LENTEN PASTORAL, 1893.

New Zealand Tablet, Volume XXI, Issue 15, 27 January 1893, Page 6

LENTEN PASTORAL, 189 3.

Patrick, ry ihk Grace of God and favour of thr Holy Bkk, BISHOB OF DtTNEDIN &(3 To THK CLERGY AND LAITY OF said She, hbalth and blkssing in tub Loud. Deadly Beloved Brrthren,— lt is incumbent on ua to announce to you that Lant boginsthis yearoD the 15th February (Asb-Wedoesday), and ends on the 2nd April (Bister Sunday), and to publish the regulations for the fast and abstinence during this holy Beason. These regulations you will find in a schedule at the end of this Pastoral. It is not necessary, in addressing Christians so well instructed as you are, to labour to inculcate on you the necessity and utility of fast and abstinence and ether pen ential exercises, or to delay in proving that the austerities of the timj of Lent are of Apostolic origin. This we have endeavoured to do on many previous occasions, and we rejoice to know that our wordß have fallen like seed on good toil and produced abundant fruit. It only remains for us now to ask you to call t i mind and seriously reflect on what you Blready know, to pot yonr knowledge into practice and see that not only you yourselvei, but also all the memk-rj of your ho .meholds, regulate your and their conduct according to the principles of our holy religion, and the

regulations, which, in virtue of speciil faculties from the Holy See, we make for the faithful of this diocese. Moat earnestly do we exhort all to enter on this holy season of Lent, with the determination to profit by it, and for this purpose to devote themselves to the prescribed practices of penance and mortification, remembering these words of Holy Scripture : " Unless you do penance yon shall all perisn alike." It has been nsnal for us during many years to draw your special attention to the most important question of education, and the necessity for dwelling still on this question continues. After onr holy faith nothing is more necessary for us all than the Christian and Catholic education of our children. The Apostle tells us that " he who neglects his own, particularly those of his own household has lost the faith and become worse than an infidel." So that the neglect of the Christian education of children amounts to a loss of faith, and is verily an apostasy. Prom this it follows that there is nothing about which we shoula be more solicitous than to guard our children from all dangers to their faith and morals. For, as we are told again by the highest authority, "he that loves the danger shall perish in it. " On this account we should make every sacrifice to proTide good Catholic schools for our own children, for only in Catholic schools can children be trained as children ought to be trained, in the knowledge, and the fear, and love of God. It is, indeed, possible that in isolated oases children not attending Catholic schools may learn the words of the catechism from either their parents or some other charitable persons, but even should the words of the catechism be learned, in such cases there is almost always wanting that training and discipline and practice of religion which are indispensable to a Christian and Catholic, and whiob, as a rule, are not to be obtained outside a good Catholic school. Guard yonr children, then, from the dangers inseparable from secular and godless systems of education, and let nothing induce you to imperil your children's faith and Christian morality, or persuade you to permit them to frequent non-Catholic schools, where indeed they might obtain a emattering of secular learning, but where God's name is neither honoured nor often even mentioned, and from which the name of Christ, our dear Bedeemer, is ignominiously banished. Remember the words of our Divine Bedeemer, " What will it avail a man to gain the whole world and lose his own soul, or what shall a man give in exchange of his soul !" We know that, owing to ud just laws and bigoted administration of these laws, a heavy, even a double, burden is imposed upon you, and after having educated your children at your own sole expense you are compelled by these iniquitous laws to contribute largely to the free and godless education of other people's children. But we must look upon this as a trial from the hands of Divine Providence, meant for our greater good and to afford ns an opportunity of showing how we value our holy faith, the most precious gift of God ; a gift so great that whilst it is indispensable to salvation, it is the root and foundation of justification and the origin under God of all blessings to man. It is evidently a divine dispensation enabling us to prove our sincerity and fidelity whilst placing within our reach the means of satisfying for our many faults and shortcomings. We should thank God for this blessing and opportunity, and prove our appreciation of them by exerting ourselves to the utmost to establish as many Catholic schools as possible, and making them as pfflcient as possible. Thank God you have Catholic schools in this diocese second to none, but, nevertheless, we should never relax our efforts t^l all our children are within reach of a Catholic school, provided with all the most approved appliances of the most efficient system of education. And although the burden of doing this may at first sight appear very heavy, even crushing, it is not in reality beyond our strength. We have resources not possessed by every body, and all that is required is that all lend a hand, and that all take care to practice Christian economy, avoid extravagance, and zealouely lend to the Lord. Tbere is an old and homely saying, of which we beg to remind you, and which runs thus: "Where there is a will there is a way/ Let us all, then, without exception, generously help to promote Catholic school in sufficient number, provide these with all necessary and useful appliances, and labour to render the attendance of children regular. If we do all this, aod we entertain no doubt whatever that all this will be done, we shall have the satisfaction of seeing our children amongst the most highly trained and intellectual children in this country, and shall have the further satisfaction of knowing that for these great results we are indebted solely to our own exertions, and are not indebted for them to other people. Such a consummation would be most creditable to our faith, our Bense of duty, and our honourable independence. Meantime we shall experience the comfort and happiness of knowing that our children have been trained in such a way as to make them a source of blosings to themselves, to us, and to the community in the midßt dt which we are living. Let us forget in our efforts for the proper education of our children, that others are - spared the sacrifices we are obliged to make, and console ourselves ' with the consciousness of having done our duty to our children. This does not imply, of course, that aa citizens we are in the least to relax our efforts to obtain justice in this matter from the Government and Parliament of the country. Bat whilst endeavouring to

