FINAL SESSION OF THE PLENARY COUNCIL.

New Zealand Tablet, Volume XIII, Issue 35, 25 December 1885, Page 3

FINAL SESSION OF THE PLENARY COUNCIL.

(From the Bathurst Record.)

ON Sunday morning, Nov. 29, St. Mary's Cathedral was filled with a vast congregation, assembled for tbe purpose of witnessing the final session of tbe Plenary Council. The ceremonies observed on the occasion were similar to those of the opening session. At half-past 10 o'clock a procession of the school childien, members of the Holy Family Confraternity, Total Abstinence Society, Holy Catholic Guild, and members ot the Society of tit. Vincent de Paul m»rched around the precincts of the Cathedral, and then entered the sacred edifice. Cardinal Moran and the bishops, in their arcbiepiscopal and episcopal rob -s, entered in precession from the main entrance, and as they approached the altar the choir Bang, " Ecce Sacerdos Mft gnus " (behold (he great priest.) The episcopal celebrant of the High Mass— the Right Rev. Dr. Luck, Bishop of Auckland - entered from the Bacristy, attired in white vestments and cloth of pold mitre. He was assisted by Father O'Connor, deacon ; Father Byrne, subdeacon ; Dr. Sheridan, assistant priest. Dr. Carroll and Dean M'Carthy were the deacons of the throne, and Father Vinci- nt Dwyer, Dr. O'Haran, and Dr. Murphy ceremonial directors. The members of the council took their places as usual, and there were also present Revs. E. Butler, Farrelly, and Le Rennetel. Gounod's " Messe Sollenelle '' was rendered by tbe choir. At the conclusion of tbe Mass His Eminence Cardinal Moran delivered tbe following Pastoral Address :— " This is the victory that conquereth the world, our faith."— l John, v. 4 : — The life of the Church on earth is one of combat, of suffering, of victory. Such was the life of cur Blessed Lord ; and it was meet that in this the Church which he had chosen as His spouse would be privileged to be like unto Him. His divine mission was a mission of mercy, of peace, of love ; and yet he proclaimed to His disciples that be came to lay the axe to the root, and to bring not peace but tbe sword. His public ministry was a series of sorrows, of humiliations and sufferings. But the agony and gloom of Calvary were destined to be a prelude to the triumph of the resurrection and the glory of the ascension. Tbe mission of the Church is a mission to truth to shed the light of the teaching of our Blessed Lord upon the souls of men. It is a mission of love to impart tbe blessings of heaven to us ; a mission of mercy, to beal the wounds of sin. and to pour out the balm of consolation upon the sorrowing b'jart. But to achieve this, she is ever to be in the bat le-field, ever in the combat with the spirits of darkness, ever waging an endless war against error and vice, and the corruption of a sinful world. In this unceasing warfare the Church was to be no stranger to sorrows and trials, to humiliation and affliction. Such was the prophesy of our Saviour: -'If the world hate you you know that it hateth me before you." "If you had been of the world, the world will love its own ; but because you are not of the world, therefore the world hateth you." " I send you as sheep in the midst of wolves. Beware of men. They will deliver you up in councils, and they will scourge you in their synag< gues, and you shall be brought befo-e governors and kings, and you shall be hated by all men for My name's sake." " The hour cometh when whosoever killeth you shall think he doeth a service to God." Tbe ways of heaven are not li<e to those on earth. It is not by conforming to the ideas of men that it pleases God to attain his own wise ends. In the i sermon on the beatitudes, the paths are marked out which we must pursue id our heavenward course, and we are taught that the crowning beatitude of the Christian life is suffering. " Blessed are they who suffer persecution for justice' sake, for theirs ia the kingdom of heaven." To the Apostles our Saviour said : " Blessed are ye when they shall revile and persecute you and speak all that is evil against you. . . Be glad and rejoice." May not tbe Bride of the Lamb lay claim to this beatitude, this gladness, this rejoicing ? T c apostle tells us bow our Baviour' B words had found an echo in his own heart : " I Buperabound with joy in your tribulation " But if the Church wa« thus to be ever engaged in the deadly 6trife ; if tbe enemy was ever to be in the battle-field ajrainst her,; if she was to endure humiliation and suffering, yet was it her deeiiny ever to be victorious in tbe combat. Tbe words of our Blessed Lord are the chaiter of the Church's divine mission : " In tbe world you shall have distress ; but have confidence. I have oveicome the W' rid. lam with you all days, even unto the consummation of the world." This divine promise is our guarantee that heaven and earth shall pass away sooner than the efforts ot wicked men shall destroy God's holy Cburch. In prophecy the Cburch is described as the citadel of God's law, around wkich tht powers of hell and the corrupt passions of nx»n shall ever sure* in rain ; an imprepnablp citndel every enemy «mo assails it aha!!

