DIOCESE OF CHRISTCHURCH.

New Zealand Tablet, Volume XXXI, Issue 6, 5 February 1903, Page 6

DIOCESE OF CHRISTCHURCH.

(From our own correspondent ) February 2. His Lordship the Right Rev Bishop Grimes, accompanied by the Rev. Father Price, of Haw ai den, visited Haniner last week to arrange about the erection of a church at this tourist and health resort Jl is Lordship is staying a few da.vs at the springs. The Very Rev Father McEnroe, CM., returned from the West Coast during the week, and on Sunday commenced a week's mission at Cheviot. His confrere, Ihe Rev. Father McCarthy, CM., alter the Retreat of Hie diocesan clergy, took his departuie, accompanying the iVen. Archdeacon Devoy to Wellington

(Napier) Rev. Father Cahill ( Wilcannia) £nd Rev' in t^ rri O ' C J°n k °t s " nda y last Mass was celebrated bvtheßev F l?n-P ady i? tar u Of the Sea at Sumner riUriL f C !k, o Conne 1, who also preached on the StimahiA *2?fV fo ' Cl f b y. app^v.ng his remarks to the innosSSS? hffh f^ lth ' he v * reatest possible treasure ESJ^ n- y sjncere Catholic. There was a very Siitn£ £ ce * a Y£ n> •< amo^ g those P rGSent being several ysitois from the city. The Rev. Father O'Connell afterwards called upon several Catholic families in the viSSnmn.r h^ proba f bl + c , M{ISS will be celebrated monthly at >S umner by one of the pro-Cathedral clergy. „. T 1 . 16 , consummation of the much-discussed Greater tS S ll t'I C \ h appears * to b ° ™ s °"«bly near at hand. i + a^L u hree most P°P"lar boroughs— Linwood and Albans— have by considerable majorities voted in £ V SZ i? amal ? an »ation, whilst this week the decision of Nydenham is to be arrhed at. Every effort is being made to ensure a like result. wSimultaneous with the voting on this question in the city and suburbs abovementioned recently, was the first election of the newly constituted Tramways' Board, in which some of the best knowai and ablest business men were returned is a marked forward movement in municipal matters generally, and many are looking ahead with sanguine anticipations to much progress and prosperity, and the placing of Christchurch in the forefront of colonial His Lordship, the Bishop has just' issued the follawn1(?n 1(? circular letter .-' The walls of our new cathedral are using rapidly. The huge concrete floors of the galleries vUnch are to surround the whole of the sacred edifice-^ thus loranng a unique feature unlike that of any other building in the Colony— a,re long since in position. Hence if we except the dome and the two flanking towers we may safely say that not only have the cathedral walls reached more than half their full height, but that more than half the entire work is now complete. Up to the V.7n e AW we , - aye recoivod an *l practically expended about ■LIUOOO, whilst the promised donations yet unpaid bring r.'\o VYU tot iV anio »"t to the munificent sum of well-nigh £,28 000 Surely no true friend of the great undertaking would advise us to stop at this critical stage, when to stop would entail an expenditure of several thousand pounds, bosules gravely compromising our actual excellent contract, and inevitably damaging no little of the work already done On the contrary, would you not counsel us to niako a supreme effort to carry on what will, we may reasonably suppose, become one of the chief monuments of the Greater Christchurch, and a standing memorial of the faith and piety and noble generosity of our devoted clergy and people, well-wishers and friends I his efTort might be— (l) To implore those who have made promises to be good enough to fulfil them at once • (2) To urge those who have not yet given or promised to give, to give, and e\en thoso who have already givvn to be generous enouph to give again • (3) To take up earnestly and persevere in Keeping up the Sixnennv Weekly Collection, which we entreat our priests to carr'v out at once in every parish of the diocese. Trusting that you will do all m your power to help us in some of the loi-egomg ways in this grave juncture, and so avert what, even it only temporary, would be an awful disaster, and wishing v on and yours eveiy blessing.'

Miss Grace V. Christmas, a long-time resident of Home, has an interesting sketch of Cardinal Rampolla in the ' Rosary Magazine ' for November, in which she says: ' Tall and of majestic presence, Cardinal Rampolla i'mpiesses one with a sense of his power and strength of character. There is a virile energy in those stronglyrnarked features, intellect of a high order on that lofty biow, and an enormous capacity for self-control in the molding of those firm lips. The entire atmosnhere of the man breathes power, but it may be described as restrained power, and one may hazard the assertion that tho feelings, impulses, and emotions of the Cardinal •Secretary of State are held, as it were in a leash and rendered subservient to their owner's dominating will. The intense piety which also foims one of his leading characteristics must not be left unmentioned. No stress of business or affairs of state are ever allowed to interfere with his devotional exercises ; a portion of his only recreation time — namely, his afternoon drive outside the gates of the " Eternal City "—is spent in the presence of tho Blessed Sacrament, and, on the authority of his secretary, no one is ever permitted to disturb his hour's thanksgiving after his daily Mass As has been said of him, " his piety and his noble presence have led people to compare him to St. Charles Borromeo, the holy Secretary of State of Tope Pius IV." '