do so, let as take care to remunerate those who are labouring go bard to teach oar ohildren as we are bound to have them taught. To succeed in tbe discharge of this paramount obligation of Catholic education we need the grace of God — and the chief instruments of hie grace are prayer, the avoidance of the proximate occasion of am, and the frequentation of the sacraments. Let as, then, especially daring this holy season of Lent, devote ourselves more energetically than ever to these practices, and by every means in oar power endeavour to attract the merciful eye of God and stcure His blessing. Ton will be called upon daring this year to make the usual efforts to maintain your schoolß already established and to establish additional ones, to contribute as usual to tha Seminary Fand, to help the Holy Father with Peter's Pence, and to do something towards tbe main* taining of the holy placet hallowed by tbe footsteps, of our Divine Redeemer, and the evangelisation of the Aborigines of Australasia. Too will, we have no doubt, do your duty in those particulars in the future, as you have done in the past, with that devotion and zeal for which the Catholics of this diocese have ever been remarkable. In this diocese there have been very few, indeed, who have not been in the habit of making their Easter d uty, and for this we retunvhearty and grateful thanks to God. But there ought not to be any absentee! and we hope that in the future there will be none. All should remember that the precept of Easter Communion is, in substance, Divine, and that it is only ecclesiastical in so far as the determination of the time of Easter is concerned. Our Divine Lord commanded all his followers who had arrived at the years of discretion to go to Holy Communion at least once in tb« year, and all tbe Church baa done in reference to this is to direct that the time for the fulfilment of this precept is Easter time. The law of Easter Communion, therefore, is in substance Divine, and only ecclesiastical as to time. Surely, therefore, no one deserving the name of Catholic will so outrage our Divint Redeemer as to disobty His lovin? command, or be so rebellious to His Church, which all are commanded to obey, as to neglect bis or her Easter duty. The blessing of oar Lord Jesus Christ be with yoa all. t P. MOBAN. Dunedin : Feast of St Agnei, 1893. The following are the regulations for Lent, made in virtue of special faculties from the Holy See : — 1. The use of flesh meat is permitted at dinner on all days in Lent with the exception of Wednesdays aod Fridays, the Saturday of Quarter Tense, and Monday in Holy Week. 2. At the collation on faat days the use in moderation of butter, cheese, and milk is permitted, with the exception of Ash Wednesday and Good Friday. 3. On all days the use of butter, cheese, and milk is permitted at dinner, with the exception of Ash Wednesday and Good Friday. 4. By indult tbe use of lard is permitted on all days except Good Friday and Ash Wednesday. 5. Eggs can be eaten at dinner on all days except Ash Wednes. day and Good Friday. Fish and flesh meat are not permitted at the same meal. There is neither fast nor abstinence ou Sundays in Lent. All who have completed their 21st year are bound to fast an^ abstain — unless excused by the state of their health or the nature of their employments — according to the regulations stated above ; and all who have arrived at thi use of reason, though not bound to fast before the completion of their 21st year, are, nevertheless, bound to abstain from the use of flesh meat on tbe days appointed — unless exempt for a legitimate cause, of which the respective Pastors are to be the judges. Subject to the above regulations, every day, except Sunday and St Patrick's Day (when it does not fall on Friday or in Quarter Tenße), in Lent is a day of faat and abstinence. All who have arrived at the years of discretion are bound to go to CommunioD within Easter time, which, in this diocese, commences on Aeb Wednesday and ends on the octave of the Feast of SS Peter and Paul. A collection for tbe Seminary Fund will be made on tbe Ist Sunday in Lent where a priest officiates, and in other churches and chapels as soon after as possible. The collection for the Pope will be made in each chapel or church some Sunday before the end of September next, and for the Aborigines and Holy Places when each rector shall think convenient. Tbe clergy are requested to read this Pastoral at Mass in all churches and chapels where they officiate on Quinquageeima Sunday, and to place a copy of it in a conspicuous position in all churches and chapels at the beginning of Lent.