DIOCESE OF CHRISTCHURCH

New Zealand Tablet, Volume XXXIII, Issue 50, 14 December 1905, Page 6

DIOCESE OF CHRISTCHURCH

(Fr<om our own correspondent.) December 11. Mr. John Barrett returned last week from his tour in America and Ireland. Prior to last Sunday's ceremonies, his Lordship the Bishop had confirmed during his present pastoral visitation 996 candidates. The new church at Woolston is expected to be completed and ready for divine worship and temporarily for school purposes about the middle of January. The school is to be taken charge of by the Sisters of the Missions. Sunday was essentially a day for the children at the Cathedral, and the spectacle presented must have been cheering to our befoved Bishop and his devoted clergy, as well as to the hardworking and painstaking religious who saw in realisation the fruits of many weeks of careful training. On Friday evening, in honor of the Feast of the Immaculate Conception, the Convent of the Sacred Heart was beautifully illuminated. Rows of lighted candles were displayed in each of tho numerous windows. In the open, colored fires lit up the grounds and the Cathedral, the whole scheme of illumination presenting a brilliant spectacle. There was a religious reception into the Order of Our Lady of Missions at the Convent of the Sacred Heart, Barbadocs St., on the Feast of the Immaculate Conception, when six youno; ladies were received. The Very Rev. Father Le Menant desiChesnais, S.M., V.G., < presided, -there being also present tho Very Rev. Dean Ginaty, the Rev. Fathers Lezar, Mahony, O'Connell, and Peoples.

The results of the Parliamentary elections both in the city and provincial districts are, under existing circumstances, quite satisfactory. The contests in the three city electorates were strenuous ones, and until the numbers went up opinions as to the probable results were almost as numerous as the candidates. \ * By kind permission, and under p~atronage of his Lordship the Bishop, a grand vocal, instrumental, and dramatic matinee is to be given on next Saturday afternoon in the girls' parish school by the pupils of the Convent High School and girls' day school in aid of works of charily. The matinee is under the auspices of the Society of St. Vincent de Paul Particular Council, and the programme is to consist of all the principal items of the pupils' ' breaking up ' entertainments. On last Friday evening week the members of the Christchurch Catholic Club repeated their humorous entertainment, described on the programme as & 'Komical Karacter Koncert,' in the Oddfellows' Hall, Lyttelton, to a good audience. Mr. H. Rossiter was musical director, and the various items, including the comedietta, "The Blind Beggars,' were excellently rendered. The entertainment was given under the auspices of the Society of St. Vincent de Paul, and was in aid of the fund for erecting a hall at the port for the local conference of the Society's mission to Catholic seamen. At the half-past nine o'clock Mass in the Cathedral on Sunday, celebrated by his Lordship the Bishop, one hundred and thirty children and others received their First Communion. The young people presented a brave appearance ; the girls in charge of the .Sisters of the Missions were dressed in white, with wreaths and veils, and the boys in charge of the Marist Brothers' wore white sashes and red rosettes. They were addressed in impressive terms by the Bishop both before and after they approached \he Holy Table. After Mass the children were entertained at breakfast in the boys' schoolroom, and were attended by the ladies of the congregation. His Lordship presided. The Very Rev. VicarGeneral and Rev. Father Mahony were also present. Some of the Sisters of the Mission and JNlarist Brothers were in attendance. At three o'clock in the afternoon in the presence of a large his Lordship administered the Sacrament of Confirmation to over 200 candidates, including upwards of thirty adult converts. His Lordship also administered the temperance pledge to all of the newly confirmed. Prior to Vespers a procession of the clergy, headed by the Bishop, the children, and congregation, was made around the episcopal grounds. About a thousand persons look part, and the Rosary was recited en route. On re-entering the Cathedral the choir sang 1 Eccc Saccrdos Magnus.' Addressing the congregation, the Bishop referred to the various principles guiding the social and religious well-being of the people, temperance above all else. The virtue of temperance, he maintained, would distinguish every Catholic and every New Zealander. He maintained, as he always did and hoped always would, that whatever vices the young New Zoalander may have acquired, that of intemperance was not one of them. Were this not so the foremost positions they held would not be so. Even in the field of athletics had they not the achievements of the New Zealand footballers in tho old countries to point to as a sterling proof of Iheir superiority as a race, owing to their temperate habits. If this were not so the successes they had attained would have been impossible. The Bishops of this Colony weie safeguarding the young from a vice that had been imported, and one not natural to our young people, by administering the pledge of total aibstinence until at 'least they 'attained maturity. After the sermon there was a renewal of baptismal vows and acts of consecration to our Blessed Lady and St. Joseph, read respectively by Miss Katie O'Connor and Master Thomas Dwyer. Benediction of the Blessed Sacrament was given by the Bishop, attended by tho Rev. Fathers Mahony and Peoples, the Very Rev. Vicar-General and Rev. Father O'Connell assisting in the sanctuary. Mrs. A. C. Nottingham was sponsor for the girls and Mr. E. O'Connor for the boys for Confirmation. _____ _________

At the statutory meeting of Hie Thames Hospital Trustees representing the local bodies, held for the purpose of electing another trustee in accordance with the. Act, his Worship the Mayor (Mr. A. Burns) presided. - Mr. Burns represented tho Borough Council, while the representatives of the Ohinemuri County Council and Thames County Council were Messrs. George Crosby and R W. Bagnall respectively. It was decided that the Right Rev. Mgr. O'Reilly be elected to the position.