DIOCESE OF AUCKLAND.

New Zealand Tablet, Volume XXVIII, Issue 3, 18 January 1900, Page 19

DIOCESE OF AUCKLAND.

January 11. Rev. Father Amandolini, 0.8.8 , of Hamilton, it is said, leave* for Europe by next outward 'Frisco mail steamer.

The Marist Brothers are at Nelson attending their annual retreat.

The Rev. Father Patterson has undertaken the charge of Panmure-Howich parish until the return of hit Lordship the Bishop.

The Rev. Father Golden, after a sojourn of some months in Auckland in quest of health, returned .last week to Wellington completely restored.

The Sisters of Mercy enter upon their annual retreat at St. Mary's Convent, Ponsonby, this week, and conolude it on th« 19th inst.

At St. Benedict's Church during Christmas the Crib was nicely arranged, and attracted numbers of the faithful around it to offer their devotions.

The Guard of Honour Confraternity (St. Patrick's parish) held their annual picnic at Northcote yesterday. Several of the clergy were present, and a large number of guests. It was a great success. The party returned to the city at 10 o'clock.

St. Benedict's Christmas Fair concluded with an auction of the goods left over. It has been a decided success financially, and it deserved to be so, as the committee worked long and laboriously for that end. Special mention should be made of the secretaries, Messrs. Callaghan and Knott, upon whom the greater portion of the work devolved.

A fine tennis court has been made on St. Patrick's Convent School grounds, and should prove a great boon to the pupils. It has been completed by public subscribers, but to the ex- Mayor, Mr. Peter Dignan, the greatest ttanks are due for his abundant generosity. The good Sisters and their charges express their grateful recognition of the kindness of all who assisted them in this work.

A meeting is to be held in the High School of the Sisters of Mercy, Ponsonby, on Wednesday evening, 17th inst, to devise means for carrying out effectively the proposal made to commemorate the golden jubilee of thi Order in New Zealand, by establishing a Convalescent Home and Hospital for Incurables. The Very Rev. Dean O'Reilly is to preside. i

At the patriotic meeting held in the Drill Shed last Tuesday evening, execrable taste and bad manners were displayed by a portion of the large assemblage. The names and amounts of the subscribers to the Fund were read out, and because the amounts given in several instances by well-known citizens were not, in the opinion of a number present, adequate to the occasion, they roundly hooted and jeered, and called upon the donors to give more. The particulars of the death and funeral of the late Very Rev. Monsignor McDonald have already appeared in the Tablet. To attempt to describe the genuine sorrow and expressions of regret at bis loss by those outside the Church would be impossible. Go where you will, in the city and suburbs, in the 'bus, tramcar, or train, everywhere the one topic was : ' Poor old Father Walter, we shall not see his like again.' Even at the annual session of the Grand Orange Lodge of N.Z., held last Friday, ' feeling reference was made to the demise of the Rev. Walter McDonald, the parish priest of Howich, who was highly respected by all the members of the Institution as a gentleman of honesty of purpose who had a word of cheer for every man, irrespective of creed. In the Church to which he was a devoted member his place cannot be easily filled, and our sympathy is with the deceased's relatives.' Mrs. Thomas Morrin, of Wellington Park, Panmure, wrote to the Very Rev. Dean O'Reilly immediately on hearing of the Monsignor's death, expressing sorrow and asking to be permitted to defray at least a share of the funeral obsequies. The Presbyterian Assembly also passed a motion of condolence.