ARCHBISHOP O'SHEA

Evening Post, Volume LXXXVI, Issue 44, 20 August 1913, Page 3

ARCHBISHOP O'SHEA

. A WORD ABOUT CATHOLIC EDUCATION. The Sisters of Mercy at St. Mary's High School, Thorndon, entertained his Grace Archbishop O'Shea in the Guil-ford-terrace Schoolroom last night, by way of congratulating him on his recent elevation to th© high office which he now holds. The entertainment took the form of a concert, provided by pupils of the Sisters and the school children, those present including his Grace Archbishop Redwood, his Coadjutor (Archbishop O'Shea), Bishop Verdon (Dunedin), Bishop Cleary (Auckland), and several of the visiting local clergy. The musical programme was of a high order of merit, the soloists including Misses Teresa M'Enroe. V. Lamacroft, Zita Chapman, Agnes Segrief, J. Mathieson, G. Gibbs, Frances Morrison, C. Dwyer, and M. Blake, and the' entertainment reflected very great credit not only on those who took part, but on the Sisters who had had the training of the performers. At the commencement of the proceedings a young pupil of the convent (Miss Eileen Flanagan) briefly addressed the new Archbishop on behalf of the pupils, congratulating him en his accession, and assuring him of the loyalty of "your devoted children," and expressing the hope that they would all be there to celebrate his Grace's jubilee in 1938 — an expression that was greeted with hearty laughter and applause. At the close of the entertainment his Grace made a few remarks. He thanked the performers sincerely for the beauti> ful entertainment they had provided, and paid a tribute to the teaching of the Sisters, whose 'reputation in musical edu. cation, he said, extended across the Tasman Sea to' Australia. It was not only in music and song, he added, that this grand institution excelled ; that was only one part of education. The great work of the Church in New Zealand was education, and his Grace Archbishop Redwood had made it the great work of his episcopate. "And," hesaid. "how admirably he has succeeded." At the present time, within the City of Wellington and .suburbs, there were no less than five secondary Catholic institutions—three for girls and two for boys. Although his Grace Archbishop Redwood had don© wonders in regard to secondary education, he would never have succeeded but for the splendid, loyal assistance that he had received from the devoted religious ordors, foremost among whom were the SisteTS. ol Mercy, who were to be congratulated on what they had done and what they were doing. They (the pupils) were indeed fortunate in having such teachers, and the wisdom of the Catholic system of education was beginning to be recognised in these days not merely by Catholics, but even by many outside the Church. In conclusion his Grace asked the Rev. Mother to give the pupils a holiday in honour of the occasion, and the request was granted amid applause.