CHRISTIAN BROTHERS.

Timaru Herald, Volume CXXIII, 24 January 1927, Page 4

CHRISTIAN BROTHERS.

WELCOMED TO OAMARU.

On Friday evening St. Joseph’s School, Oamavu, was taxed to capacity, to extend a welcome to the Christian Brothers lo Onmaru. Rev. Father O’Reilly presided, and in introducing flip Rues Is of the evening—llcv. Brothers B. F. Magee (Principal of SI. Mary’s College. Mcdcaslle), J. N. Moore (organiser), P. Bowler, L. Brennan, L Dowd and A. Prunstcr—stated it was a high honour to preside at. such an assembly, lie was more Ilian delighted to associate himself with the*. Catholic community in welcom- ! ing the advent of the Christian Bro- ' tilers to Oamaru. lie knew of thenwork -and their worth, and said. flic reputation of the Brothers as scientists deep-thinkers, and educationists was world-wide. Their influence in Norlh Otago would quickly spread and their college would become a huge magnet drawing a large, number of pupils as was the case elsewhere. The. speaker in j reminiscent vein recalled that when i he was in Oamaru some twenty-live years ago, the Catholic boys, as iegards their school, were in an ex-1 ceplionnllv bad way, their school j being utterly inadequate. Lut.-| although the .school was bad, the j teacher was most efficient. J hat teacher was present with them th«u | night in the person of Mr Duggan- j (Applause). On behalf of the cider | members of the congregation and j himself, also Mr Duggan’s ex-pupils,: he congratulated Mr Duggan on ms hale and hearty appearance. vulh reference to the work the ■Christian j Brothers proposed to undertake in j Oamaru, Rev. Father 0 Reilly said j that both priests and people had not the faintest shadow of doubt Inn , that the illustrious work of the founder of the Christian Brothei s movement would be. emulated at: Redcasllc. (Applause). Mr F. Cooney, on behalf of the. Catholic Men’s Club, extended, a wel- j come to the Brothers, and said they were, doing a wonderful work m raising the standard of education among local Catholic boys. In Rev. Brother Magee they had a man of bright scholarship who had had a wonderful experience in many Slates, and he came to Oamaru to make Redcastle one of the greatest colleges of the Dominion. Mr Cooney remarked that tho late Rev. Monsignor Mackay had been most enthusiastic about the establishment of a College at Redcastle. Mosgicl had been the site first selected, and it was a great honour when his Lordship the Bishop and the Christian Brothers had eventually derided on Redcastle as the site. The Order now had seventy colleges in Australia and New Zealand and the Oamaru College would he another link in their educational

system Mr P. Duggan stated he was very proud to be present that evening He thanked Rev. Father () Reiilv for his kind remarks, and said that any merit due to him was only a reflected light, as he himself had been a pupil of. the Christian Brothers. lie had been educated in Ireland, and having imbibed the principles of the Brothers’ scholastic system, he merely followed then methods of teaching which had proved very successful. Mr Duggan was of the opinion that the Brothers could not do everythingTeaching nowadays \yas a specially .difficult problem and required the co-operation of everyone. Mr T. Doyle said it was a great pleasure to welcome the Brothers to Oamaru and he hoped they would have an enjoyable and happy time. In all walks of life pupils of the Brothers had distinguished themselves, and he was sure that in the time to come Oamaru would he proud of the achievements of the pupils of Redcastle. Bev. Brother Magee on rising to speak received prolonged applause. Brother Magee stated that some people laboured undei' a misconception as to the finances of the Christian Brothers. Recently he had gone through Australia on a course of examination and inspection. On inquiry at each college he xvas informed "that the credit balance was negligible. This was due to the fact that whenever the Christian Brothers had anything to spare they turned the surplus to fresh works. Redcastle might be thought to stand aloof from Oamaru and be for the purpose of educating the sons of the wealthy only. This was not the case. The college was by no means a class institution. The poorer children would receive equal treatment with those more favoured by fortune. The speaker related two or three instances of lads rising from obscure places to the highest positions through the influence of the Christian Brothers. He knew of many an interesting little drama where' families stinted themselves to give the boys a good education, and in every instance the Christian Brothers had played their part This was their mission: To help ■’ onward ihe sons of Catholic people, I rich and poor alike. He paid I a tribute to the Dominican I Nuns for the faithful work they had accomplished and sincerely thanked everyone for their presence that evening. With regard to the expense of the college they were confronted with a debit of £BOOO, while another £3OOO or £4OOO would be required for equipment However, they faced the position with the greatest hope, and lie was quite sure they had the friendship and Help of Catholics on all occasions. (Applause.) Brother Moore referred to the fact that Oamaru had already done a lot to put Bcdcastle on its feet. They had set out to raise £2m (Kill to finance the undertaking. I h<wr already had £SOOO in hand and £2OOO promised. After the • conference ot clergy next week it was probable his Lordship the Bishop would send a live appeal through Otago. The speaker said he came from Australia, and over there in Victoria alone his Grace the Archbishop had secured £175 000 in twelve months. For the College at Bcdcastle they needed £25,000 and it was only a matter of time before they got this sum.