VISIT BY CLERGY

Gisborne Herald, Volume LXXV, Issue 22637, 14 May 1948, Page 4

VISIT BY CLERGY

CARDINAL SPELLMAN NOTABLE U.S. PARTY DOMINION RECEPTIONS (P.A.) AUCKLAND, May 15. On a brief visit to New Zealand, Cardinal Spellman, Archbishop of New York, accompanied by other distinguished members of the Roman Catholic clergy arrived in Auckland by air from Sydney yesterday. They have been attending the Melbourne archdiocesan centenary celebrations. They were met at Whenuapai by Archbishop McKeefry of Wellington, Bishop Liston, of Auckland and Mr. Whitney Young, the American Consul. A full programme had been arranged for the visit of only two full days. Cardinal Spellman officiated at a special service in St. Patrick’s Cathedral early yesterday afternoon and last night spoke at a public reception in the Town Hall. _ With other members of his party he was flying to Wellington today to meet the Prime Minister, Mr. P. Fraser, and attend another reception before returning tc Auckland in a chartered aircraft late in the afternoon. The visitors are to leave by air tomorrow morning for Australia and the Far East. Widely Known Representing widely-known dioceses and organisations of the church in the United States, an archbishop, a bishop, eight monsignori and three priests are accompanying Cardinal Spellman on his New Zealand visit. The party also includes LieutenantColonel Augustur Gearhard, senior Roman Catholic chaplain permanently attached to the United States Army, who has his headquarters at Mitchell Field, Hawaii. A distinguished missionary prelate is among the visitors. Fie is the Most Rev. Dr. J. E. Walsh, superior-general of the Maryknoll Mission since 1911. Fathers of this order have played a conspicuous part in religious propagation in the Philippines, China and Japan and when the Pacific war drastically curtailed missions in the Far East their work was extended to a large area in South America. Omaha Archbishop Archbishop Bergan was formerly Bishop of Des Moines, but early this year he was appointed to the Archbishopric of Omaha. Other archdioceses and dioceses represented are: Cincinnati, Monsignor E. J. Quinn; Chicago, Monsignor F. O. McCarthy; New York, Monsignor J. A. Nelson; director or religious in the archdiocese; Brooklyn, Monsignor J. J. Boardman, who is the national treasurer of the Society for the Propagation of the Faith; Newark, Father J. P. Christopher, who is noted in the United States as a classical scholar; and Hartford, Father J. J. Kelley.

The Roman Catholic universities of America are represented by a distinguished teached. author and speaker, Monsignor Fuiton J. Sheen. Monsignor F. X. Shea is the Dean of Westchester County, New York and former secretary to Cardinal Spellman, while Monsignor J. J. O’Donnell is state chaplain to the men’s organisation known as the Knights of Columbus. Monsignor T. J. McMahon is director of the Roman Catholic Near East Welfare Association which is concerned with maintenance of missions in the Middle East and Father L. B. Killian is representing Alumni, of the Urban College of Propaganda, Rome.