REDCASTLE COLLEGE.

Otago Witness, Issue 3804, 8 February 1927, Page 32

REDCASTLE COLLEGE.

OPENING THE NEW TEMPLE. AN IMPRESSIVE CEREMONY. When the late Mr John M'Lean established his home on a natural elevation that overlooked the ocean, a home surrounded by lovely walks, drives, and lawns, and protected it p-ainst adverse elements with beautiful pines, elms, and macrocarpa, he could scarcely’ have anticipated that what was designed as a residence-in-perpetuity for his heirs and successors would, in the tortuous process of time, be converted into the domicile of a family, the proportions of which would have baffled his imagination. But so it is. The transformation that has been in progress for some months was consummated yesterday w'hen in the presence of a vast concourse of people from north, south, east, and west, beneath a dull grey canopy that added impressiveness to the scene, Bishop, Whyte solemnly blessed the magnificent pile of buildings that are henceforth to be a temple of learning, and dedicated them for all time to the service of the Great Master and the Church. It was an historical event, an event that signalises the progress of religious education and symbolises the development of those classical institutions that are held by many to be the bulwark of our modern civilisation.

From early in the day adherents of the church had been arriving by, motor car, wheeled vehicle, and train from all points of the compass, and when the hour for the ceremony was approaching the thoroughfare leading to the palatial red-roofed structure that has been so appropriately named, and that nestles in a forest of stately trees, resembled nothing so much as a vast pilgrimage anxious to pay tribute and homage to a beneficent cause. The thousands who assembled in the beautiful grounds and viewed the proceedings with interest and admiration were not confined to those of the Roman Catholic persuasion. They represented all shades of religious thought and all phases of political and social life. The scene cn the threshold of the temple, or college, was one of remarkable solemnity and ecclesiastical splendour, for here was congregated almost every high dignitary of the church in the diocese of New Zealand, from the venerable Archbishop, with hia scarlet robes and the insignia of his high office, to the most humble prelate attired in his clerical gown of black. There also were to be seen in their conventional robes those self-sacrificing Christian Brothers, whose lives have been dedicated to the noble v'ork of charity and religious instruction, and in the multitude that constituted the laity were men and women oi high social and political standing in the land, some of whom have been working silently, and enthusiastically for years for the object that has now been attained, and others who will support the new institution from the measure of their wealth and the proportions ,of their families. 'lne occasion was one the portents wfoicn can be regarded only in their full significance with the progress of time and the cultivation of that school atmosphere which creates high ideals and enduring traditions u is » n a spir ’ t of . supreme optimism that the Roman Catholic community views the future, and it was this optimism that found expression in the memorable celebration that took place at Redcastle on Sunday. A special word of praise is due to Messrs P. -Doyle and F. Cooney, to whose untiring efforts the success of the function was in no small measure due. The train from Dunedin brought 250 .passengers from the city and intermediate ■stations and numerous buses brought a further large contingent from Timaru. The prelates present included Archbishop Redwood and Coadjutor Archbishop O'Shea (Wellington), Bishop Cfeary and Coadjutor Bishop Liston (Auckland). Bishop Brodie (Christchurch), Bishop Whyte (Dunedin), the very Rev. Father Goodman. M.S.C. (Sydney), the very Rev. Father P. Lynch U.S.S.R. (Sydney), Dr Geaneo, Rector of St. Bede’s College (Christchurch), Dr Morkane, Mosgiel College, the Rev. Father o‘Donnell (Gore), the Rev. Father Kirby (Timaru), • the Rev Father O'Reilly (Oamaru), and the Rev. Fathers Scanlan, Collins, Monaghan, Findlay, Fenelon and M'Gettigan. The prelates were accompanied in a Specially erected dais at the north end of the building. '

