DIOCESE OF AUCKLAND.

New Zealand Tablet, Volume XXV, Issue 49, 8 April 1898, Page 6

DIOCESE OF AUCKLAND.

(From our own correspondent.) Thursday, March 31st. The Very Rev. Father Aubrey, S.M., and chief of the Order in Australasia, is at present in Auckland, the guest of the Bishop at the palace, Ponsonby. Last Sunday evening he preached a splendid sermon at St. Patrick's Cathedral. The panegyric, annually delivered and looked for so eagerly, of St. Patrick, was preached this year at the Cathedral by the Rev. Father Kehoe of Parnell, and at St. Benedict's by the Rev. Father Croke of St. Patrick's. Both discourses were eloquent and powerful, and worthy of so great an occasion. These sermons are certainly productive of much good, inasmuch as they arouse all the latent and characteristic faith and love of Fatherland in the breasts of the sons of St. Patrick at a period of the year when they are most susceptible to such good and wholesome teaching. The committee of- ladies and gentlemen who successfully carried out the celebrations of St. Patrick's Day are deserving of every praise. When it is remembered that they have met continuously since last October, and worked assiduously right up to the present time, and they are not yet finished, some idea may be gathered of their labours. Where so many have done well it would be invidious to single out names, but there are two who richly deserve mention, and who have done yeoman service, viz : Me^sr^. John J. A. Callaghan, art union secretary, and Patrick O'Kane. sports secretary. The former, who is but a recent arrival from Australia, not only worked his own department well, but assisted materially in every other, lending willing assistance, and making hosts of friends by his quiet and unostentatious manner. As lor the sports secretary, his equal would be difficult to find. Easter Tuesday night has been fixed for the grand opening of St. Benedict's Hall. His Lordship the Bishop will be present, and a splendid programme is in preparation, and two bands from different parts of the city are to march to the hall prior to the opening. A striking feature is apparent in the organising and carrying out of St. Patrick's Day celebrations every year, viz., the apathy, amounting in numerous instances to absolute boycotting, shown by numbers of young persons of both sexes whose duty it should be to assist. The same handful of devoted persons are always left to do the work, and the do-nothings stand idly by, and actually find fault with what they systematically shun. To crown this, when other functions suoh as flower-shows, etc., are got up by the outside public, these people lend valuable and ostentatious aid. Are their own not high and mighty enough for them ? Should not the material welfare of their Church appeal to them before aught else ? Their excuses for holding aloof are as plentiful as tho^e of the guests who failed to put in an appearance at the wedding feast This year the absentees from the carnival and evening entertainment were most painfully evident. In three of our suburbs a large number of youths have formed gambling schools which meet every Sunday morning to play euchre, pitch and toss, etc. A fleet-footed constable has been told off to suppress the schools, but he is inadequate, and more are necessary.

Our boasted civilisation banishes God entirely from our youth for six days in the week ; it is small wonder that they think not of Him on the seventh day. You have educated your masters, mesnienrx.

The inspection of our schools throughout the Colony by the State should be constantly sought for until the object is attained. Upon political as well as bigoted grounds we have been denied our just claims, and resort to the former is the surest road to success for us. Let us remember O'ConnelTs maxim to the people : " Agitate, agitate, you have the power yourselves." An editorial article in the Auckland Star last Monday evening mercilessly exposed the failure of the Protestant missions in their self imposed tabk of Christianising the denizens of the Flowery Land. Mr. Henry Norman, in his work, The Far East, says : " There are three branches of the Episcopalian Church, nine sects of Presbyterians, six sects of Methodists, two of Baptists, two of Congregationalists, besHes several other bodies. In Shanghai, alone, there are seven missions — the London Mission, American Presbyterian, American Epi&oopal, Methodists Church, Missionary Society, American Baptists, and the Seventh Day of Adventists." Commenting upon this a Rev. Dr. Williamson remarked : " Here we have seven sects of foreign missionaries, working seven different churches, seven sermons every Sunday, seven sets of prayer meetings, seven sets of communion services, seven sets of schools, two training agencies, seven sets of buildings, seven sets of expenses, four or five versions of the Bible, and seven different hymn books." Turn from those warring sects and look upon this testimony. " The success of the French missionaries in China is in a great measure due to the antiquity and uniformity of the doctrines they teach. While the Protestant missionary remains a foreigner to the last, the Roman Catholic prießt adopts the native dress, inhabits a native house, lives on native food, and is an example of those austere characteristics which are essential to Eastern ideas of priesthood." The editor need not go to China for such an example of the Catholic priesthood. In every Maori district of the Auckland province the devoted Fathers of St. Joseph " inhabit a native house and live on native food," and better than all, " the antiquity and uniformity" of their doctrines are precisely the same as those taught in China and the world over. Truly there are none so blind as those who will not see. The chairman of the Auckland Harbour Board is to be allowed a free hand in dealing with portions of the defence of the fort. This is in view of the scramble I going ion iat present in the East. Compared with this the famous exploit of the Duke of York sinks into insignificance. At a Presbyterian gathering, held in Auckland on St. Patrick's night, one of the ministers, Rev. R. McKinney, wore on his left breast a green badge in the form of a harp entwined by shamrook, and upon rising to address the assemblage he proudly drew its attention to the emblem of his country. It is pleasing to record that the patriotic gentleman was loudly cheered. Mr McKinney has publicly and privately on many an occasion shown his sympathy to Ireland and her struggle for autonomy. A citizen makes it known through the local Press that he is about to present to the city art gallery a large painting of a Rev. Mr Walker, who, it is alleged, fought valiantly against his King in the " memorable siege of Derry." The donor vouchsafes the information that the people of Wellington are chagrined at losing the picture. Their gain is our loss. There was nothing heroic or brave in the Derry episode, ond least of all was there that in it to commend it to a democratic country. The besieged tought for a predatory usurper, and the besiegers for a cowardly poltroon. A plague upon both their houses. ! Augmenting the city water supply, and purifying the milk supplied the city and suburbs, are questions just now bothering the corporation. The former can only be met by a substantial loan, and this to a falling exchequer is a serious matter. In the latter oase it is said th.it numbers of diseased cows are employed to meet the local milk demand. A regular and systematic examination should easily remedy this, but the number of contending bodies bar this.