DIOCESE OF CHRISTCHURCH.

New Zealand Tablet, Volume XXVII, Issue 6, 9 February 1899, Page 4

DIOCESE OF CHRISTCHURCH.

(From our own correspondent.) February 6. unh^ f^ 61 ? Oi f^ c ?ißßion? ißßion have been P laced in <*arge of the school at Halawell. Several nuns from the Convent, Barbadoes street, entered into possession this week. „ l J*™ Jp 6 . 11 show ° an interesting relic of the early missionary days of the Colony, which his Lordship the Bishop has just received Btahn f AB'A 8 ' S e % Dr -TCT Cr -° ke - Archblßh °P °* Cartel, and former^ Bishop of Auckland. It is a msUl crucifix, evidently of a very ancient design and was part of the belongings of Bishop Pompallier during his missionary days in Auckland. It is the intention of Dr Grimes to pass it on to Bishop Lenihan, who, he thinks should possess it as an object of historical interest. So that after many years and a voyage round the world it will once again be amongst at least the descendants of those to whom it was 'in the long ago shown an the emblem of man's redemption Another unique treasure possessed by D-\ Grimes is the skullcap made of white silk of his Holiness the Pope worn by hfm at the May Consistory last year, and given to the Bishop by the Holy father when last in Rome. y Two recant arrivals in the persons of the Rev. Fathers Crottv S^^H! o^!^ flOf 10 - 0^™ 1 °* S^day last, tie former at the High Mass at 11 o'clock and the latter at Vespers After Vespers there was the usual monthly procession of the' Blessed ?Xr nt V T V. r °v athedral <»»«** beinjf away on a holiday to Sydney Miss Kate Young acted as organist and played the Dead SerCumming: 8 " reCeSMODaI *"^ rf the kte Yer * Rev ' An editorial in one of the daily papers brought out in its correCPC P h 0 u n roh nCe T C h "f th - f t lOW^ tribUte t0 the Duns of the Oatholiu Church. The writer is Mrs. Cunnmgton. ' I emphatically contradict (says she) your statement that "orthodoxy" shrinks from certain outcast* and I base my contradiction on facts— facts too ol a very old standing. Take the Roman Catholics first. Why for years and years before the Army was born, nuns were walking through slums and gutters, gathering little children into schools, visiting the sick and dying in plague-ridden districts, takin^ to their arms lepers and sufferers from the foulest of diseases. lt°was nuns who attended the sufferers in Vienna from bubonic plague it was nuns who stood to their post when all others fled as cholera

marched into India's cities. Women have given up home, marriage tnends, to enter convents, and in quiet cloistered chambers have taught httle children, or received the poor outcast women, fed them, clothed them, nursed them day by day, year by year, and no drum or trumpet has flourished the work abroad. I say, thank God for His silent workers, as well as fur the ones who march to the cries of hallelujah eongi in streets and roads. ' I was wonderfully impressed by the quiet beauty of a nun's work at the time that Sheehan the murderer lay waiting death in Lyltelton Gaol. Each day the ugly old gaol gate was opened, and a, quiet, gentle little nun was admitted. Reverently the warder led her to the condemned cell ; there .she stayed for hours praying and consoling the unhappy being for whom the clamorous world had no kind word. Do you think th*t nun, young and fragile as I know her to be, was not worthy of all praise and honour ? Did she " shrink from the outcast ? " ' At 3 o'clock on Sunday afternoon last, in the presenoe of a numerous gathering, the new Church of St. Agnes at flalswell was solemnly blessed and dedicated by his Lordship the Right Rev Dr Grimes, assisted by the Very Rev. Father Le Menant dea Chesnaia', SM. V.G., and Father Ginatv, SM There were also present the Rev. Fathers Marnane, Foley, and Richards. After the ceremony of blessing- the church was concluded, an address was read and presented to his Lordship by Me«srs. M-Cirthy and Walls, to which he suitably replied. The sermon was preached by the Bishop, at the termination of which a collection was taken up, realising the handsome total of £40. Benediction of the Most Blessed Saorament, the music being rendered by the principal members of the pro-Cathedral choir, under the conductorship of Mr. G. Cronin, closed the ceremonies of the day. On Sunday morning last the new ohuroh at Hornby was opened by his Lordship Dr. Grimes. A full report of the proceedings will be given in my next letter.