Quarter-Century Church's Service

Sun (Auckland), Volume I, Issue 144, 8 September 1927, Page 11

Quarter-Century Church's Service

ARCHDEACON HOLBROOK’S JUBILEE BISHOPS HONOUR ST. JOSEPH’S It was apt that Bishop Cleary should refer to Colonel Lindbergh’s flight across the Atlantic when presiding at solemn high mass at St. Joseph's, Grey Lynn, this morning. The bishop himself made flying history in New Zealand. He was the first Dominion prelate to visit the faithful by air. "THOUGH America feted Colonel Lindbergh with dancing and singing,” said Bishop Cleary, ‘fit was to his mother that second thoughts were given.” Bishop Cleary, Bishop Liston, coadjutor Bishop of Auckland, and the Bishop of Dunedin, Dr. Whyte, hon-

cured Archdeacon I-lolbrook by their presence at St. Joseph’s Roman Catholic Church on the occasion of the 25th anniversary of his ordination as a priest. The Archbishop of New Zealand, Dr. Redwood, made the trip from Wellington. The aged metropolitan—he is now 88 years of age—was not prese?it at mass, though he subsequently attended the luncheon to which the parishioners of St. Joseph’s entertained Archdeacon Holbrook and the visiting clergy. There will be another complimentary gathering to-night at Scots Hall, Symonds Street, when the jubilarian will receive a presentation from his flock. Archbishop Redwood, Bishop Cleary, Bishop Liston and Bishop Whyte will be present. A PROUD MOTHER “Mrs, Lindbergh was honoured because she was Colonel Lindbergh’s mother,” said Bishop Cleary, “and we who are gathered here to-day to honour a son must also give our second thoughts to the little Irish mother who, away back in Wexford, bore him.” The jubilee they were celebrating, he explained, did not represetn the proud achievement of a single day as was the case with the American “bird-man.” It rpresented 25 years of faithful and devoted service to the Catholic Church. “For the mother who bore this son in Ireland, could she have been with us to-day, it would have been a day of supreme joy. She was the mother of a priest.” The Catholic Church, Dr. Cleary maintained, was a “live arid an active thing,” and he reminded the flock of St. Joseph’s that the Highest Priest of all spoke to His peopcle through the mouths of His priests. For 25 zealous years of accumulated service they had to give thanks. To the jubilarian congratulations must be tendered. “We thank God for the service he has given us,” declared his bishp, “and we commend him to God’s blessing for the years yet to come.” Dean Van Dyk was deacon, Rev. Father Furlong (who recently celebrated his silver jubilee and is a contemporary of Archdeacon 'Holbrook) was sub--deacon, and Rev. Dr. Buxton,' Administrator of St. Patrick’s Cathedral, was master of ceremonies. The

Representatives of the diocesan and Millihill clergy, who assisted, included: Monsignor Lane, Monsignor Ormond, Dean Murphy and the Rev. Fathers Mansfield, Bleakley, Dotfe, O’Flynn. O’Malley, O’Doherty, O’Byrne, Taylor. O’Carroll, Devoider, Zanna, Lyons, Silk, Shore and Kennedy.

The singing of the children bf the Catholic schools at Grey Lynn, and boys from the Takapuna Orphanage, was a feature of a service which was characterised by the ritual and impressive pageantry of the Church.