Diocese of Auckland.

New Zealand Tablet, Volume XXV, Issue 32, 17 December 1897, Page 27

Diocese of Auckland.

(From our own correspondent.)

December 9, 1897. His Lordship the Right Rev. Dr. Lenihan accompanied by the Very Rev. Mons. Paul, and the Rev. J. Darby returned safely on Sunday week the 4th inst. from Australia Of the great and imposing Catholic function in the Victorian capital Dr. Lenihan has much to say. The marvellous resources and energy of the Church in Australia have excited the admiration and wonder of the Bishop. Within a quarter of an hour's walk of the vast Cathedral of St. Patrick, another beautiful church at a cost of £30.000 is in course of erection. Go where he would these evident signs of animated life prevailed in the Church. With St. Patrick's, Goulbourn. over which Right Rev. Er. Lonigan presides, his Lordship was greatly taken. Everywhere the utmost kindness and hospitality was shown to our Bishop. His trip was somewhat marred by an operation performed in Melbourne on November 9 upon his throat, which is not yet healed. It is fondly to be hoped his Lordship may soon recover.

The Rev. ,T. Darby, who came over with the Bishop, is to be ordained on Sunday, December 19, at St. Patrick's Cathedral. He has studied for the last nine years in Sydney. He is a son of Mr. Patrick Darby, than whom exists in our midst no truer or stauncher son of Holy Church, and the great reward he is now about to reap in witnessing his devoted son enrolled amongst the clergy of God is a fitting and a most deserved one.

Father Ginaty has completed his sixth week of missionary labour in this city, terminating at the Cathedral. The whole work has been prolific of much good. Father Ginaty is at present giving a mission to the Little Sisters of the Poor in Ponsonby. The Rev. Father will be engaged in the diocese until the middle of January. For his age Fr. Ginaty is a veritable wonder.

The parochial collection in aid of St. Patrick's presbytery fund amounted to close upon £1500, a very creditable sum indeed and calculated to lessen the incubus on the parish. The whole of the credit of this success is due to the Rev. Father Croke and his assistant lay collectors, who worked like Trojons in the good cause.

Rev. Father Giblin, who arrived from America by the last 'Frisco mail boat, preached last Sunday niyht at St. Patrick's. He is decidedly an acquisition in the pulpit, and the subject chosen. '•How to receive worthily Holy Communion,"' was listened to with rapt attention.

The St. Patrick's Day celebration committee has decided to keep strictly within the meaning of the Gaming and Lotteries Act by presenting to their patrons genuine works ot art. In this they are wise, though others seem to po^et>s on the point a more elastic conscience by giving away mechanical contrivances. How will the authorities view these distinctions ?

The Rev. Father Vincent Grogan of the Passionist Order, is expected in Auckland by the Waihora on Sunday, I'.tth inst, and is to preach the ordination sermon at St. Patrick's on that day in connection with the ceremony hereinbefore mentioned. Father Vincent is no stranger in this city, and few forget the splendid mission he gave here some years ago. He will bo heartily welcomed.

Fathers Aubrey and Hill, S.M., are at present in Auckland, and the guests of the Bishop at the Palace in Ponsonby.

Father Lightheart, superior of the Fathers of St. Joseph, has been in town for the last week awaiting the arrival of two more of his Order intended for the Maori mission in this diocese. Energetically and unostentatiously these good Fathers, far away from the haunts of Europeans, pursue their noble work of ministering to our aboriginal co-religionists. God bless and protect them, and grant them eternal reward.

The Very Rev. Father O'Reilly, P.P., has once again been elected trustee for the Thames Hospital, as representative of the contributing bodies. In this we see evidence of the high popular regard in which the esteemed " soi/yartli ai'oon" of the Thames is most deservedly held by all classes. Panmure. — Very Rev. Monsi^nor M'Donald's parish is to be honoured on Sunday next by the first episcopal visit of Dr. Lenihan. His Lordship will be accompanied by the Rev. Fathers Ginaty, Gillan, and Mulvihill. On the return home Father Ginaty will leave the episcopal party at Ellerslie, and between there and Howick he will put in a week's mission, thus completing the rounds of Mons. M'Donald's parish.

St. Patrick's Christmas tree, in aid of the Presbytery interest fund, is to be held this evening. The various schools are preparing tLeir annual entertainments, which give promise to be as successful as on former years.

