DIOCESE OF AUCKLAND.

New Zealand Tablet, Volume XXIX, Issue 22, 30 May 1901, Page 4

DIOCESE OF AUCKLAND.

(From our own correspondent.)

May. 23. A social will be held to-morrow evening in St. Benedict's Hall in aid of the parochial funds. The church and schoolroom at the Lake Orphanage are nearing completion. Socials are now to be held monthly by the Catholics of Otahuhn. One, a most successful one too, was held last Friday evening in aid of the local convent fund. Since the advent of the Rev. Father M'lntosh new life has been imparted into the parish. Rev. Father Costello, of Westport, who is en route to Ireland, arrived in Auckland last Saturday evening and is at present the guest of his Lordship the Bishop. On Sunday evening after Vespers the Rev. Father met a large number of his old friends. Father Costello leaves next Saturday by the Ventura for San Francisco. His Lordship Dr. Lenihan has imported a valuable lot of literature from the Catholio Truth Society, England. I had a look over it, and I am pleased to state that a long-felt want has been supplied. Our Bishop intends to distribute this welcome literature throughout every parish in the diocese, and that good will reanlt therefrom goes without saying. Next Sunday throughout the diocese a collection will be made in aid of our orphanages. No worthier object calls for consideration at the hands of the charitably deposed, and the sacrifice of a little luxury here and there might with profit be made, and the saving thus effected passed over to those who would be made happier by additional home comforts. Messrs. Vance, P. Learins, Honan, and Hutchinson, on behalf of the members of the Church of the Assumption, Onehunga, assembled at the presbytery on Monday evening last for the purpose of making a pr. sentation of a purse of sovereigns and an address to the Rev. Father Benedict, who has concluded a fortnight's mission in the parish. His Lordship Bishop Lenihan visited Onehunga on Sunday, and administered the Sacrament of Confirmation to the children prepared during the recent mission given by the Very Rev. Father Benedict, O.P. His Lordship was accompanied by the Rev. Father Costello, of Westport, and Rev Father Purton, 0.5.8. In the afternoon his Lordship confirmed about 70 children. Benediction of the Blessed Sacrament brought the ceremony to a close. His Lordship Dr. Lenihan has been the recipient of a beautiful present. To the magnificent crozier presented to his Lordship a tew years ago by the priests of the Dunedin diocese has been added, by Mr. Henrich Kohn, a non-Catholic gentleman, a solid gold cross inlaid with rich New Zealand goid quartz, while the four corners of the cross are tipped with polished greenstone in the form of a shamrock. On the gold plate in the centre on one side are the letters ' 1.H.5.,' and on the reverse side is his Lordship's coat of arms. The cross is inserted in the round space at the top of the crozier, and measures about five inches in length, and three inches in width. Too much praise cannot be bestowed upon the generous donor, Mr. Kohn, and I am sure the worthy priests of Dunedia who presented the crocier will feel gratified at the enhanced beauty and value which have been added to their already beautiful present. The following was the address presented to Bishop Lenihan by the Catholics of Coromandel, and signed on their behalf by Messrs. Thomas Carroll, John Lynch, and John Lillis :—: — My Lord, — The members of the parish of Coromandel here assembled offer you a hearty welcome and thank you for your presence amongst us. Some years have elapsed since your last visit, during which you have journeyed to Europe and to the Eternal City, being received by our Holy Father, Pope Leo XIII., whom may God ever bless and protect. We beg to welcome you home to your diocese, and to express, through you, an undying loyalty to the Vicar of Christ, and to yourself, our blessed Bishop. We thank yon for your fatherly care of our spiritual welfare, for the great privilege of the mission now brought to a happy close and the grace of the Sacrament of Confirmation conferred upon us and our children. We take this opportunity of thanking you for your presence here to-night, and we beg your Lordship to graciously accept this *mall token of our esteem an-i love. Praying God to grant you many years to labor in his vineyard, and with hope that we may soon have th< pleasure of peeing you gain id our midst, we beg your Lordship's blessing for ourselves and for the industrial of Coromandel.