BLESSING THE NEW EDIFICE. After the crowds had inspected the interior of the main building with its welldighted dormitories and expensive corridors, dining rooms and chapel, with the new school that has been erected at the rear of the large establishment, the ceremony commenced. There was a big assemblage of Hibernians in full regalia. Punctually at 2.30 p.m. Bishop Whyte, with a procession of bishops and clergy, entered the building from the east and blessed the edifice with impressive ceremonial rites. Then the distinguished prelates mid others ascended the dias. The principals of the college (Brother Magee) read apologies from the mayor, the member for the district and the rector of St. Patrick’s College, together with the Sacred Heart College (Auckland) and the Marist Brothers. He expressed his pleasure at seeing present' so representative a gathering of the hierarchy and paid a tribute to the ladies and others who had provided for the large gathering. He was plea*d to know that the rector of St. Bedes College (Sydney) was present and he expressed appreciation at the fact that Mr. F. Milner, rector of the Waitaki Boys’ High School and one of the most distinguished educationists in the Dominion was present at the function. This was a happy augury for the future good relations between the two schools. He concluded by stating that the Christian Brothers School would primarily be a home for the boys. BISHOP WHYTE’S ADDRESS. Bishop Whyte (Dunedin) expressed pleasure at seeing such a large and representative gathering. He was especially pleased to have with him their venerated metropolitan who had taken a prominent part in all the leading functions connected with the church over a long period of years. He stated - that if the Christian Brothers School compared with St. Bedes and similar institutions, those who had put their hands in their pockets would bless the day that they had done so. He expressed ■thanks to those who had made the purchase of this valuable property possible, and to the ladies who had undertaken to provide afternoon tea for such a large gathering. It was hoped that the Christian Brothers would receive such support that they would be able to carry their burden, and that the school would become a source of Christian enlightenment. He trusted that the school would be conducted for the glory of God and for the salvation of souls. AN INSPIRING ADDRESS.

Archbishop Redwood, in an inspiring address; said: “I am happy to attend this opening of the fine new college of the Christian Brothers, because it affords me the opportunity sincerely to congratulate the Brothers on their eminent success as teachers, not only in this Dominion, but throughout Australia and other lands, and also to tender to them my best wishes for still greater success in the future. I am also pleased to take this occasion to set before this present distinguished audience and the general public, an educated Catholic’s idea of what education ought to be. “Now, it is with education as with What really matters is not the outward vesture or binding, but the excellence of the contents, the inward heart and soul. Ihe form may vary with circumstances and times. - The subject-matter, with which true education deals, must occasionally change with the evolution of our bustling civilisation.

“But genuine education consists, not in the number of books a man reads, not in the lectures he hears, not in the scholastic credits he piles up, not in the varied curriculum he covers, nor the number of degrees he carries from his school or college: but in the head-power, the heartpower, and the hand-power he develops and carries into everyday life. True education must be measured from within. Its sound test is the man-power it puts into the soul of the individual. ‘Seek ye the Lord and be strengthened,’ Sai’s the Psalmist. God is the source of strength. Any education that bars Him out of the programme will be devoid of its full efficacy -and vitality. You may boast—as some men now do—of advance in the science of pedagogy and its improved methods. They may boast of being the builders of a new civilisation. Vain boast! They have eliminated from the school the one factor that might have built up a strong and manly generation. “The. earnest search of God, the quest of Divine truth, and the constant pursuit of the ideals which that search involves — these are the factors that impart to the

faculties of the soul their fulness and vigour. That pursuit of Divine truth strengthens the memory which stores up sound, substantial, and noble ideas. It lifts up the imagination and leads it into fields of the infinite. It unlocks the gates of fancy before the splendours of uncreated truth and the vision of a beauty ever ancient and ever new.

“It increases the power of the human intellect, because it brings it into contact with uncreated Truth itself. That intellect is fed with a closely-knitted and logically coherent system of doctrines, the study of which develops the noblest and most distinctive prerogative of the mind, that of abstract analysis and generalisation.

“The Catholic child daily learning his catechism is really, though unconsciously, laying the foundation of a solid and comprenensive philosophy. He is learning the cause of things, the cause of the world around him; he is learning the purpose of life, and the destiny that awaits him. He is learning from that little book the principle's of sound sociology, the great basic truths, without which the individual, the family., and the society must perish. “Under a Divine sanction, and not from the fallible laws of powerless mortals, he is learning the necessity of justice, chastity, respect for authority, and the rights of others. The greatest educators, ancient and modern, always insisted upon a model for the child, and, nowadays, it is the great pedagogical blunder to neglect bringing before the child’s eye the greatest model that can be presented to its imagination, the imitation especially of Christian and Catholic childhood, the Man-God, Jesus Chrst. “Against the growing evils of violence, divorce, juvenile crime, desecration of home, the degradation of the theatre, and the lowering of all standards of womanly modesty and decorum, mere legislation will be lamentably powerless. No force outside of the human conscience can render men and women orderly, chaste, and just for any considerable time; and especially when they are under the witchery and spell of strong and prolonged temptation. “Men and women must undergo a change from within. Their minds and hearts must be attuned to the message of a higher ideal than that of mere civic virtue, or soeial service, or patriotism. Some message of another world must enter their minds and souls, in order to lift them above the allurements and temptations of the present world.