Yesterday the feast of the Immaculate Conception was generally observed in the city churches. At St. Benedict's and the cathedral the Society of the Children of Mary mustered in large force, while the attendance of the laity of both sexes was very edifying. Devotion to our Blessed Lady is ever significant of a lively and steadfast faith.

Dr. Cowie, who has just returned from the gathering at Lambeth, spoke thus at his first public utterance in Auckland :—": — " Ido not recognise any supremacy in the Archbishop of Canterbury, but the see of Canterbury is to the Anglican community what Queen Victoria is to the British Empire — a centre of unity." On the reverend gentleman's own dictum the Archbishop of Canterbury is simply a figure-head. His ipse dizit with the "communion" falls just as flat as that of Dr. Cowie's. In plain words the "communion "is but " playing a game at Church." However, to compare the nonenity at Canterbury with the ruler of the empire upon which the sun never sets is calculated to rouse the effervescent loyalty of the Britisher. Dr. Cowie's simile tallies only in the matter of drawing huge salaries from the puMic purse without adequate return.

Auckland has been drawn into the cycle of the fire-fiend, which, during the last month, has embraced two hemispheres. Proportionately we have contributed our quota of loss by the destruction of the principal goods shed on Queen street wharf with its valuable contents. This awful lesson has brought home to Jhe minds of the merchants the fossilised method of handling goods on our wharves. The Harbour Board sought, some time ago, to remedy the evil, and if it were then done there would not certainly have been such a glut in the 3hed on that fateful night. The way the merchandise is strewn upon the Auckland w haves by the large steamers, and subsequently bundled into sheds without supervision is disgraceful. Calamities like the one under notice were, through this abominable system, tempted into existence. Now, those responsible for this state of affairs are clamouring for a refund of their custom payments upon the destroyed goods, and seem likely to obtain them.

The District Executive of the Hibernian Society has issued a circular to the New Zealand branches asking them to contribute to a fund with the object of making a presentation to Brother Bohan of Wellington. Tiiis is as it should be, as the genial Brother in question has been associated with the Society from its inception in this colony ; as far back as the halcyon days of the West Coast, in the Sixties, when he was President of the Charleston branch, and remains in harness to the present day, being Treasurer of the Wellington branch. The honour is well deserved.

Honest confession is good for the soul, and so thought an Anglican clergyman at the Synod in Auckland, when he blurted out, " The flower of the Maori Mission six months after leaving school went wrong."

The Primate went one better, and said, •' The longer I live, and the more I know of Christianity, the more impressed I am with the evil done to Christendom by the unscriptural and assumed supremacy of the Bishop of Rome." lie had to bring them something delectable from the empireism at Lambeth, and no matter how worn out that morsel may have been, it was gulped down with avidity. Oh, what a trouble the Papacy is to them : they cannot if they would get rid of it. With it (the Papacy) before him, Dr Cowie glibly said, " The Conference (Lambeth) requested the Archbishop of Canterbury to form a consultive body to which resort may be had if desired by the Churches. '• Of what earthly use is a " consultive body "to a community whose cardinal principle is that its every unit in matters theological is warranted in deciding for itself /

St. Andrew's Pret-byterian Church has been in the throes of agitation over the appointment of a minister, now going on two years. The conflicting parties, the great body of the parsons, with a minority of the laity, upon one hand, and on the other a considerable proportion of the latter aided by a few of the former, are still as wide apart as the poles. Stormy meetings, resembling in vituperation and vehemence typical electioneering gatherings, have been frequent. One of these lasted all night and well into the next day. At the prolonged sitting the majority deposed from office an elder who was credited with causing all tho rumpus The minority by legal quibbling is determined to retain him. Meantime no minister will suit either side, and on the fun goes. This is the result of all officers and no rank and file. Authority is foreign to Protestanism.

This w ill probably be my last communication before the holy and festive season of Christmas. In this favoured and sunny land of ours we celebrate it in a manner distinctly opposite to the old land. Oh, the dear old land, within its four seas there will be many of our kith and kin pining for the bare necessities of life. The poignancy of this is more felt when we know this result is attributable to mundane causes, and not from the hands of the Creator. In our fun and frolic let us pause and bestow some thought upon this skeleton in our cup-board, and determine that so far as we are concerned that steps shall be made to alleviate their sad lot. To one and all of my readers, and con/rcrmoi the Tablet I wish from my heart all the compliments and happiness of this holy season of Christmas with bright and cheering prospects for the New Year.