VACANT BISHOPRIC

Nelson Evening Mail, Volume 79, 7 January 1944, Page 6

VACANT BISHOPRIC

NO CHRISTCHURCH APPOINTEE YET

LIKELIHOOD OF NEW ZEALANDER Wellington, This Day. Considerable interest attaches in Catholic circles to the appointment of a successor to the late Dr. M. J. Brodie, Catholic Bishop of Christchurch, who was the first New Zealand-born priest to be raised to the episcopate, says “The Dominion.” The Catholic Metropolitan of New Zealand, Archbishop O’Shea, though he came here in his infancy, missed this distinction by being born in San Francisco. On the other hand, he was the first priest to be created bishop who had received all his education in New Zealand Che was the first student enrolled at St. Patrick’s College, Wellington), whereas the late Dr. Brodie was educated for the priesthood in Australia. At present it appears very indefinite when a successor to Dr. Brodie will be announced. A congregation in Rome will consid-' er the names of those men of suitable qualifications whose particulars have been furnished from time to time by the bishops in New Zealand. These details are of a most confidential nature. Depending on the circumstances of the particular time, for instance, the period which may have elapsed since additions were made to this list, further names may have been added when the vacancy was created. The final appointment wfll be ratified by his Holiness the Pope, and the bill of appointment signed by him. The Cardinal Secretary of State will then notify the Sacred Congregation of Propaganda under whose jurisdiction come all provinces where the Church has not been sufficiently long established to become independent of it. New Zealand is such a province, and it must make its communications to other congregations through this particular congregation. In contrast, for instance, the Church in the United States would communicate direct. These congregations administer the various activities of the Church. When the Congregation of Propaganda is advised of a successor to the late Bishop Brodie it will communicate with the Apostolic Delegate in Sydney, who will in turn inform the vicar capitular of Christchurch (Dr. J. A. Kennedy), who was appointed by the diocesan council to carry on in the interregnum, and the appointee. The appointment of a priest from outside New Zealand cannot be ruled out, but it is improbable, the recent tendency being to appoint men from this country to its highest ecclesiastical positions. The most recent example was that of Bishop O’Neill, of Dunedin, appointed in February, 1942, and consecrated the following month. It is for the appointee to nominate which bishop he desires to consecrate him, but there will be two bishops as assistants at the ceremony. The late Bishop Brodie was consecrated in the Catholic Cathedral in Christchurch by Archbishop Cerretti, Papal Delegate, in 1915, so it will have been at least 28 years before this city again witnesses one of the outstanding ceremonial occasions of the Catholic Church.