THE WORLD HIS PARISH

Hawera Star, Volume LIV, 28 April 1934, Page 9

THE WORLD HIS PARISH

CATHOLIC SEAMEN’S MJSSIONER FATHER ROOKLIFF IN WELLINGTON (By Telegraph—Press Association.) WELLINGTON, April 28. The unique distinction of accepting the w r hole worlds as his parish belongs to a Roman Catholic priest who arrived in Wellington by the “City of Tokio,” a merchant vessel which has come here with a. cargo from New York. He is Father J. E. Rookliff, who is officially known in his church a,s the international promoter of the “Apastleship of the Sea,” a world organisation for the spiritual and social welfare of seafarers of the Catholic community. But by sailormen everywhere, from Rio to Amsterdam and from London to Calcutta, he is affectionately called the “Padre of the Seven Seas.” Father Roekliff’s roving commission calls him to the farthest corners of the earth and he travels* 60,000 miles a year. He is also* a geographer of some note and in his wanderings combines the pursuit of knowledge with his religious duties. (Father Rookliff was for a time stationed in Hawera, during the absence of the late Dean Power.)