CHRISTCHURCH.

New Zealand Tablet, Volume XII, Issue 27, 24 October 1884, Page 15

CHRISTCHURCH.

(From our own correspondent.) „ „ , October 21, 1884. l ATHEE LB Menant'S career in this district continues to be successful, as the parish priest informed the congregations on the two Sundays that have passed since my last letter. On those occas : ons hi expressed the utmost gratification at the conduct of his parishioners. Out of the hundreds of persons visited by the missionary and himself, not one had refused ; not only were the contributions on a larger scale than had been anticipated, but they were largely accompanied by expressions of regret at the inability of the donors to be more substantially generous. These signs of co-operation in the great work which had brought the rev. missionary amongst us Father Ginaty dwelt upon with considerable heartiness. The°work of preaching the cause has not, of course, been neglected by the rev. missionary for that of collecting. T.e former may be called the sowing, the latter being only the reaping. The soil, it is unnecessary to remark, must be, as the parish priest appears to rf gird it, of considerable excellence, otherwise so much fruit would-never be produced by the special methods employed. One day he preaches of the faith which overcometh the world, and in that faith we are shown beautiful reasons for wishing to see the higher education established in the midst of our people in these Southern seas. By such institutions is the faith implanted and rooted firmly, so that an autidote to the prevailing materialism of the day is established in the shape of a race which regards this world but as the stepping-stone to the next. Such men are acquainted with the value of time, which they economise to the greatest advantage for the discharge of their religious, domestic and social duties. These are they who go forth into the world to represent Catholicity with knowledge, wisdom, experience, and patriotism. The college we are establishing in Wellington shall be the nursery of these virtues, which spreading will elevate the Church in the eyes of men, even of the material prosperity of her children. If the beauty of faith gave the rev. missionary re ison, the bideousness of infide.ity did not pass him by without contributing to bis stock of arguments. In a lecture of considerable power he dealt on the causes of the spreading infidelity of the day. These are four materialism, frivolity, intellectual pride, seusuality. Tne world moves without any thought of God, strives after its material rewards, and obtains them. Mankind is essentially frivolous in these days to the point of national decadence, a3 may be seen from these two modern records of life — the newspaper and the novel. The first is full of the chronicles of amusement of all kinds, and is never done with the glorification of the professional amusers wao help the people to pass their time unprofitably, and has but little space to devote to serious things or the men who are engaged on the serious business appertaining to the most serious work of man's life here below. The second, when it is not immoral or scandalous, is frivolous and shallow — a quantity of printed m itter containing n > instruction, aspiring to no higher object than amusement. Intellectual pride lives and has its stronghold in the nvnof scienc, so called, who, without solid attainments, claim for themselves the infallibility which they deny the head of the Church, declare that there is n> harmony between science and revealed religion, and become the leaders of ths infidelity of the day. They are worshipped by numerous followers even more ignorant, vain, and shallow than themselves. SensualUts thjre have been in all ages and histories, from the days of Felix, who rejected the teaching of St. Paul because the morality which the holy and fearless apostle enjoined upon him was not to his taste. Similarly, the sensualist has always risen up against the Church of God. Where shall we find the remedy against these four gigantic evils ? We shall find them in colleges, where faith is inculcated as the antidote to materialism and serious pursuits take the place of the frivolity into which harmless necessary recreation is fast degenerating. We shall find them in colleges where true science is taught, and correct history, with philosophy, Christian antiquities, theology and Canon

it™ I * men aie . taught not onl y that there fa «* greatest harmony between science and revelation, but that the greatest scientists in all ages have been children of the Catholic Church where piety is inculcated as well as knowledge. In this way shall remedies be supplied against the four great causes of infidelity, which remedies being under the guidance of the Church cannot but be effectual in the highest degree. There was another aide to the subject which did not escape the rev. missionary It might be said by the evil disposed that subscribing to a college at Wellington was subscribing to a college that belonged to another district, and that subscribing to a college at all was merely helping to provide education for the sons of a particular class. The answer wa B twofold. In the first place, it is the intention or the bishop to establish one day a college at Chriitchurcb for which an estate has been set aside ; when the time comes for buildine the college the estate will do it, so that the people of Ohristchurch will not be called upon to subscribe. Thus, by subscribing now to Wellington, they are subscribing for themselves. In the second place, it is perfectly true that education is not to be advocated as it is in these times for the sake of the promotion in life which it is supposed to bring with it. That theory, which unsettles the minds of an entire population, ignorjs the great fact that there are, have always been, and must ever be, distinctions in society. Whatever happens to individuals, the great mass of mankind is destined to go through life in pretty much the same station as they enter it. The fortunes, the fames, the rewards are to the few ; the dull round is the lot of the many. Whoever loses sight of this in an education scheme will be disappointed. It is true, therefore, that the children of the majority will be unable to enter colleges and universities. It is also true that Catholic education, such as has been described as to be given at St. Patrick's College, and such as is to be had in all Catholic universities, colleges and seminaries, is, when bestowed upon an individual, bestowed in a manner to benefit the religion he professes and the community to which he belongs. If the rev. missionary has not made that clear, he has spoken for nothing. Moreover, it is a fact found scattered through all the pages of history, that in the humblestcottages there blazes an intellect sometimes equal in brilliancy to the greatest;. To provide openings for intellects so situated the College of St. Patrick would provide foundations, according to the plan followed by the Church in all ages. Such were the arguments by which the rev. missionary replied, to two objections, which are strong. as against any system of education that is not animated by religion, that is not, in other words, Catholic. That he succeeded in demonstrating that these objections are useless against the Catholic system, the piogress of the collection is amply proving. Good soil, gooi seed, good cultivation ; in these three phrases we can sum up the progress o this most enterprising mission.