n>t Drosper, every arm raised against it shall perish. It is described M the kingdom of God, filling the euth with (he knowledge of the Lord, like the covering waters of the sea, •' The God of heaven Khali set up a kingdom that shall never be destroyed ; and his Kingdom shnll not be delivered up to aaothT people ; and iself s'all stand forever." " All people, trib s and tongues sha 1 serve Him ; His power is an everlasting power, that shall not be taken awiy, and His Kingdom Khali not be destroyed." The whole hist ry of tbe Church if* the fulfilment of these prophecies. No sooner had the Church commenced her divine mission thau the powers of this w >rld ent< red into the lists and unsheathed the sword of persecution against her. Satan would seem to have gathered all his forces to destroy her before she could perfect her organization or mature her strength. For three centuries the shepherd and the flock were alike devoted to destruction ; the blood of the martyrs was poured out in t rrents. The children of the Church were regarded as the lowest and vilest of the human race. Tbe rack, tbe dungeon, the gibbet awaited them. They were thrown to tbe wild beasts, they were massacred by thousands to make a holiday for triumphant paganism. It was a particular delight of the Emperor Nero to guide his chariot at night througfc the gardens of the golden house, which were lit up with * thousand torches, each torch being a martyr of Christ. The Church, flying from the face of man, sought a refuge in the bowels of tbe earth. The Catacombs, the great city of martyrs, teaches us by its paintings and inscriptions tbe piety of the faithful in those days of combat and of suffering. It records their love for the Holy Mother of God, their veneration for the saints, their prayers for the departed brethren ; but, above all, it proclaims the heroism of tbe martyrs of Christ. With joy they went forth to lay down their life fcr the faith. They saluted the implements of torture as their embroidered stole of victory, tbe chariot of their triumph. The venerable bishop and martyr of Antiocb, St. Ignatius, embodied ihe sentiment of them all in the words, " The nearer I am to tbe sword, the nearer I am to Christ." And the youthful Perpetua could write : '• Condemned to the wild beasts, with hearts rejoicing we returned to prison." Not one of the countless inscriptions of the Catacombs breathes sentiments of diffidence or despair. Tt ey are all dictated in a spirit of confidence an 1 joy, like that inscribed on the tomb of the martyrs Marius and Marcellinus. " They received the honours of a triumph." Viewed in the light of this world, the contest was a most unequal one. On the one side was Imperial Rome, the proudestof the powers of this world, colossal in its str ngth, perfect in its organisation, and arrayed in all the plenitude of material resources ; on the other side was the Church of God, weakness itself. Yet, is the Church overcome? Oh, no. Tbe Cl arch triumphs. In the words of St. Cyprian, " The bruised and lac-Tdted members triumph over the implements of torture by which they are bruised and lacerated." The more the blood of the martyrs was poured out, the more the children of the Cburch were multiplied, and the great Pontiff St. Leo can only compare it to the seed which in spring-time is cast into the ground, and then in a golden harvest bring* forth a return a hundred fold. After three centuries of suffering, the Church comes forth victorious from the Catacombs. The emperors of Knme bowed down before the majesty of religion. Tbe standard of Holy Cburch is unfurled on the Capitol ; and tbe crosq of CLr'st set in tbe Imperial diadem. Thus tbe life of tbe Church was one of combat, of suffering, of victory. No so >ncr was paganism overthrown than Satan stirred up another enemy to pursue the < buroh with undenying hatred. That enemy is h resy. Paganism bad availed the Churc hot God fn m without ; hh a re*y row assaults the citadel of truth from within. Rut as the lernism of the marvrs marktd the victory of the faith over paganism, Bo the writings of the doctors and confessors of Holy Church are tbe reendof her triumph over all i he assaults of heresy. iheAposile of Nations teaches us that " it is necessary that heresies may be." And why is it so? Because as the result of the assaults of heresy the cold of divine truth is purified from all earthly dross, and shines forth with renewed lustre : and because, the mists of error being scattered, the fair features ot Holy Church are revealed in tbe full comeliness of their heavenly perfection. In the fourth century, heresy armed itself with tlw sacred Scriptures ; it made use of calumny and falsehood. It at times transformed itself into an angel of light. It travestied the teaching of tbe Church, and maligned her discipline. The heretics found favour in the couits of princes ; the power of the world was wielded to sustain error in the combat agaiust truth, and multitudes followed the standard of revolt against trie Church of Christ. In thf council which assembled at Nice in the year 325 one venerable prelate was led by the hand, for hie e\es had beeu plucked out by the enemies of the Church ; another's limba bad beeo cut off ; and many of them could fchow the wounds and the marks of the chains which they had borne for the fAth. Nevertheless, the cause of truth triumphed. The assembled fathers confronted tbe errors of Arius with the deposit of divine truth, and anathematised his heresy. In tbe same manner Nestoriatism was cas>t out from the Church at Ephesus, and Protestantism at Trent. The Church of God can have no compromise with error. It seemed to the world a mere trifle to wear a garland of flowers at the public games or to throw a little incense upon the altar before the statue of the Emperor. The heretics, too, did not ask anything very great. Anus would have been content if one ambiguous word were introduced into the creed. Pboiitts asked only that the title of "(Ecumenical Patriarch" would be pranted him. Lmher would have ceased to rage aeainet tbe ( burch if silence were imposed on a rival preacher of indulgences. Henry VIII. would have continued to style bimselt a devoied son of tbe Church were be permitted to set aside his lawful wife. B t the Cburch cannot cease to proclaim in unerring accents the teaching of h*r Divir c Founder, and sooner than compromi-e the smallest tittla of the deposit of truth, or t< lera'e tbe violation of God's law, she suffers nations to t*> separated from her, and the brighte-t jewel-i that adorn her earthly crown to be torn frum her brow. The sword of persecution has been sheathed, and heresy has been vanquished, but new enemieß await th« church of God. The barbarians poured down as an avalanche on the fairest proTinc*a el Europe. From the depths of the German forest

from the wilds of Sarmatia, from the steppes of Central Asia, countlesß hordes rush in upon the BotnaD Empire; cities are overturned, churches are destroyed, the clergy sire massacred. Everywhere ihe the couise of the barbarian is marked by ruin and desolation. But is the Church overcome? Ob, no; the Church again triumphs. And even the infidel historian declares that one of the brightest pages of history is this triumph of the Church over the barbarian hordes. The barbarians conquered imperial Rome, but in their turn were conquered by the religion of Kome. When Attila entered Italy vowing the destruction of the imperial city, the venerable pontiff St. Leo, accompanied by a few deacons, went forth to meet him. Strange to say the haughty conqueror, who styled himself the scourge of God bowed down before the majesty of religion, and to the attendant officers he afterwards declared that while the Pontift spoke, the Princes of the Apostles appeared to him in the heavens with drawn swords, menacing death unless he reverenced the Pontiff s words. This scene depicts for us the Church's triumph over the barbarians. But the Church is not satisfied with conquering them. She takes these rough warriors by the hand, and sanctifying them with the grace of Divine Truth, she ennobles them and leads them in the paths of heaven, and forms them into the great Christian nations of the modern world. Thus, again, the Church's victory was complete. But the confhct does not cease. New enemies enter the field, and Satan endeavours by the spirit of pride and passion and by the corruption of the human heart to lessen the fruitfulness if he cannot destroy the sanctity of God's Holy Church. But, thanks to the mercy of God, it was in those ages when corruption was darkest and most rife throughout the world that innumerable saints shed lustre around the sanctuary, and showed forth in their lives the heroism of Christian sanctity. By their example they preached prayer and penance, self-denial and sacrifice, and their virtues snone as beacon lights markiug out the way that leads to Paradise. It was precisely in that age that witnessed the birth of the Reformation that the Charch was adorned by such chosen souls as St. Teresa, St Catherine of Genoa, St. Cajetan, St. Ignatius of Loyola, St. Francis Xavier, St. Philip Nen, St. Charles Borromeo, St. Camillus, St. John of Uod, bt. Peter of Alcaotara, St. Francis de Sales, and St. Vincent de Paul. At no period perhaps was the Church more fiercely assailed than in the 16th century, aud yet it would be difficult to find any other period that was sa prolific of great saints. la later times, statesmen would plot against the Church ; they would forge golden fetters to check the liberty of her beneficent action and to make her the handmaid or the slave of their political intrigues. But may she not repeat with the Psalmist, " Why have the nation 3 