CORRESPONDENCE.

New Zealand Tablet, Volume I, Issue 18, 30 August 1873, Page 9

CORRESPONDENCE.

TKHUKA. Your valuable paper the * Tablet' has done a great deal of good since it came among us, and is a great boon to Catholics herefas a me.irs of knowing tlie state of affairs in i,h* Catholic world. I hope it will continue to meet with a good share of support from our small but flourishing district. We have a very tidy little Church here It v enough to say it ii^at present large enough lor tho congregation. Our priest is the Rev Father Charaenier, who gives admirable satisfaction through his widespread ftock. He attends here about once in three weeks. We know this is not often enough, but the other parts of his flock must have a fair share of his attention. The great want here is that which I may say prevails in all country districts-religious instructioa for clnldren. I fear a great many are growing up in eafc ire ignorance of our holy faith. It is to be hoped that in country districts where the mstruolion-giving element is wanting, some of our goo;! Catholics will look around and see if there are not some means of imparting Chri B tian knowledge to our little ones. If there are not some charitable persons found to give instruction, parents musfc do so themselves, for the priest has not the time. Parents can leave no treasure so valuable as their faith to their children, and should see that their children are properly instructed in our holy religion. Let all who neglect this duty tremble and reflect that an account will be required of hem at the dreadful tribunal of Christ for the sins of those under their care, which by a faithful discharge of their duty would not have been committed. Salvation lepends chiefly on the time of youth Jo convince you of this truth, i shall produce the authority of sacred Scripture-that is of the Ho y Ghost, whose words are so express, that it is impossible to doubt. Why does it in so many places exhort young people to think of their salvation betimes, and apply themselves rS virtue in their youth but in order to show of how great importance is that time for their salvation. Now are * c going to see these little ones grow up in entire want of religious instruction ? Lastly, amons books of sacred Scripture, why was there one expressly made for the instruction of youth-lhat of Proverbs ? Does not all this manifestly discover that the Holy Ghost would give men to understand that the tune of youth is of greater consequence than most persons imagine, and that all the happiness or misery of man, whether in this life or in the next, depends generally on that time being spent well or ill Where is the Catholic child to learn to fear God and JbserJe at sHIaT attTnd * " evidtmtlj nOt - ia those ? odles3 sahoQl * wn'Ya GRAHAMSTOTVIf. There is a confraternity here of the Living Rosary ; and through the exertions of some of its members, Shortland Church now poSs a beautiful stone baptismal font, which was blessed golemnl? on las? Sunday evening after Vespers by the Rev. J. A. Norris, assisted by Pa her Golden. La-t Sunday (August 10th) evening the Rev. J Golden preached a very instructive surmon on humility, taking for his text part of the 4th chapter of thejepistle of St. Paul to the Philipp.ans Humility was the key stone of all virtues-it was tho greatest tho most sublime of all virtues Therefore, he would imprest upon them the great favour with which God received the truly humble and penitent The Rev. Father Norris. after benedictionf ascended the altar, and delivered a short discourse on the practice of the Church in using holy water j explained the uses of it, and testified to its benefits and advantages by quotations from the Holy Scripture. He afterwards recommended to the congregation the society of the Ro 3 arv which was the means of having for the Church such a handsome' baptismal font. A procession was then formed, a youth carryin- a We crucifix first, then the aoly tea and bearers of the incense aria holy water, then Father Golden, and Father Norris, attired in a oopeV h° g ?*? * i toDy °i the S . amtß) and the other P ra * e « Proscribed to bo recited on such occasions, the font was blessed by Father

There has been an absurd story going the rounds of the newspapers of this Province, which is headed "Tactics of the Church of fe;^ a -^ r °l ßtant cler gy maQ *»d » some part of England, and that at his death he expressed a wish that a particular packet of papers should be destroyed, but that the executors of his' will determined to open it, when Presto! it turned out to be a dispensation from the Pope giving permission to th© clergyman to act as a Protestant clergyman when he was in reality a Catholic priest. Now at is quite apparent this is nothing more than a simple fabrication. It is further stated that a Catholic priest wrote to the English papers in which this anecdote was first published, repudiating the charge and demanding proof; but no proof was offered, and the executors thought that the base assertion was sufficient, and refused to allow the alleged " dispensation "to be examined. The papers can discern some sinister object of the Pope in this, and warn all true Protestants of the necessity of preventing in New Zealand Roman Catholicism ever being in the ascendant. It appears to me, sir, that aince the Tajjlet commenced publication Protestants imagine that the Church of Kome is aspmng to supremacy in this Colony, and accordingly they raise a clamour against us and our faith, which is perfectly unjustifiable and groundless. They would even deny us the privilege of being represented by the Press, of having one solitary organ of our own throughout these islands, when the whole of the newspapers of the Colony, with few exceptions, are antagonistic to our tenets. Let us hope they will come to consider that the spread of Catholicity is not owing -to the frail exertions of humanity, but because of the Divine hand of the Almighty which guides it, and propagates its ancient and holy doctrines. Let us also hope that they willbe more charitable towards it ; and that if it be God's will, the veil of orejudice and bigotry wttl be taken from their eyos, and they will see the purity, the apostohcity, the holiness of the doctrines of the one true Church of Christ.