FIRST BISHOP’S IDEALS

Southland Times, Issue 23445, 28 February 1938, Page 6

FIRST BISHOP’S IDEALS

Appeal To Continue Work Begun APOSTOLIC DELEGATE WELCOMED (United Press Association) AUCKLAND, February 27. A welcome to his Excellency t e Apostolic Delegate, the Most Rev. John Panico, who presided over the Solemn Pontifical Mass celebrated this morning in St. Patrick’s Cathedral and to visiting members of the c aflf ol ‘ c hierarchy overseas, was extended by mshop Liston in an address during the ceremony. He spoke of the ‘deals Bishop Pompallier and of the taitn which inspired the Church. “Here amid the scenes of our Catholic beginnings, we welcome you to this sacred commemoration, said the dis hop “In your person we venerate tne Holy Father and through your Excellency we express our attachment to the Faith and See of Peter and our devotion to his august person. We trust your Excellency’s presence among us for these days of remembrance will strengthen in our hearts the sense o dutiful and affectionate loyalty to the Vicar of ‘Christ. “We are honoured, too, and encouraged in the coming of the archbishops and bishops of Australia and the Pacific. We cherish the fraternal courtesy that brings the distinguished Bishop of Oklahoma to represent the hierarchy of the United States, and we feel the Catholic soul of all these southern lands profoundly moved by the presence of the venerable Archbishop of Tuam, straight from the heart ot the Mother Church of Ireland that has formed and fashioned us. The Church of God lives and moves and has her being in one ideal, that all men ma X come to the Father through Our Lord Jesus Christ and, conscious of her mission from above, she walks tne roads of every land in pursuit of this ideal and under the authority of Pope Gregory XVI John Baptist Francis Pompallier came to Western Oceania. He was zealous in his priestly work in Lyons, but afar off were thousands to be brought to the Light of God and the same Divine impulse that drove Francis Xavier from the secure triumphs of the University of Paris to unknown toils and the mean bodily labours, hardships and dangers of the East made the young abbe apostle and the father in God of the Church in New Zealand. Beyond his memory shall not fail, and his name shall be recalled'from generation unto generation. “The bishop came not alone. Priests of the Society of Mary and Marist Brothers were his first helpers, and the memory of their holiness and sacrifice honours their own native land. These and thousands of others that fill to overflowing each of the 100 years are our husbanded remembrances of the faith and goodness of the priests, religious and laity and of God’s watchfulness, mercies and graces. The years are before us and if at this time we grow more conscious of our spiritual power and responsibilities we must take joyous resolution for our tasks. Our veneration for the past, for the bishops, priests and laity now with God, does not consist in mounting guard over their tomb, but in pressing forward to win for Christ the souls of Maori and pakeha, Catholic and nonCatholic. His Sacred Person, His message, the very thought of Him are for us the heart of things. We do believe that in Him will everyone find peace of soul. In the spirit of our father in God, Bishop Pompallier, we ask today the blessing of Jesus Christ in our land and all its people through the length of days.”

ST. VINCENT DE PAUL SOCIETY FIRST NATIONAL CONGRESS OPENED (United Press Association) AUCKLAND, February 27. In the presence of 1500 supporters, the Apostolic Delegate this afternoon opened the first national congress of the St Vincent de Paul Society in the Town Hall. Associated with his Excellency were the president of the Superior Council of the society, Mr P. D. Hoskins, of Wellington, Bishop Liston and several visiting prelates, including Archbishops D. Mannix, of Melbourne, and A. Killian, of Adelaide, and the provincial of the Vincentian Fathers, the Very Rev. Father R. Macken. His Excellency complimented the Church upon the celebrations and emphasized the need for unity in charitable work. If in New Zealand the Catholic Church was to be considered always the poor man’s friend, if it was to stave off the calamities which had been brought upon it in other countries by the ruinous tenets of atheistic Communism, it would be due to such workers as those of the society going out to seek and succour their fellow men in distress. To ensure another century of unhampered progress it was necessary to renew the spirit of union based on the virtue of Christian charity and set out again to work in perfect harmony for the further alleviation of human distress.

GENTLEMEN-IN-WAITING ON DELEGATE AUCKLAND, February 27. A touch of the medieval was lent to the Catholic centenary functions during the week-end by the attendance upon the Apostolic Delegate, the Most Rev. John Panico, of two gentlemen-in-waiting clad in uniforms of Papal orders. They are both prominent Sydney Catholics and are Knight Commanders of St. Gregory. Mr E. P. Hollingdale, besides being a Papal knight, is also a Papal chamberlain and serves at the Vatican for one week in each year. He was decorated by the Pope after the Eucharistic Congress at Sydney in 1928. Mr Frank Gilmore, the other gentle-man-in-waiting, is a prominent business man in Sydney and was honoured by the Pope two years ago for special services as a Catholic layman.

The position of a gentleman-in-wait-ing is ceremonial and corresponds in some measure to that of an aide-de-camp.