CATHOLIC CENTENARY

Evening Star, Issue 22895, 1 March 1938, Page 12

CATHOLIC CENTENARY

N.Z. PEOPLE CLOSE TO POPE S HEART MESSAGE DELIVERED BY APSSTOLIS DELEGATE MR DE VALERA'S CONGRATULATIONS ‘ tl’tu UNirun Press Association.] AUCKLAND, March 1. “ My heart is deeply stirred by the touching words ot your welcome," said the Apostolic Delegate, Archbishop Panico. when he rose a(hid a storm of applause and cheering to reply to the reception tendered him in the Town Hall Jast night. The Apostolic Delegate paid tribute to the people’s loyalty and allegiance to the Holy Father, On the eve of his departure from Rome, he added, the Supreme Pontiff had spoken feelingly of his people in New Zealand. He had said the Apostolic Delegate was going to a land which was far removed from the Chair of Peter, but although they were so far from him they were very close to his heart. His Holiness had asked him to tell the people of New Zealand that he knew of their attachment, devotion, and admirable generosity in support of all his works. The persona) message of congratulation to New Zealand Catholics on the occasion ot their centenary received from Mr de Valera, on behalf of the Government and the people of Ireland, may be kept in the archives of the church and reproduced a century hence. This is the hope of Bishop Liston, who read the message at the Town Hall welcome last night. Mr de Valera said Irishmen recalled with satisfaction that if the first missionary priests were sons of Franco they came in response to the urgent appeal of pioneer Irish settlers, and their first church was an Irishman’s home.

BEAUTY AND SIMPLICITY MASS FOR THE RELIGIOUS (Per United Press Association.] AUCKLAND, March 1. Beauty, simplicity, and dignity combined this morning to make the Solemn Pontifical Mass for Religious, celebrated at St. Patrick’s, one of the most impressive functions so far associated With the celebration of the centenary of the Catholic Church in New Zealand. The Mass, which was celebrated by Bishop Barnand, S.M., Apia, Vicar-General of the Navigator Islands, was sung by a choir of priests and sisters, who also formed the congregation, and it left a memory of unforgettable beauty. The sermon also was of remarkable quality, delivered by the Very Rev, W. J. Schaeffer, S.M., Rome, representative of the Superior-General of the Society of Mary. It dealt with the purposes of religious life, and the ideal of the Cross. The Church, he said, was founded on the Hill of Calvary, and just as Christ had conquered the world by the invincible weapon of the Cross, to the religious of the Church had also to tread the pathway of sacrifice and self-denial that the work of Christ might prosper. Success was obtained through apparent failure in this country, as in every other country where the Church had fought and suffered. The heroic men who came to New Zealand a hundred years ago had planted the Faith here by sacrifice and selfdenial.

Father Schaeffer spoke feelingly of the pioneer hardships endured from the moment Bishop Pompallier and his companions left France, and of the poverty and destitution that had been their lot in tin’s country. The Cross worn by the Religious was not merely an ornament pr symbol, but an ideal of life. The spirit of the pioneers was still present in the youth of this country. He referred especially to the life of the late Father Emmett M'Hardy who, with every attribute making for success in life, had chosen the missionary field of the Solomon Islands. Ho had founded a strong mission single-handed in three years, and then had died with thp words on his lips “ Here I am back in my country, a failure.”

It was the failure, said the preacher, of the seed that dies, and dying, brings forth life a hundredfold. As long as New Zealand brought forth men and women of that type, the work of the Church would prosper.