CATHOLIC MATTERS.

New Zealand Tablet, Volume V, Issue 217, 22 June 1877, Page 9

CATHOLIC MATTERS.

To the Editor of the New Zkjllakd Tablet.

Sib, — Following up the subject of my last letter, I may inform you that His Lordship the Right Bey. Dr. Redwood has paid us a solemn episcopal visit this week. This visit, as he announced from the altar on Sunday morning, he intended to extend to tho -whole province, but circumstances prevented him at present from extending it farther than this city. He gave the people his solemn episcopal blessing, and granted them an indulgence of forty days. After briefly explaining the nature and meaning of indulgences, he had the Latin formula read, which enunciated the present indulgence. His Lordship gave a very beautiful and impressive exhortation to the children, and to those who were about to be confirmed, on the dispositions with which they should approach the sacrament, and on the graces which it infuses into the souls of those who receive it worthily. His Lordship then celebrated solemn High Mass, assisted by Fathers Ginatz and McNamara, as Deacon and Sub-deacon. There was a very large congregation, amongst whom might be seen a large sprinkling of Protestants, who were no doubt attracted by the presence of His Lordship. After Mass was over, all those who were to receive the Sacrament of Confirmation approached the rails, the boys and men first, the girls and the women coming after. They were of all ages — from ten to forty, and considering the great number that approached the sacrament, the order that prevailed throughout was astonishing. The greatest credit is due to Mr. O'Connor, the head master of the boys' school, for the order and the appearance of the boys under his charge. It would be difficult to conceive anything more edifying than the manner in which those children, with innocence and fervour, and devotion gleaming from their pure, unsullied souls, approached the rails. The girls were under the direction of the Nuns, and were all robed in white, with red sashes, emblematic, . I suppose, of the battle which, from that day forth, they were admonished to wage against "the world, the flesh, and the devil," — abattle as yet undreamt of in its severity to not a few of them. One might, as he looked on that innocent crowd of children, meditate with profit on the harassing conflict with the unkind world, — on the perpetual and ever-recurring straggle for existence, — and on the dismal, rugged path which the impenetrable future has got hidden away in its dark bosom, and is, perhaps, now slowly developing for God only knows how many of those buoyant, happy, light-hearted children. May the armour which they put on to-day be a shield and a defence to them in the ceaseless combat with the world, and may He in whose service they are now enlisting themselves, and under whose banner they are enrolling themselves, help them to fight His battles like valiant soldiers of the Cross. There were altogether over two hundred persons who received the Holy Sacrament of Confirmation, and His Lordship seemed quite exhausted when the ceremony was over. In the evening, after Vespers, he preached to a still larger congregation than that, of the morning, the church being, in fact, densely packed with persons of almost every shade of opinion, who were anxious to hear him. He took for his text a passage from Matt. xxiv. 13 : "He that persevereth to the end shall be saved." Upon this text he delivered an eloquent and impressive sermon, showing the necessity, and pointing out some of the means, of perseverance. He dwelt at some length on the fact — and I believe that the doctrine was new to some of his hearers — that grievous sin may be committed in thought alone, and proved most conclusively that the gravity of the sin lies not alone in the act, but in the thought — that is, the free consent of the will, and that the act itself but gives to the sin an accidental malice. His Lordship has an agreeable, easy, and fluent delivery j his illustrations are always happy, and his metaphors well chosen ; and, from the very beginning of his discourse to the last word of it, he rivets the attention of his hearers. His Lordship was waited on by a few gentlemen on Saturday , respecting the petitions which I mentioned in my last letter to you, and he expressed a sincere desire to help them in every way that he could to procure a bishop for Canterbury. He alluded to one or two trifling inaccuracies that had crept into the petitions by mistake or inadvertency, but in the main he agreed with them, and would, he assured them, do all in his power to' get the province of Canterbury off his hands. He is to receive the deputation and to give his answer formally on to-morrow (Wednesday), after which, in all probability, I shall send you a condensed report of the result of the interview. Eathkkalbnsis. Christchurch, June 10th, 1877.