CATHOLIC CENTENARY

Otago Daily Times, Issue 23436, 26 February 1938, Page 23

CATHOLIC CENTENARY

OPENING FUNCTIONS TO-DAY ARRIVAL OF APOSTLIC DELEGATE MANY VISITORS FROM OVERSEAS (Per United Press Association) AUCKLAND, Feb. 25. The arrival in Auckland to-mor-row of thousands of visitors from other parts of the Dominion and abroad will see the beginning of the celebrations asociated with the centenary of the Roman Catholic Church in New Zealand. Many months of preparation have gone into the organisation, and the opening functions will be of a strikingly picturesque character. The major item on the first day's programme is the .arrival of the Wanganella, which is expected about 8.30 a.m., with the Apostolic Delegate for Australia and New Zealand (Archbishop Panico) and a delegation of overseas prelates, priests and laymen These will number several hundred in all, among the most notable figures being Archbishop Gilroy (Sydney), Archbishop Mannix (Melbourne) the Very Rev Father Nerney S.J. (Melbourne), director of the Children of Mary Sodality in Australia and New Zealand, and the Rev. Father McEvoy, O.P. (Melbourne), director of the Holy Name Society in Australia and New Zealand. The Wanganella will also bring Bishop Brodie, of Christchurch, and Bishop Whyte, of Dunedin, who are returning from congress meetings at Newcastle. Special arrangements have been made for the greeting of these distinguished travellers. Aeroplanes will fly in salute over the Wanganella and fishing vessels of the Catholic Jugoslav community of Auckland will assemble to accompany the vessel in. When the Apostolic Delegate and other members of the party disembark about 10 o’clock-there will be a procession to St. Patrick’s Cathedral. The route will be lined by children of the Roman Catholic schools. At St. Patrick’s an official welcome will be given by Archbishop O’Shea, S.M., Metropolitan of New Zealand.

In the afternoon a garden party will be held at the Convent of the Sacred Heart, Remuera, and in the evening the Catholic schools’ centenary concert will be held in the Town Hall.

Throughout the day special trains will be delivering visitors from all over the Dominion to the city. The formal opening of the celebrations will take place at 11 a.m. on Sunday with solemn Pontifical Mass, celebrated in St. 'Patrick’s Cathedral by Archbishop O’Shea. His Excellency the Apostolic Delegate will preside and the preacher will be Bishop Liston. On account of the limited accommodation this service will be attended only by some 1000 representatives of parishes throughout New Zealand.

In the afternoon in the Town Hall the opening session of the first national congress in New Zealand of the St. Vincent de Paul Society, a world-wide Catholic organisation engaged in charitable works, will take place. Solemn vespers will be held in the cathedral at 7 p.m. The Apostolic Delegate will preside, and the celebrant will be Bishop Whyte. The sermon will be preached by the Very Rev. A. H. Ryan, ■ professor of philosophy at Queen’s University, Belfast.