THE RELIGIOUS COLUMN.

Otago Witness, Issue 2379, 5 October 1899, Page 62

THE RELIGIOUS COLUMN.

The Tasmanian Conference will be held in February, 1900. • Saturday, September 16, was the birthday of his Eminence Cardinal Moran, who -then entered on his seventieth year. Arrangements have been made for the meeting of the synod of the Diocese of Auckland 'on October 16lh. The synod of the Dioeefe of Christchurch will also hold its session this month. The synod of the Church of England meets on Wednesday, October 25th. Measures of great importance will be brought before it. In other respects it may be a most momentous 1 synod ' The Countess of Derby recently laid the foundation of the Liverpool Church House, which will be a magnificent pile of buildings ' when completed, covering an area of over 1000 squara yards. In reference to a proposal that the,-Avch-bishop of Canterbury be invited to attend at, or send a commissary to, the General Synod of 1900, the Archbishop of Sydney repo.rts thai he "found that the predominance of opinion was against any such invitation." A cable message from London announces that the Anglican Bishop of North Queensland, Dr Barlow, who is visiting. England, has obtained subscriptions amounting' to £10,000 towards the endowment fund of the bishopric- Bishop Barlow intends sailing for Australia at ihe end of October. The Bishop of Honolulu has been on an official visit to the. Anglican churches in Fiji. That group is under the jurisdiction of the Bishop of London, but he has granted a commissiqn to the Bishop of Honolulu to perform episcopal functions anywhere in the l'ac'fic outside the Melanesia!! Mission. The Rev. M. W. Butterfield, formerly of Winton, Southland, has entered upon his duties as locum tenens for the Vicar of S. . Matthew's, Auckland, till the end of November. The Dunedin diocese loses the servines of an energetic and earnest priest through jLhe' departure of Mr Butterfield. • The father of the British Wesleyan Conference is the Rev. Richard Rymer, the oldest .minister serving under the English Conference. He was 90 years of age on TTebnriry 25, and entered the ministry in 1?29. Notwithstanding his great age, he is ?till strong and active. He was born in a Yorkshire village, and commenced'to preach when 16 years of age. _ Archdeacon Hogan, who died at Weslbury, Tasmania, recently, was by/ age and ordination the senior Roman Catholic priest in that colony. He was ordained priest in St. Joseph's, Hobart, in 1850, the year following his arrival from Ireland, by Dr Willson, the first Roman Catholic Bishop of Hobart.* Father Matthew O'Callaghan, forsiierly of | Burnic. and recently of Quceiistown, is now j the. senior priest. . | Sir Monier Williams, Cl.lv, who lately ■ died at Oxford, was the moft diptinguished j Sanskrit scholar and InSian linguist of his day. It is worth remembering that a man of such learning and of such recognised mastery of Indian was an earnest and humble soldier of the Cross. He was, of cour«o, only one of numerous instances of the ntueft, of the Gospel to satisfy the most cultured intellect. "Like Sir William Hunter, Sir Charles Aitehe-, son, and many other Anglo-Indians, he was a firm believer in mission ■« ork. His earnest advocacy of misdion work was of the greatest importance to the mission cause. September 14- v.a 3 the great Jewish l'i=t Day of the year, the Day of Atonement, ;»nd was marked by special religious iKcTvances in the Great Synagogue, Elizabeth street, Sydney, lasting lrom 7 ii.m. to 6.30 p.m. The fast is of the strictest character, and began in reality at 6.30 p.m. on Sep'.einber 35, when a service was conducted by the Rev. A. B. Davis, and lasted for four houis. The Synagogue was crowded to the doors,' the choir, under the direction of JETevr Gerard Vollinar, leading the singing. The service on Thursday was continuous, but the clergy took its various parts according (to \rrangeriient, the Revs. P. Philippstein. A. D. Wolinski, J. H. Landau, and A. S B. Davis engaging therein during the day. Additional services were also held at the Protestant Hall, the Oddfcllowb' Hall, and in several of the suburbs. For the first property offered as a sec house for the Dunedin diocese a &urn of money hns been refused already this month which represents a profit of £900 on the purchase money. Its value is now such fhat its resile will yield a profit of over £1200 (and more if delayed a time), which the diocese might have had. Those who voted for its purchase did not form a majority of the whole committee, and were met by such opposition that a majority of the whole wat- not obtainable out of the members present. The vicar of St. Matthew's (who knew well the value of the property) was strongly supported by Revs. Canon Richards and C. S. Bowden and Mr JTardy in favour of its purchase; and had their view prevailed, the diocc-jc would have bought the above^ property — and alt-io might have bought the Woodhaugh property (if it wished), and made in addition, by the resale of the abovo property, a bum of £1200 towards the endowment of the bee. — N.Z. Guardian.