LOSS TO CHURCH

Ashburton Guardian, Volume 64, Issue 140, 24 March 1944, Page 2

LOSS TO CHURCH

DEATH OF DEAN O’DONNELL. forty-seven years in parish. SENIOR PRIEST IN DOMINION. The Very Rev. Doan James Joseph O’Donnell, parish priest’of Ashburton, who had been an inmate of Lewisham Hospital, Christchurch, for .about nine weeks, died about -I o’clock yesterday afternoon. His passing was expected as he had been very weak for the last day or two. v The body arrived in Ashburton about four o’clock this afternoon and was conveyed to the Church of the Holy Name, where it will remain in state until Monday. Requiem Mass will be celebrated at 10.30 a.in. on Monday, when the Coadjutor Bishop ol Dunedin (the Rt. Rev. Dr. Hugh O’Neill) j will officiate. The panegyric will he preached by the Rt. Rev. Dr. Kennedy (vicar-capitular of the Diocese). Immediately after Mass the funeral will leave .for the Ashburton cemetery. Born in Ireland 87 years ago, Dean O’Donnell early expressed a desire to become a .priest, and to this end he entered All Hallows College, in Dublin, and there ho was ordained as priest oil June 24, 1880. Thus, lie completed 6-1 years as a priest, a record for the Dominion, as there is no living member of the -Catholic clergy who has achieved that great period in the work. Coming to New Zealand as a young man, he was stationed for a brief period at Wellington and then went to Christchurch, and afterwards to Waimate. He remained there only a short while before going to Ahaura, West Coast. His next station was at Darfield, and he came to Ashburton in 1892, having charge here for the last C>2 years. Ho had a very large parish to handle, for it extended to Rakaia, Motliven, Mount Somers‘and Hinds. All areas but Hinds have since been taken from the parish. Ho accepted the post here in order that he might complete the work of Father Coffey, whose -memory lie revered. The first church in use in Ashburton is part of the present Catholic School, in Havelock Street. It was opened in July, 1876, and Father Coffey was the first resident priest, being appointed in March, 1881. A Good Horseman. Having such a huge area to cover in the course of his work, the Dean must needs be a good horseman, and so it is recorded that for years he rode a beautiful white horse many miles on his visits to Catholic homos scattered all over the County. Later he was presented by a grateful parishioner with a magnificent pair of black horses', and these he drove in a, four-wheeled buggy. He thought nothing of being roused in the middle of the night and being called far into the country, in all weathers, if by so doing he could aid a sick person. In this way he travelled from the hills to the sea and from the Rakaia River to the Rangitata River. When Bishop Grimes went to Christchurch as the first- Catholic Bishop of the Diocese, Dean O’Donnell (then Father) had already done good work in the .Diocese of Wellington, to which Christchurch was attached at that time. Having heard of the work the Dean had done on the West Coast, ho gave the Dean his first appointment in Canterbury. When Dean O’Donnell . arrived in Ashburton to take oyer the work ot the parish in 1892 lie found there was much for him to do, and with the courage and energy that characterised all his activities ho set about his task, giving attention first to several pressing needs. Among these was a church at Rakaia, where the lack of a suitable building for Catholics to worship had been keenly felt for sorhe time. There was a church at Methven, but with the rapidly-growing community there it was found to be too small Tor its purpose. Enlargement was necessary, and Dean O’Donnell set- about* that work in a business-like fashion. Courage and Energy. At that time the Convent in Ashburton was situated in Wakanui Road, a site thought to bo unsuitable. To move it to the place where it now stands, next to the Catholic Church, was a task many might have baulked at, hut with the Dean, it was a case of necessity, and the obstacle was overcome in the history-making shift that was effected. Only one window in the huge building suffered damage on the long, slow journey that took several days to complete. The questions of the churches at Rakaia and Methven were also successfully attended to, and all this was done in the first 10 years Dean O’Donnell was in Ashburton.

Similarly, when lie assumed charge of the parish the financial position was embarrassing, but it said much for the Dean’s ability that the debt, which for a number of years had hindered the progress of the parish, was extinguished in a few years. His parishioners on more than one occasion showed their drop sense of gratitude for the selfsacrificing manner in which Dean O'Donnell carried out many important undertakings on their behalf. It was on the 25th anniversary of his becoming a priest that Dean O’Donnell was made the recipient of a. cheque for 300 guineas and two travelling-rugs., many subscriptions toward which had been handed in by people who were not Catholics.

Among the eulogies of Dean O’Donnell in the illuminated address presented to him on June 28, 1905, on his attaining his silver jubilee as a priest, were those passages: “We hailed your advent to this parish because you were known to the. clergy and laity of New Zealand as a priest possessing in the highest degree qualities of mind and heart which wore a guarantee to us that our spiritual and temporal welfare would he assured under your able ad-

ministration. . . Your zeal as a spiritual director and your extensive learning have always fitted you. to bo an able exponent, of Catbolie truth and doctrine.” The sentiments expressed by bis parishioners at that day have in no way changed in the ,19 years that have passed. Dean O’Donnell was esteemed by every one of his followers. Care for Sick and Needy. Dean O’Donnell’s sympathies were widely known, and his care for the sick and needy made him many friends outside llis church. He often went out of his way to aid a necessitous case and it was no wonder his reputation in this manner went far afield. Widely read and an able debater, he yet had a keen business sense and it was said of him after bis years on the West Coast that business people, contractors and others had been of the opinion that their dealings with the Dean were among the most satisfactory of their experience. Throughout his years in Ashburton business houses held the same opinion, and his unfailing courtesy and tact 'further endeared him to his parishioners and others. He did a great deal in the organsiation of several branches of the work of his church, notably the Ashburton Hibernian Society. When Dean o‘Donnell arrived here the church’ property consisted of four quarter-acre sections, a cottage that was used as living quarters, and what has been described as “the ruin of a church.” All this was soon changed, however.

Erection of New Church. lit was at the silver jubilee function in 1905 that the first suggestion was made that there should be a new Catholic Church in Ashburton. The suggestion, made by Mr D. Thomas, a former Mayor of Ashburton, was taken up, and Dean O’Donnell stated his opinion then that if the parish could give £I6OO to the Christchurch Cathedral and £3OO to himself, as well as lifting the parish finances as they had done, they could subscribe sufficient to build a new Presbytery and a new church. The presbytery came into being first, but it was many years before the Dean was able to enter the new church, which was built between the Convent and the Presbytery, in Victoria Street. This magnificent structure, with its lofty tower that has become a landmark to bo seen from Mount Hutt on a clear day, was opened on July 27, 1931. The cost was just over £14,000 It. was a proud day for the Dean when his longchorished dream came true. At the time tlio church was opened £9500 had been raised. The Dean expressed the hope that day that the parish would not let the cloud of debt hang over the building for long. This hope, too, was fulfilled, for in 1939 the last of the money owing was raised. Doan O’Donnell was chaplain and treasurer for the Hibernian Society, which he was instrumental in founding in 1904, and lie was chaplain for the Catholic Literary Society, the work of which lie encouraged in every way. He was trustee for a large number of his parishioners. Dean O’Donnell was always ready to go to tho assistance of causes which ho held dear, and on several occasions in years gone by he entered into controversies in letters to the “Guardian.” It was a bold opponent who attempted to turn tho point of tho Dean’s argument, for llis great store of knowledge on innumerable subjects, combined with liis excellent command of English, made llis attacks well-nigh unassailable. His letters were among the most readable, logical and thoughtful that have appeared in the “Guardian,” and they were widely read and freely discussed.