CONGRESS HIGH MASS

Greymouth Evening Star, 25 June 1932, Page 7

CONGRESS HIGH MASS

GIFT-CHALICE FROM THE POPE NEW ZEALAND GATHERING [by CARLE PRESS ASSN. COPYRIGHT.]' DUBLIN, June 24. The principal event on the second day of the Eucharistic Congress was the celebration of Pontifical High Mass by Cardinal Lauri, the Papal Legate, at the Dublin Pro-Cathedral. The Cardinal Legate made another triumphal tour through cheering multitudes of people in perfect midsummer sunshine. At the Cathedral the service at Pontifical High Mass was again marked by resplendent pomp. It was attended by many notables, including the members of the present Free State Ministry and those of the former Ministry, while apart from Cardinal Lauri, there were present seven other Cardinals, thirty Archbishops, and one hundred Bishops, along with clergy from all the nations. The whole of the service, as was yesterday’s opening, was wirelessly relayed, and it was heard through loud-speakers outside the Pro-Cathe- ; dral.

The Cardinal Legate, during the celebrations, used a magnificent gold chalice, which the Pope himself used last Friday. The chalice is a present from the Pope to the Archbishop of Dublin and is beautifully embossed. It depicts scenes in the life of Christ; and is inscribed in Latin: “Presented to my Irish Sons in Christ in Memory of the Eucharistic Congress.”

PHOENIX PARK GATHERING. (Received June .25, 11 a.m.) DUBLIN, June 24.. The Streets continue crowded day and night. The buildings are floodlit, and searchlights are playing, throwing Latin texts on the skies. There was a great scene in Phoenix Park, last night, a quarter of a million men marched thither, and assembled round the High Altar. As the darkness came, at a. given signal, every individual lighted a taper. The vast park became..a sea. of lights, as the Legate pronounced the Benediction. Six Cardinals and a hundred prelates participated in the service. The previous day’s splendours at the Pro-Cathedral were repeated in the morning, when Pontifical Mass was celebrated.

N. ZEALAND’S PIONEERS DUNEDIN, June 24. At their first meeting the New Zealand section of the Eucharistic Congress listened to' the reading of a paper written by the New Zealanders, Miss Eileen Duggan and Mr. Paul Kavanagh, on “New Zealand’s Pioneer Roman Catholic Family,” telling, the moving story of the efforts of the Irish settler, Thomas Poynton, to obtain a Priest for the pioneers. Thomas Roynton reached New Zealand in the year 1828, and he twice made perilous crossings of the Tasman Sea in a whaling boat before the Bishop of Sydney was finally able to supply a Priost. Archbishop Redwood spoke, stating that Thomas Poynton had a thorough knowledge of the Maori language, and he was thereby able to dissuade the natives from attacking the first Roman Catholic Missionaries in New Zealand.

N.Z’S DEBT TO IRELAND. LONDON, June 24. Another paper by Eileen Duggan and Paul Kavanagh, “New Zealand’s Debt to Ireland,” was read at to-day’s New Zealand session at University College. The writers traced the early history of Catholicism from the landing of the French Bishop Pompallier in the North Island, when there were only 350 white Catholics in the Island, nearly all Irish. The first Irish priest to arrive, Father O’Reilly, reached Wellington in 1843. Archbishop Redwood, now known as the patriarch of the Pacific, though an Englishman, was ordained in Ireland. New Zealanders of Irish descent were proud of the way Archbishop Redwood had surrounded himself with Irish helpers, and had himself ever remained an outspoken friend of Irish nationality.

GOVR.-GENERAL’S DINNER ~DUBLIN, June 24. The lion-inclusion of Mr. McNeill, the Governor-General of the Free State at a reception in Dublin Caste, had a speedy sequel, as neither Mr., De Valera nor any of his Ministers were invited to the Governor-General’s dinner at the Vice-Regal Lodge, in honour of the Papal Legate.