THE MISSION IN CHRISTCHURCH.

New Zealand Tablet, Volume V, Issue 242, 21 December 1877, Page 17

THE MISSION IN CHRISTCHURCH.

Sunday the second inst., was a red letter day for the Catholics of Christchurch. There was so much of that which was solemn and beautiful and interesting in religion crowded into the ceremonies of that day, that it will long be remembered by the people as an epoch in their lives.

As I intimated in my last communication, the mission was brought to a close on that day, and Time has borne away on its heavily freighted wings, and carried to that " Calm Land beyond the Sea" results that can only be known on the Day Jof Judement. During the last week of the mission the attendance became larger, and the interest in it grew more intense until it culminated in the temperance procession of Sunday, than which nothing of a Catholic character has ever been better carried through in these colonies. I myself have been in almost all of them. I have travelled from the Tropic of Capricorn down here to Canterbury, I have been in Brisbane, in Sydney, and in Melbourne, but I have never yet seen, on this side of the equator anything at all to come up to the demonstration in question. It was nothing less than the living, open and undisguised manifestation of a people's abhorrence of the terrible vice of drunkenness and the public avowal of their love of temperance, it was the victory of virtue over vice, of peace over discord, of happiness over misery, of abundance over want and penury. It was in fine the triumph of God over sin and the spirit of drunkenness, and it brought pleasure and joy and gladness to the hearts of all those who took part in it.

"Every evening during the week Father Hennebery gave the pledge to those who had not previously taken it until on. last Sunday the number of pledged people amounted to a')out two thousand one hundred (2,100). In this connection I may mention that His Lordship, the Bishop, has granted an indulgence of forty days, for each day that one keeps the pledge, provided that three Paters, three Ayes, and a Gloria be recited in honour of the holy Thirst of our Blessed Lord upon the Cross, and praying for all drunkards that they may obtain the grace of conversion and take the total abstinence pledge. This in itself should be an incentive to all Catholics, both to take the pledge, and to keep it. I may also mention another concession made by His Lordship to our weakness. He has taken off the fast from the

Fridays in Advent; unless that in Ember week. When the vigil of a fast falls on a Friday the fast is to be kept as usual ; otherwise the

Fridays in Advent are merely days of abstinence like other Fridays in the year. Considering the temptations to which the working classes of the colony are exposed, as well as the nature of their employments this concession is thoughtful and fatherly. I think I said something in my last about the number of converts that were being made during the Mission. I now find that this number is about forty. Do not misunderstand me, I do not mean forty bad Catholics converted. No ; but forty people from other churches, and who, humanly speaking, bt\t for Father Hennebery, would never know nor see the light of the True Faith.. It will be thus seen that the Mission has brought peace, and light, and happiness, to many a heart and many a home in Christchurch. On one evening during the week Father Hennebery took occasion to bring the claims of the Society for the Propagation of 'the Faith before the people, and in glowing find earnest language painted the hardships and privations to which Mission Priests were exposed in various parts of the world. Before he left the pulpit he organised a branch of the Society here, and got the priests to take down the names of all those who volunteered to become collectors. If the Mission does no other good than this its labours will not have been lost. To have in one's power the privilege of contributing to the support of those priests who, scattered through the " wilds of the world," are labouring for the salvation of souls and the extension Of the Church, is what every Catholic should be proud of. In the same practical way Father Hennebery brought ' the claims of the Tablet before the meeting on the last morning of the Mission. When the church was fall; and before Mass began, he went up into the pulpit, and in an energetic and eloquent discourse warned the people against the dangers to Faith and morals to which those exposed themselves who habitually read Protestant papers. Such papers created a very atmosphere of infidelity and antagonism to all that was sacred in religion and clear to the heart of every good Catholic. If the Protestant press, true to its instincts and faithful to its first principles, will persist in slandering Catholics, then at least let them do so at their own cost. Let not Catholics so far forget their duty and what they owe to themselves as to support them while doing so. On the contrary, they should do as the people of Nevada city had once done under similar circumstances. Durine

the time of a Mission which was once given in that city, a Protestant paper published a scurrilous article about the Church, and the v ry • next time the runner brought the paper to the Catholic houses ihe people kicked it over the fence. He called upon every one in the 00-igregation to support the Tablet, the. only paper in New Zealan ft ti which they could learn the truth on all the great questions oi th day, on the education question, and all other questions of any importance. There should be a Tablet in every house, and tie young men and young women who were in the employ of Protestants should take it in and read it, that they may see and know how to combat the sophistries of their enemies, and that they may have an opportunity of studying the right side of the question in all matters that concerned them. He called upon every one present, who was