raged, and the people devised vain things : the kings of the earsh stood up, and the princes have met together against the Lord and against His Christ Let ub break their bonds asunder, and cast away their yoke from us. He that dwelleth in heaven shall laugh at them : the Lord shall deride them.', In those ever-varying political schemes of the powers of this world are fulfilled the inspmd words, " Tney shall perish but thou remainest ; they sh ill eri >w old as a garment ;as a vesture thou shall change them, and they shall be changed, but thou art always the same, and thy years h hall not fail; the children of thy servants shall continue ; they shall be directed for ever and ever." But shall not time, at least, overcome the Church of God ? Time consumes and destroys all the works ot man, but time cannot prevail againbt the Church. Time has written no wrinkle* on her neavenly brow. One by one the enemies that assailed the Church have passed away : she has survived them all : she still remain*, not in the decay of strength or the decrepitude of old age. but in the fall vigor of youth, in the full bloom of her heavenly comeliness. Everything else changes here below. Empires vanish, new nations are formed, new languages come into existence, but the Church remains unchanged In the schools of Alexandria, as on the banks of the Danube, the Church rests not on human wisdom, but on the cross of Christ, for her support. In the courts of princes or the deserts of Syria the Church is still the same ; the same words of truth are on her" lips, and to all alike she proclaims the Divine maxim and whoever wishes to walk in the paths of Paradise, be be rich or poor, prince or peasant, he must take up the cro>s, and following in the footsteps of our blessed Lord, <bear perseveringly the sweet joke of God's holy law " Who is there that will deny that the Catholic Church in this lair continent has hid its periods of winter and spring-time of trials and sorrows? But the council which we have just celebrated is the authentic proof that the Church has not been overcome. As late as 100 tears agn the light of civilisation had not as yet arisen over this Southern land. The savage natives roamed unchecked over its vast plains, and the whole continent was sunk in the depths of barbarism and idolatry Ev*n wm-n tbe light of civilisation dawned on these shores tbe Catholic Church continued for a halt a century to be persecuted and prescribed. When, about thu year 1787, two priests petitioned to be permitted to sail for "Australia, that they ml V fc b' in £ religious conoolatiou to their brethren in the faith, their petition was ignominiouMy flung a^ide. But in a few years Providence itself provided, in an unforeseen way, that the blessings of religion might reach those suffering children of the Church. We have seen, in our day, some zealous and devoted priests led forth and manacled and fettered from tbe prisons of Poland, and sent into the recesses of Siberia, under the pretext that they were rebels against the Russian despotism that enslaved their native land : but in the merciful w,y 8 of providence, they became tbe dispensers of the biasings of heaven to their suffering" countrymen, exiles m those dreary regions whither no priest could penetrate Ibis was precisely the case of the first th:ee priests who, in the beginning of the present century, were branded at borne as rebels but who were guided by a benign P.ovid..-ncc to hese southern shores to minister to the wants of the affl cted Caiholics of Australia. As late as the year 1817 the first priest who was permitted by Government to come as |a missionary to these shores no sooner landed here than he was cast into prison, through the bigotry of the uncontrolled local authorities, and compelled to quit the country in the first ship that set sail. It is but 60 years since, on the memorable feast of the Exaltation of the Holy-Cross in 1835, the first Vicar Apostolic landed at Port Lincoln. He found two priests ministering to the faithful

in Van Diemans Land, and in the whole Australian continent there were but three other priests. One of these was the Rev. Joseph Therry, who may justly be styled the pioneer of the faitn, and the true apostle of the Cross in all these southern lands. Another of these three priests was the present venerable Bishop oE Birmingnam, Dr. Ultithorne whom we all revere as a living link of the present with be past, and who will rejoice more thaa any other to-day that the little seed that was sown in uapara'leled sorrows and humiliations, and over which he watched with such anxious care, has, through the blessing of Heaven, grown with stately growth, and stretched forth its branches throughout the length and breadth of this fair continent. Slow was the growtb of the sacred tree, Holy Faith. Many perhaps who are listening to my words, remember well the