INTERCOLONIAL.

New Zealand Tablet, Volume XXXI, Issue 6, 5 February 1903, Page 31

INTERCOLONIAL.

A complimentary picnic was tendered by the priests of the Archdiocese of Sydney to the Very Rev. Dean O'Haran at Sandringham on January 15. Over 70 priests attended. The object of the picnic was to welcome Dean O'Haran on his return to the archdiocese after his recent visit with the Cardinal to Rome and Ireland. The Rev. Father Byrne, who was recently transferred from St. Mary's Church, Geelong, to Flemington, Melbourne, was entertained at Geelong at a social. ' By the parishioners he was presented with a purse of 100 sovereigns, and the members of the Ladies' branch of tho H.A.C.B. Society, of "which he was chaplain, presented him with a gold watch, chain, and cross pendant. At SS. Peter and Paul's Cathedral, Goulburn, on January 18, the solemn and interesting ceremony took place of raising to the dignity of the priesthood two young Australians— the Rev. Patrick Hartigan, son of Mr. P. Hartigan, of Yass, and Rev. Thomas Ryan, son of Mr. T. Ryan, of Barnawartha, Victoria. Both these young men matriculated with distinction at St. Patrick's College, Goulburn, and finished their ecclesiastical course at the College at Manly. It is stated to be the first ordination of native priests for missionary work in Goulburn diocese. A large congregation was present at the ceremony. The Right Rev. Dr. Gallagher was the ordaining prelate, and celebrated the Mass. By the Ophir which arrived at Port Melbourne on the 14th ult there came as passengers four Irish Christian Brothers from the Old Country— Rev. Brothers Conlon, O'Connell, Murphy, and Hurley. One is intended for West Australia, one for Sydney, and two for Melbourne. They are all in the prime of youthful manhood, and will be a considerable accession to the teaching staff of tho Order in Australia. They speak in o-lowing terms of the great and disinterested exertions of the ' Juverna ' committee in Dublin to erect the Centenary Ivo\itiate for the Brothers in Marino, Clontarf, near Dublin. The building, which is now nearing completion, will be conspicuous in a city that is noted for the beauty of its numerous ecclesiastical structures. At the Cathedral of the Sacred Heart, Bendigo, the other Sunday Bishop Reville referred to the benefactions of the late Dr. Backhaus to the diocese, vhich had recently been handed over by the trustees to be devoted to the needs of the 'liocese He stated that an impression prevailed that the priests were rolling in wealth, and consequently there was no necessity for the people to subscribe as liberally as in the past towards maintaining their religious institutions. Such, he said, was not the case, as the money derived from the will of Dean Backhaus was to be devoted to special purposes, such as the construction and maintenance of charitable institutions in connection with the diocese. It is the duty of parishioners, he continued, to subscribe as liberally to their Church and schools as they possibly can It has been decided to establish a Catholic orphanage in Bendigo •with poition of the money left by J)r Backhaus. Dr. Charles Rorke, who for 20 years had been in practice in North Sydney, died suddenly at his residence on Sunday, January 38. During the morning he atu-nded Mass at St. Mary's. North Svdno-" and then Msited his patients as usual, and performed an operation at, the North Sydney Cottage Hospital. On returning home he said that he felt a pain in his heart, and would he down Almost immediately afterwards he exclaimed. ' Oh, God, have mercy on my soul,' and died peacefully, the cause of death being failure of the heart's action. The deceased was born on December 21, 1815. and was therefoi c 57 years of age at the time of his death He was the fourth son of the late Mr. Andiew Rorke, of Kilcartv, County Meath, Ireland, and a nephew of the well-known Father Henry Rorke, S.J., and also a relative of the famous Major Rorke, of Koike's Drift.. He was educated at the Jesuit College, Mount St. Mary, Derbyshire, England, which was then the preparatory school to Stonyhurst. Whilst a young man he went to the Argentine, and resided at Buenos A\ res. After a short experience of sheep farming there he returned to Dublin to study medicine, and won brilliant successes at the examinations at the Royal College of Surgeons, where he received his diplomas for medicine and surgery. He first practised in the south of "England, and afterwards at Wigan in Lancashire, where he established a comfortable practice, but owing to the se\enty of the climate he was 'obliged to leave for the Argentine once again, and he was engaged in the great Cnil Re\olution 111 Buenos Ay res in 1880 as an army surireon. He returned to England, but shortly afterwards left for Sydney in 1881. and commenced practice at North Sydney, where he remained to his death. He was one of the honorary medical staff of the North Shore Cottage Hospital, and his general practice was very large He was held in high esteem by a wide circle of patients and friends, who feel that they have sustained a serious loss and a personal bereavement.