not already a subscriber, to give their names to those g«atlem«n who would now go round and take them down. This appeal wu made with an earnestness that was irresistible, and when the six gentlemen who were in. waiting for the purpose went through the congregation, they obtained numerous fresh subscribers. After this was done, the High Mass, Coram Episcopo, commenced, in which the same order was observed amongst the officiating clergy as on the previous Sunday. At the conclusion of the Mass, his Lordship administered the Sacrament of Confirmation to about one hundred people, most of whom were adults, and many of them converts. During the ceremony the choir intoned the Veni Creator Spiritus in a most impressive manner ; but, previous to the administration of the Sacrament, his Lordship delivered a most eloquent exposition to those who were about to receive it, explaining its effects on the soul and the manifold graces that it brings with it. At its close he again admonished them to remain faithful to the standard under which they had that day enlisted, and to labour to preserve the graces and the fruits of the Holy Spirit which had been infused into their squls. He concluded by -giving his solemn episcopal bless* ng to the people. Father Hen* nebery now ascended the pulpit, and, as it was so far advanced in the day, he could only give a very brief discourse, in which he gave a resume of the whole week's instructions, and appointed the hour for the procession, which was to be the great feature of the day. At halfpast five in the afternoon the people were to meet at the church grounds, and then march in a file two deep through the principal thoroughfares of the city. All that was required to entitle one to a place in the procession was that he or she he a Catholic and a teetotaller. There was nothing whatever of party or national character about it, and as it turned out afterwards almost every nationality in Europe was represented in it. Each one in the procession was required to wear a green sash on which was fastened the temperance medal. Many of these sashes were got up very elaborate ly, being neatly trimmed with gold fringe, and they gave a very picturesque appearance to the procession. The following is the order in whica they marched :—: — The Boys of the Catholic School ; i The Girls of the Convent School ; ! The Single Men ; The Single Women ; The Hibernians in their Kegalia ; Two Open Carriages, (One containing his Lordship Dr. Redwood, Very Rev. Fathers Hennebery and Ginaty, and the other Rev. Fathers M'Namara and Gouttenoire) ; The Married Men ; and The Married Women. The number that marched in the procession was something over two thousand, and the length of it was estimated at about three-quarters of a mile. It was a long procession, and we had some horsemen who acted as marshalls between Father Hennebery and the front, and gave a sort of military appearance to the demonstration. For those of your readers who may wish to know the route taken, I may say that it proceeded from the church up Barbadoes- street into Armagh-street, and then turning down Colombo-street, near the Post-office, it passed into High-street, turning down St. Asaph-street into the church, where the closing ceremony of the Mission was to take place. These ceremonies were of a veiy solemn and beautiful character. The people were told in the morning to bring their candles with them — beeswax. Father Hennebery will have nothing to do with any other than bees-wax candles in any of his ceremonies, nor will he bless any other. And where were the people to procure pure bees wax candles in Christchurch ? The good Sisters at the Convent were kept busily employed during the whole time making them for the Mission ; and Father Hennebery, I believe, bought up all the bees-wax that was to be had in the town for the purpose, so the people were all provided with purest bees-wax candles. When the good and zealous Missionary lit up his own candle in the pulpit, and told the people to light theirs, the church became suddenly transformed into a temple of light in every sense of the word. The effect thus produced passes all description. Imagine a congregation of about eighteen hundred people, each holding a lighted candle high above their heads, and in clear and audible voice repeating after the priest in the pulpit their baptismal vows. It was a sight not to be forgotten in a day. The church thus lit up presented the appearance of a vast sea of flame. After the repetition of the baptismal vows the candles were suddenly extinguished, and were handed over by the people for the purposes of the altar. Father Hennebery then addressed the people on the necessity of perseverance. It was no use to begin well if they did. not end well. It was not, as St. Jerome said, the beginning of a Christian's life that God looked at, but the end of it. He called upon the people to pray and pray earnestly for him, he was surrounded by dangers like others, and he might fall if not upheld by God's grace. He begged of the people that they would not lose the graces of the Mission by again relapsing into sin. Perseverance was the work of a life, and the only means to a happy eternity. He conclnded by giving to the people the Papal Benediction, after which Dr. Redwood addressed a few closing words of congratulation to the people of Jhristchurch for the manner in which they had responded to the call of grace during the Mission. His Lordship was visibly affected, and .t was in vain that he tried to conceal his emotion. He expressed his pleasure at the results of Father Hennebery's labours in the parish, and he hoped that the people would reap the benefit of all ■ hat they had heard and seen. They had been put through a whole ourse of moral theology, and such moral instruction could not fail to produce the happiest results. He gave them his blessing, and thus nded the Mission in Christchurch ; and many a man and many a •voman left the church that night sending up fervent prayers to icaven for Father Hennebery, and many a converted soul prayed for •>--ice and strength, and help, " Till the day break, and the shadows retire." Rathkbalensis. Christcbureh, December 6, 1877.