time whenthere were fewer priests throughout all Australia thaa there are at present Bishops assembled within the sanctuary. Some of these illustrious prelates are themselves the first bishops who have laid deep the wT On8 v aQd D aobl y bu i lfc U P the Church in their respective sees. When the Very Rev. Dr. Fitzpatrick, the present Vicai-General of Melbourne, entered on his missionary duties there, be had to land from a little boat at Sandridge. and to walk three miles before he could meet with a hamm habitation. There was then only one small wooden church in all that district. What a contrast this presents to the grand cathedral that now adoras the great city of Melbourne— a noble m .nument of religion, erected mainly by the untiring exertions of the venerable ecclesiastic to whom I have referred. About 40 years ago some religious men were appointed to the spiritual charge of the Aforeton Bay territory, wdich included the then village of Brisbane. But they could find no means of subHrST t^ r % a ° d were compelled to sail back along the coast in a little boat to bydney. Even 25 years ago, the first bishop coming to ™S' i 8^ n , IDg «°ru the Bpot now "owned by the magnificent cathedral, could ask, "Where is the town of Brisbane." It is bat 20 years since tbe boundaries of the sees of Bathurst and Maitland were marked out, and yet they already have so grown as to yield to few missionary dioceses, as well in their organisation as in the number of their schools and churches, and various institu tion 3 of charity and religion. When, 15 years ago His Lordship of Dunedin took possession of that newly-erected see, there was hardly anything tnere. Its beautiful convents, flourishing schools, numerous presbyteries, and churches, and fine cathedral just completed, attest what progress has been made. And now the bishops of those sees who themselves have borne the burden of the heat and toil assemble in Plenary Council, as spiritual watchmen on the towers of Israel, to guard the deposit of revealed truth, to perfect the work of the divine ministry, to strengthen the bulwarks of the faith, and to consolidate what has already been so nobly done. Some, forsooth, will tell us that we ard at war againet civilisation, and are the enemies of society. No. It is the Bishops of the Church that truly foster and develope and bring to highest perfection everything that may tend to strengthen the bonds of society and to promote the happiness of individuals and families. Were the world lett to itself, it would very soon relapse into barbarism and paganism, but holy Church is ever on the alert to root out the evils that menace society, and to repel those enemies that m?ir«r P A ° g ? f ouc \ moTe iato the depths of degradation and misery And if you ask m* what has been the work of tbe Plenary j£?,°v ' \ rCp^ that II has beea P reciß ely to combat those evils that threaten to undermine the eojinl fabric and to blight the hopes of civ.usa ion at the present day. There is a spirit of infidelity and inojff jrentism abroad which wrecks innumerable souls The work of PhrT^ fJT bmJ the faithfal clO9er t0 our Lord Jesus Christ that they may love Him with more iateuse love, and m*v cherish ever more and more tbe truths which he has revealed, rv \l S I 6ub3tanc f of thiD S* to be hoped for, tbe evidence of things that appear not (H eb . x,. 1 ) ;a ,d nothing is more necessary at the present day, for individuals and for nations, than the Divine strength which the true faith imparts, the strength which cornea from God, the source of every blessing, of life, and peace, and truth. The tendency Ol tbe present time is to lower the standard of morality and to bring man down to tbe very level of the brute creation. Tbe council, by its enactments, endeavours to promote piety, to lift up man to a higher and holier life, and. amid the corruption of a sinful world, to guard m his soul the image and likeness of the Creator buch are the thoughts that recur to the mind to-day, whilst under tbe Divine blessing we bring to a happy close the first Plenary Council of the bishops of the Australasian provinces. Tne school is the battlefield of every form of irreligion against the Church in our day. Through jut almost all the Australian Provinces the st stems of education adopts by the State are such as Catholics cannot, as a rule, conscientiously avail themselves of. It is sometimes said indeed, that it was not tbe intention of the men who originated the present primary school system in New South Wales to wage wai against religion, and it may be so. It is not mine to judge of the intentions of those men. Their actions, however, and the results must speak for tbeoase yes. Ii cannot be questioned that the present system in its practical working leads to religious indifference and deadens the influence of Christianity in the ~hdart. The Catnolic