“The highway man who robs the passerby of his purse, or the burglar who lifts vour silverware, is far less dangerous than the State or the educator who despoils the helpless child of the one and only guide, support, and strength which enables him to battle with life successfully, with life’s trials, multiform temptations, and fascinating allurements To take God out of the life of the child, or to leave Him there only during the brief hours of the Sunday school, is not only a crime in a Christian nation, but a gross and well nigh irremediable pedagogical error. “The great duty of education, considered purely from the standpoint of the natural and normal development of the human faculties, is to put God in the schoolroom, to enthrone Him in the heart and the mind of childhood and youth. There is no educational substitute for the Ten Commandments. ‘Thou shalt not steal will not restrain the thief or the highwayman, if he has only to fear the human law and prison. It has some chance of doing so when considered as the command of a Supreme Being. Who has the right to command obedience and the power to punish disloyalty with the full and awful consequences of His just wrath. God and His law—any education omitting to put these two as "the programme, is but a scrap of paper, which, in the moment of blind passion, will be torn to shreds. There is no substitute for God and His law. , “Such is the noble ideal pursued incessantly, for the years of a lifetime, by the Christian Brothers. It is in their eyes a sacred vocation, not a sordid trade . Incir aim- is to guide childhood and youth in the path of honour and virtue. It is a most meritorious work with momentous consequences for time and eternity. “Its value and nobility have been the theme of praise and admiration of the most eloquent masters and thinkers of mankind. Witness the eulogy of the goldenmouthed St. John Chrysostom, who tells us that the man who forms childhood and youth to virtue and justice far excels the merit of the able painter or sculptor who makes -a perfect picture or statue of the human form. That, my dear Brothers, is your life work and the object of your untiring zeal and endeavour, mindful as vou are of the inspired words of Holy, Writ that ‘they who instruct many to justice shall shine as stars for all eternity.’ “In conclus’on. I again congratulate you on the foundation of this, great college, and, interpreting the sentiments of this large audience, I wish you unbounded prosperity and perfect success.” OTHER ADDRESSES. Cr W. H. Frith, as a representative of the Oamaru Borough Council, stated that he did not lay claim to any extraordinary amount of religion. In the absence of the Mayor and on behalf of the citizens oi Oamaru, he congratulated the Catholic community upon the great progress ■ it was making in religious education. He stated that the duty of the Christian Brothers was to take boys in the rough and rub the rough edges off them in the same way in which the edges were removed from a brilliant. He wished the Brothers all success in their mission, and expressed the hope that Oamaru would become an educational centre of great importance in the Dominion. Air Frank Milner, rector of- the Waitaki High Sfchool, expressed his sympathy with the Christian Brothers in their work, anu said he hoped the Waitaki School and Redeastle School would walk side by side in competition both in the field of education and at athletics. He congratulated the Christian Brothers upon having secured such a noble site for their school, which would lend itself to the aesthetic side of the school’s activities. It was a great thing that they had the Redcastle College side by side with Waitaki, as it would give an important academical atmosphere to the northern area of Oamaru. He trusted that the school would have a long and honourable career. Dr Liston (Auckland), in making an appeal for financial support for the Redcastle College, commented upon the great work that was in front of the institution Incidentally he mentioned that the first school established in Auckland was a Roman Catholic school. As a New Zealander, and a member of the Church, he. was proud of the opportunity of being

present that day. Forty years ago he had been brought to the doors of the Christian Brothers’ school in Dunedin, and he still felt bound by the ties of affection to this splendid institution. He stated that the financial responsibilities of the college rested on the bishop of the diocese, and he appealed to members of the Church to remove from his shoulders a portion of these responsibilities. Mr J. B. Callan (Dunedin), who was also one of the students of the Christian Brothers’ school in Dunedin, extended his congratulations to the brothers upon the splendid evidence of progress that was

presented that day. He stated that they owed a great debt of gratitude to the Christian Brothers, and they should express their sense of gratitude in a practical manner. A resolution in favour of taking up a collection was carried unanimously. An announcement was later made that the Bishop of Dunedin and the Rev. Father O’Donnell (Gore) had each contributed £lOO, Mr Thomas Slattery had subscribed £3O, Father O’Neill £lO 10s the Redemptionist Fathers (Wellington) £lO 10s, Mr, D. M Kenzie £lO 10s, Mrs Coulghan CDunedin) £lO, Mr T. M'Phee (Awamoxo) £lO, and many other smaller amounts. The total sum collected approximated £l2OO. During the afternoon tea was provided by the ladies, and music was supplied by the Oamaru, Municipal Band. The visitors, having inspected the beautiful grounds, a memorable ceremony was brought to a close at about 4.30 p.m.