ROMAN CATHOLIC CHURCH.

Otago Witness, Issue 3247, 7 June 1916, Page 65

ROMAN CATHOLIC CHURCH.

OPENED AT MORNINGTON. Sunday was a red-letter day for the Roman Catholics of Mornington, tho occasion being the opening of a new church in Clyde avenue. It had been felt for a long time by Father Coffey and other members of the clergy that a church was urgently needed in Mornington, and after negotiations they secured a fine site. In addition to the church, there is ample room for the erection of a school, and possibly other buildings. The cost of the church was something over £IOOO, and it is supplied with every article of furniture necessary for conducting public worship and administering tho Holy Sacrament. The opening sermon was preached by tho Very Rev. Dean Burke (Invercargill). He apologised for the_ absence of Bishop Verdon, who, he said, could not attend owing to being indisposed. He took as his text Daniel, ch. 2, v. 44, and gave a most eloquent description of the history of the Christian Church from the time of the 12 Apostles, and showed how ono heresy after another had made war upon the church at different, periods, but that in duo course these had been vanquished. This new structure was a symbol of the expansion of the church, which dated back to the advent of the 12 Apostles, who suffered much at tho hands of the Jews and tho Gentiles. Dean Burke predicted a future for tho church in this new parish. He said that when the population of Duneclin reached 200,000—as it surely would—Mornington would become a very largo suburb, and there was no reason why they should not then have their school, convent, and even a monastery, adjoining the church. _ He congratulated tho congregation on their progress, and concluded by making an appeal for funds for the church, which had not been opened free of debt. This appeal was supplemented by Father Coffey, who stated that there was still £9OO owing on tho church. Tho offertory resulted in £3OO being raised for the Church Debt Extinction Fund. The Holy Sacrament was dispensed, and this concluded tho service, and the Church of St. Francis Xavier of Mornington was thus consecrated. During tho service appropriate hymns were sung by the choir.