Church asks for no special favour at the hands of Government* nor does she seek any monopoly in the matter of education. She'contends that religious training is an essential element in true Christian culture, and that education cannot be complete and caanot attain its end unless it be quickened by religion. It is our endeavour to promote the religious instruction of the young, because religion c.. lightens the mind to Divine truth and moulds the heart to virtue and because religion, and religion al^ne, can make us devoted self - sacrificing citizens and earne-t f.ithful Constians. We do not ask the htate to pay one penny that our Catholic children may be instructed in idigious tiutn ; but we shall not cease to appeal to tbe common sense of the community aud ,o p.ocla.m to the civilised world iha it is a hardship au I an injustice for Catholic schools and Catholic teachers to be deprived of what is their due, when they have taught the branches of secular knowledge that the State requires, and when those branches have been taught m accordance with the standards which the State itself has laid down. We see every day the children from our Catholic primary schools bearing away the

prises at public examinations. If it be asked, Why are the teachers of those children excluded from the patronage and the emoluments of the State T the answer must be that It is not so for tbe sole reason that the parents desire to send their children to schools which Tetain the genial religious atmosphere of the Christian home, and will not permit the bloom aod fragrance of the virtues which should distinguish Christian youth to be lost with the tainted precincts of infidel •chools. The present age ia one of associations. The Church exhorts her children to embrace only those associations whose rules are based upon religion and justice and morality, and in particular to enrol thamaelveb in those sodalities which have for their purpose to keep alive the lamp of piety in the heart and to lead her children to the feet of our Bleesod Lord, there to partake in the holy sacraments of the blessings of His Divine mercy and love. These associations serve, each in its own way, to reveal the inner life of Holy Church, and to unfold the full beauty of faith, hope, charity, and religion which she cherishes in the hearts of her children. In a particular way the fathers of the council commend the Catholic temperance societies, which are engaged in a holy crusade against intemperance. No vice it so dreadful in its results as the vice of drunkenness. It brings ruin to innumerable souls. It wrecks countless homes and families ; it undermines social peace and happiness ; it setß every religious influence at defiance ; and would fain pull down God from His throne in the hearts of His children. The Church, like her Divine Founder, is ever intent on saving her people from their sins. But she is not content with this ; she wishes by those salutary societies to save them from flin by preseiving them from it. The present age is in many ways a utilitarian one ; men's minds are so often centred in self and fixed upon the accumulation of wealth or the pursuit of the pleasures and enjoyments of life. The Church, on the contrary, unceasingly exhorts her children to open wide their hearts in charity and to lay up treasures for themselves in heaven, " where no thief approacheth nor moth corrupteth. The Council has deemed it expedient to commend in particular to the faithful, solicitude and true charity for tbe propagation of faith among the aboriginal races. It is a blot upon the colonial policy of Great Britain that too often instead of the olive branch of peace being extended to native races, a policy of extermination ha 3 been puisued in their regard. Let it be our endeavour that at least " a remnant " shall be saved. The Marist Fathers have done not a little in the diocese of Wellington to impart the blessings of civilisation and religion to the Maori race, endowed as it is by nature with special gifts of bravery and intelligence. The Benedictine monastery of Nuova Norcia, in Western Australia, has probably done more in the great cause of Christian civilisation among the Australian aboriginals than haa been achieved by all tbe richly-endowed Protest ant denominations put together. It is tbe anxious desire of our prelates that such religious centres would be multiplied as far as possible among the aboriginals, that thus the blessings of true civilisation would be extended to the few that remain of these too long neglected races. The prelates will receive contributions towards the fund for so laudable a purpose; a commission of bishops is appointed to administer this fund, aud it has been recommended that an annual collection should be made in each parish to promote this great work. Happy results shall, I trust, follow from it, for the salvation of