CATHOLIC CHURCH.

Horowhenua Chronicle, 26 April 1928, Page 6

CATHOLIC CHURCH.

CLOSE OF MISSION AT OTAKI. Never before has the Catholic Church in Otaki been so crowded as on Sunday evening, when the mission, preached by the Rev. Father McCarthy, was brought to a close. Not only was the extra seating taxed to its utmost, but the choir gallery was crowded, the Sanctuary was filled with men, both. Sacristrics were crowded, the aisle filled with chairs, and even the steps of the church and the stairway leading to the choir formed temporary accommodation. The church was literally filled to overflowing. The preacher chose as his subject “The Divinity of the Catholic Church,” and showed how Christ had selected his apostles with St. Peter at their head, and upon him had founded His Church. He had, moreover, founded One Church —not several, and those churches which hud cut themselves off from the tree which Christ had planted, must ultimately perish. He showed, most graphically, the origin and infancy of the church, her days of persecution in tlur Catocombs of Rome —her ultimate triumph under Constantine The Great, and proved her continued and uninterrupted existence in the different countries of the world down to the present clay. He quoted the various heresies of earlier times, the Arians of the fourth century, the Pelagians of the fifth century who together with numberless other sects had cut themselves off from the Church of Rome, but all of which had in time withered and died. So, too. must end all heresies from the One true Church, while the church herself must survive all persecution and endure until the end, because Christ Her Fournier had said it. It was a brilliant discourse, and held the listeners enraptured until the close. At the end the Papal Blessing was given to all, and the whole congregation, holding lighted candles—a spectacle most striking and inspiring—renewed their Baptismal vows. Benediction of the Blessed Sacrament followed and this ended a mission, unparalleled for Its enthusiasm and success in the memory of the Cafholic-s of. Otaki.