INTERCOLONIAL

New Zealand Tablet, Volume XXXII, Issue 16, 21 April 1904, Page 31

INTERCOLONIAL

At the final meeting of the Sydney St. Patrick's Day celebration committee the secretaries read the balance sheet, which was unanimously adopted. The celebration was a great success, the credit balance standing at £528 8s +d It was stated that the sum of £65 would be availabie for each of the Catholic orphanages.

On Sunday, '24th inst., his EnTilnence i the CardinalArchbishop, assisted by the Right Rev. Dr. Olier, S.M., Coadjutor-Bisihop-Eleet of Tonga, will bless a*n>d open the new additions to the Villa Maria Church, Hunter's Hill, Sydney, which are now nearing completion. The work, which was rendered necessary by tihe growing requirements of the district, and which has been undertaken at a cost of some £1200, has been dedicated to the memory of ll;e late Father Muraire, S.M., who for 40 years spent himself in the service of tihe Catholics of Hunter's Hill.

T*he Cathedral Hall (writes the Melbourne correspondent of the Sydney ' Freeman's Journal ') is one of the finest, if not the very finest, in Melbourne, and has elicited unstinted praise from all who have seen its massive piopoi lions and elegant interior decoration and up-ttudate equipment as a theatre, etc. This work is one more jewel in the imperishable crown Avhich adorns the wonderfully successful administration of his Grace the Archbishop, and easily ranks next to the labors of the Most Rev. prelate in connection with St Patrick's Cathedral, on which his Grace expended £100,000.

The objects of the Victorian Scripture League continue, to receive some wholesome criticism from the Melbourne secular press. The ' Age ' has given a precis of the evidence taken before "the Royal Commission on ttie state of education in Victoria in 1867. They haid every facility for sciving religious instruction in the public schools, but on the testimony of their own ministers the work was shamefully neglected The writer concluded with this pertinent observation : — ' The qfuestion naturally arises whether the conditions which ontai/ned in the sixties would not repeat themselves today if the efforts of the Scripture instruction campaigners were successful.'

St. Mary's new chufch, now in course cf erection at Ipswich, Queensland, is to replace the old St Mary's, which ser\od all the requirements of a parish church for forty years. The foundation stone of the new church was laid by his Grace Archbishop DiiiiTne on October 28, 1000 The dimensions of the new church, which is to seat 3000 people, are pretty colossal Its lemgth is 140 ft by a width of 69ft 10m The style of architecture is Gothic When finished St "Mary's new church. insMweh, Avill be one of the finest ecclesiastical miildingh in Queensland. The total cost, when finished, of the poitiivns now beintr built, which is only half the structure when convplete, is £25,000

A conference of Slate school teachers was held the ot/her day in SVdnev with the obiect of considering the report of Ihe Education Commissioners recently from abroad. Sir ITai rv Rawson, State C.oveninr, presided, and opened the conference, am one; otbere piesent being Cardinal Mot .m, the Vnehean Pinnate (Archbishon Smith), and Ren Dr. Harper (Presbyterian) In the course of an address "Hn the conference bis Eminence said • ' Conformable to those principles, religion should not be banished horn ivur schools Education should unfold to the <hiM at overv ster> bis dependence on the Creator, whilst it teaches him his duties towards bis parents, towards bis court ry, towards the social 'order in w'bi"h be lnt», anil towards his felU w-cit l/c'ns In all this we muM bear in mind that religion is not a mere nohMcal institution, nor a means to attain some worldly ends We iegard it of itself, and 'or itself, as a 'priceless t'casure, a Divine gift <-o precious that we should sacrifice all el«e to seevre it It is the very fonintain scince of spiniual IJto,1 J to, God ever prceM 1n the soul, and coninvunicating Tlimseli to us, so that in t>is union wii'h (iod each one may find bis m blest asriraMo^s realised and the religious vcamino of bis henrt fully satisfied It is in conformity vilh ■•bis s'n'i'-H of i elision Ibal Christ rometh to our schools, and for nrr Catholic children it becomes a duly ami a ioy to receive His lessons of beavenlv wisdom, + o be romfoHel by His sticngtbeniP"- error e<=, air'l +o cherish theDnine lieu t .ire of blessings winch He has ghen us.' -_——————