souls, the spread of Christian civilisation, and the propagation of our holy faith in those regions now so desolute shall at no distant day resound to the praises of the Most High ; the angels of heaven shall rejoice, and the Prophet's words shall be fulfilled—" How beautiful upon the mountains are the feet of him that bringeth good tidings, and that preacheth peace." Thus it is that tbe Church pursues on earth her heavenward course, continuing, from day to day, the mission of her Divine founder, and perfecting His work "until we all meet into the unity of faith, aod of the knowledge of the Son of God unto a perfect man, unto the measure of the lulness of Christ." A great deal hat still to be done throughout tbe vast provinces of Australasia in the cause of religion and of Cnrist. There is a grand future in •tore for this Southern land. Its boundless resources, and the life and energy of its people, mark out for it an imperial destiny. May the growth of Holy Church and the multiplying of the blessing of Heaven keep pace with its material progress. So many peoples of Eastern Asia and of the Pacific Ocean are still shut out from the benign influences of Christian civilisation and Catholic life. May it be the mission of Australia to bring tbe light of divine truth to these our fellow-men ; and may the paths of Holy Church be smooth in this fair land. May her children ever cherish charity, piety and peace, aud through the mercy of God and the riches of His love, may it be given them to renew, beneath the Southern Cross, everything that was truly grand, truly ennobling, in tbe old countries in the days of their faith. For this is the victory that alone can overcome the assaults and the snares and the corruption of a sinful world— our Faith. Atter the announcement of the Pastoral the Right Rev. Dr. Marphy, Bishop of Hobart, on behalf of the prelates and clergy, presented to the Cardinal an address of thanksgiving and congratulation. Cardinal Moran replied as follows :— " lam most grateful for the kind words which his Lordship the Bishop of Hobart has addressed to me in the name of the fathers of this Plenary Council. The days of this Synod have been to me days never to be forgotten — days of edification and instruction, of consolation and joy. And should I not rejoice to see assembled here the angels of all the Australian churches, harbingers of heavenly blessingß to us, and, with a piety and seal that could not be surpassed, fulfilling tbe subhmest duties of their divine mission. We met in council in obedience to the voice of the Vicar of Christ, and we assembled here beneath the shadow of St. Mary's, the mother church of all these colonies. It was under the ampices of Immaculate Mary, on the very feet>t of her patronage, that we entered upon the duties of the Plenary Council, that we began our work by invoking the Holy Spirit of Wisdom and Charity to be with us in our deliberations, to instruct us, to enlighten us. And it is not too much to say that th&t Divine Spirit was our teacher, oor gnide, at all our meetings. Some of our fatkers of the council met here for the first time ; many of them were strangers to each

other. All discussed the matters proposed with perfect freedom, and with the earnestness of men who are guided by conscientious convictions and who have at heart the eternal interests of those entrusted to their care. Yet there was not one word uttered, nor one sentiment expressed, that was opposed to charity. And how important, how vast, was the work in which the Fathers of th« Council were engaged. It was no other than to lay down deep and broad the foundations of the faith in this favoured laod, to build up the sacred fabric of the Australasian Church, and to promote the Salvation of souls for whom Christ has died. I must thank you, venerable Fathers, for tbe kind consideration and indulgence which you ex« tended to my inexperience and many shortcomings. But, notwithstanding this drawback on my part, the work which you have achieved is worthy of your Plenary Council, and for years to come the laity and clergy of Australasia will look back to it with consolation, and pride, and joy. It is with heartfelt regret that I shall say adieu to every member of the council. Many of us shall not meet again here below. But the Church on earth is only a preparation for the heavenly Jerusalem, and, as St. Augustine teaches us, the bishops, priests, and faithful, assembled around the altar are a picture of our Mother who is above, that of the triumphant Cnnrch, rejoicing around the throne of the Lamb. May it be our privilege to meet there once more, rejoicing before the Saviour's throne, presenting to him the fruits of our spiritual toil 1 " At the conclusion of his reply the Cardinal gave the kiss of peaoe to each of the bishops, and the members of the council left the Cathedral in procession.