," "Civilisation as a Danger ..... Machiavelli in Modern Politics," "Industry Seen Through the Eyes of the Bolsheviks and Henry Ford," "Instinct, Sin and Morals, " and "The Search for a Universal Religion." Planned with the twofold purpose of giving Church people a sound knowledge of the Church's teaching on these subjects in order that they could successfully argue with those who stood against Christianity, and of drawing in those of other views in an effort to convince them (hence the time for questions at the end of each lecture) these lectures were immensely popular.

Father Maynard's rectorship was one of steady progress and of building upon the firm foundations laid by Father Nightingale. He was indeed fortunate that Archbishop Sharp ever publicly upheld the ideal for which All Saints' stood for, without his support, the rector would never have been able to make such rapid progress. The Rev. F. E. Maynard was able, by his great influence, to bring back into the Church many who had been led away by the Rev. D. Price. He had reorganised the guilds of St. Mary, St. Anne and St. Alban and had begun the presentation of miracle plays as an aid to the deeper understanding of the Divine Mysteries. One thing he deeply regretted was that, even at the close of his ministry at All Saints, the congregation was not yet a praying one.

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