THE CHURCH IN AUSTRALIA.

New Zealand Tablet, Volume XXVIII, Issue 14, 5 April 1900, Page 27

THE CHURCH IN AUSTRALIA.

A RECORD OF PROGRESS.

Preaching- recently at St. Patrick's Church, Sydney, his Eminenoe Cardinal Moran said it was on that spot where the sacred edifice now stood, iv the house of a Catholic, that the first priest, the Rev. Father Flynn, kept the Blessed Sacrament in a cedar press the Sacrament he afterwards left behind him on his reluctant departure from the colony. From the time Father Flynn landed here the mo«t determined opposition was raised against him. He had set his heart on bringing religious consolation to the sufferers of New Holland, and as he could not proceed thither with the sanction of the Government he resolved to sail for Sydney, full of confidence that through Dr. Paynter's influence with Lord Bathurst everything would be M3t right at the colonial office. But the local Government, jealous of Ins happy labour*, under colour of his having come out u'l^anctioned by the British civil authorities — an act which no law stood to prohibit — ordered him to quit the colony. However, he sought sanctuary at the home of Mr. Davis, situated on the cite now occupied by St. Patrick's Church and the Convent of Mercy, and here he Jay concealed for several weeks, secretly administering the sacranients to tho^e who visited him, and from hib hiding place going forth at night to comfort the dying and visit the faithful who stood in need of his ministrations. But the desolate condition of the Catholics and the hardships endured by the ministry excited a widespread fetlmg of sympathy, and after a few weeks all the leading Protestants united with their fellow-Catholics and presented a petition to the Governor, asking his authorisation that the priest, who had come so many miles to minister to the spiritual wants of the Catholics, might be allowed to remain, at least for a time, to perform his holy functions. Four hundred citizens, mostly Protestants, signed this petition, and it seemed that the Governor could not refuse it. So confident was Father Flynn that its prayer would be granted that he ventured from his hiding place. He had miscalculated, however, the religious temper of the officers of the crown, for no sooner was he ceen in public than he was seized, thrown into prison, put into chains, and finally flung into a sailing vessel and sent back like a convict to London. The sacred pyx, with the Blessed Sacrament, was left in Mr. Davis's house, enshrined in the cedar tabernacle, and here for two years after Father Flynn's departure the faithful, as many as could, were wont to assemble at that sanctuary to pour out their adoration and love and receive consolation in their miseries. So the Catholics of Australia proved themselves faithful to the great St. Patrick, and not only in Ireland but in every land heroio sons of St. Patrick preserve the traditions of the faith. Their piety and zeal were to be seen in France, Germany, Switzerland, and Italy. Vt'OXDEItrCL PROGRESS IK GKEAT BRITAIN. In Great Britain the progress of the Church had been wonderful. At the end of the labt century there were but 12,000 Catholics in that countiy and many of these lukewarm in the faith owing to their terror of the penal laws ; but to-day we saw a Btately procession to Westminister — from the universities and colleges of England we caw thousands thronging to adore the Saviour in his Holy Church. Not only the intellect of England was coming to the Catholic Church, but the nobility of that country, risking possible opprobrium, were becoming in ever increasing numbers, humble disciples of Holy Church. But beneath all this, Catholicity in England had a solid foundation in the children of St. Patrick, who, driven from Ireland by persecution, have found homes in that land. But for them, despite the numbers that are thronging to Holy Church from the professions, from the universities, from even the others churches — Anglican ministers giving up their rich li rings to become simple Catholic laymen — the progress of the Church in England could not have been regarded as so successful ; and, curiously enough, perhaps a testimony to their worth and influence, 90 per cent, of all the Catholics in the great Archdiocese of Weatminißte

look on St. Patrick as their patron saint. Looking at the United States we saw that St Patrick impresses upon his children there the same qualities of heroism, progress and generosity that are so eminently characteristic in Ireland. At the beginning of the present century there weie in the whole of the United States but one bishop, 20 pi iests and :?>ooo Catholics, whilst to-day we saw no less than 14 archbishop-*, so bishops, 1 2,. "J00 priests, and 12, 000,000 devoted Catholic*. This is- furthur evidence that the Catholic Church is the one church that makes genuine sacrifices for the faith. In the city of New York alone there were but two churches at the Lt-giiiiiing of the ccntuiy, and thn°e 'v^ro very small and insignificant, but at the present day there are six dioceses, and in one, New York, there are more of the faithful thin m \u^trnln AN EXAM PL r: TO IMITATE. He (the Cardinal) was reading a few days a^o a discourse delivered in New York hy a bishop of the Methodist Church who was abusing his co-religionists for reflecting their duties to the church and failing to build .sacred edifices, but what particularly struck him (the Cardinal) was that this bishop exhorted his own co-religionists to take the Catholics of New York as their model. ' Who are they,' he said, ' whom we sometimes abuse in our daily Press / They are the people who, when we lie snugly in our beds, are going to their devotions in the early morning, wet or fine — and not only this, but on Sunday?, when we see nothing but empty benches in our churches in the churches of these Catholics there i* not standing room. We see how the daughters of that church are forwarding every work of charity in our great city.' And this Methodist bishop exhorted all to follow in the footsteps ot the Catholics of New York. Coming to Australia we found the fidelity of the sons of St. Patrick undiminished in Victoria.

It was only a few days ago that he (the Cardinal) had returned from a visit to their sister colony, Victoria. In the archdiocese of Melbourne alone the Catholics numbered 1 41,000, and there were nearly 150 churches, and on every side there were evidences of Catholic zeal and generosity. That beautiful Cathedral in Melbourne dedicated to St. Patrick, standing in grandeur and beauty a magnificent ornament to its city, was a building of which not only the Catholics of that colony but the Catholics of Australia might be proud. Whilst in Melbourne he opened that beautiful Church of St. Mary Star of the Sea, in West Melbourne. It was the third parochial church erected on that spot. The first was a mere shed, and soon a second church was erected. Thin, however, was found insufficient for the growing requirements of the district! and it was made into a school. The third church was then begun. and in nine years it has been completed at a cost ot £30,u00. The collections have been confined to that parochial district, and every month regularly the collectors bring in £100 from the parish, so it was no wonder that already £23,000 had been paid off the debt and the church stood, now complete, a beautiful ornament to the parish. Throughout Australia there were many such abiding proofs of Catholic generosity. The faithful, too, in New South Wales had shown a similar devotedneps in building churches schools, and maintaining charitable institutions. God would bk as in many ways this heroic generosity.