CHRISTCHURCH.

New Zealand Tablet, Volume XV, Issue 11, 8 July 1887, Page 7

CHRISTCHURCH.

Jane 20, 1887. There is a scarcity of Catholic news in Chrlstchurcb The one absorbing topic is the Magdalen Asylum, but that is a budget in itself. The first portion of the building at Mount Magdalen is now rapidly approaching completion, and people are looking forward to its opening at no very distant date. The work is a great one. It was nobly conceived, and has been nobly prosecuted, and its present advanced condition speaks volumes for the zeal of the managing trustee, Father Ginaty ; without his marvellons energy and indomitable perseverance the place would not have had an existence for years to come, In season and out of season, he has, for months past, been pleading tbe cause of the Magdalen Asylum. From the pulpit, in the offices of merchants, in the highways and byways, and he has at intervals, during the past six weeks, been scouring the Province in quest of funds to appease the insatiate demands of contractors, and always with most encouraging results. On Sunday week, at the end of Mass, he spoke in glowing terms of his reception in all parts of the country, by men in every station of life, and he provoked a smile from his hearers as he told how he obtained a subscription from a ceitain ploughman, who was on his way home after a hard day's work, and who, though dubious as to the wisdom of contributing so substantial a sum as a pound in these hard times, was, nevertheless, sensible of the necessity of doing his share of so good a work. When a man ib once convinced that it is his duty to take part in an undertaking like the Magdalen Asylum and when it is Father Ginaty who urges its claim, there is obviously nothing for it but to hand im his subscription. So the ploughman contributed his mite and plodded his way home, while Father Ginaty went on hia way rejoicing. Father Ginaty accepts nothing less than a pound, because his wish is that only those who can afford to aid him should do so, and he thinks that those who cannot give a pound must have more imperative calls upon their purses. It must be most gratifying to him to find that whereever he goes, the sympathies of all classes and creeds are with him in his work, and the hearty co-operation he meets with mast be an immense encouragement to him to continue his exertions. The work is a great one ; God speed it 1 The Canterbury Catholic Literary Society, which is now flourishing under its energetic president, Mr. Lonargan, has taken a new departure by entering into a union with the other literary societies of the city. The idea of a union of literary societies in Christchurch originated with Mr. Smeaton, of the Young Men's Christian Association, who it appears was chiefly instrumental in forming a most successful union of a like nature in Adelaide. The object of the union is to create a friendly feeling between the various societies by the interchange of favours in the shape of lectures or papers, aod by tbe formation of a Parliamentary Club, consisting of representatives from each society in the proportion of one representative to every ten members. It is also proposed to have periodical competitions in impromptu speaking, essay writing, »nd elocution. Altogether the scheme is viewed most favourably, and if carried on with the same spirit with which it has been started it ought to achieve great success. The Council of the Catholic Literary Society was no doubt moved to join the union for the purpose of arousing the members to greater activity in their work. The Society hag struggled on valiantly in the face of grave difficulties and is now in a very prosperous condition, but still the Council is of opinion that a great many members might well exert considerably more energy than they do, and it believes that a friendly rivalry with other literary institutions is calculated to bring this about.