DEPUTATION TO BISHOP CROKE.

New Zealand Herald, Volume VIII, Issue 2154, 20 December 1870, Page 2

DEPUTATION TO BISHOP CROKE.

Om Saturday morning last a deputation of gentlemen waited upon Bishop Croke, who arrived by the City of Melbourne, and presented the following address on behalf of the Roman Catholics of Auckland :—" To tho most Reverend Dr. Croke Bishop of Auckland, —May it please your Lordship,—We the laity of tho diocese of Auckland offer you our congratulations on your safe arrival in Auckland. Wo beg to testify to you our attachment to the Holy See, and our grateful acknowledgment of your goodness, inasmuch as we are aware of the great and painful sacrifices which you have made in severing the ties of friendship and of eo untry, to undertake the arduous duties of the mission. We hope that, under Divine protection and guidance, your pastoral administration will be the means of increasing the blessings of religion and piety amongst us. Trusting that you may be long spared to preside over us, we have the honor to remain, &e., L. O'Brien, John Sheehan, Daniel Lynch, Charles O'Neill, James T. Boylan, P. Dignan." His Lordship thanked the deputation for the thoughful kindness tlmt prompted them to bid him welcome to Ills new home. From all he had learned of the people of Auckland, he bad reason to hope that, in time, he and they would understand each other well. He would give offence to no one, his motto ever having been to live on terms of friendship, as far as j possible, with all men. He had unbounded confidence in the people, especially those of the Irish race, and after a pretty long experience of them both at home and abroad, he had come to tho conclusion that their sympathies ran always in the right direction, and that they were always ready to support what they deemed a righteous cause, especially the cause of rational progress and religion. His Lordship then referrei to what he had to sacrifice in leaving his home and the old land which he loved so well, and assured the deputation that nothing should be wanting on his part to advance the interests which ho was sure all present hajd at heart—the interests of religion, and of tho rising colony with which : ho was henceforth to be so intimately con-

neeted.—The deputation then withdrew.— His Lordship ofliciated in the Cathedral on Sunday, ancl addressed a very large congregation, the sacred edifice having been inconveniently crowded. He also officiated at vespers in the afternoon.