Religion: Off to the Races

Arriving in Australia in 1958 to become dean of Brisbane's cathedral, the Very Rev. William Pye Baddeley,* 46, announced: "I believe the Church of England is big and broad enough for all shades of thought.'' He then proved how broad his own thought could be.

When the Queensland Turf Club Committee invited Dean Baddeley to the races, he obtained permission from Brisbane's Archbishop Reginald Halse, turned up at the track in a felt hat, suede shoes and a striped suit, puffing a cigar, and proceeded to clean up. The ungloomy dean won six 55¢ bets in eight races for a total profit of $5.93.

Then all Protestant hell broke loose. Last week the dean was getting more space in Australian letters-to-editors than the crisis in the Congo. "Degrading the holy office of a Christian minister," cried the Rev. Allan Walker, superintendent of Sydney's Central Methodist Mission. "I am bound to say," Melbourne's Anglican Dean Barton Babbage felt bound to say, "I regard Dean Baddeley's gambling activities with embarrassment and dismay."

After reminding everybody that Queen Elizabeth herself follows the nags, Dean Baddeley said: "The real problem is not gambling as such, but avarice and lust for money. My enjoyment was not in winning money but in seeing my choices win. I had a perfectly wonderful day."