Intercolonial

New Zealand Tablet, 15 October 1908, Page 35

Intercolonial

ft - -> The Rev. P. J. Moore, of -Bombala, celebrated the' silver jubilee of his ordination to the priesthood on Tuesday, September 22. Presentations were made to him in the local convent school. - The Rev. R. Collins, pastor of South Melbourne, received by cable the sad news of the death of his father, ,Mr.... Patrick Collins, who passed away at Ballybunion, County Kerry, on, September 28. Substantial assistance to our Catholic institutions (says the Advocate) has been more than usually in evidence lately. Only a few weeks ago, a farmer in the northern district left large sums to these institutions in the metropolitan area, and this week a charitable lady of Geelong has left some £4°° for the same purpose. The handsome and commodious new church of the Vincentian Fathers, Malvern (says the Advocate) was solemnly blessed and^ opened on Sunday 1 , September 27, by "the Very Rev. Dean Phelan,' V.G., in the presence of a very large congregation. Pontifical' High Mass was celebrated by the Right Rev. Dr. Corbett, Bishop of Sale. Prior to the occasional sermon, Very Rev. Dean Hegarty announced that the cost of the church, exclusive of seating accommodation, etc., was £-jiß6, and it was anticipated that incidental expenses would bring the. total cost to .£BOOO. The ' amount received in donations at the laying of ''the foundation stone had been ,£I7OO, which was very gratifying. The will of the late Mary Ann Watson, of Geelong, who "died on December 22 last, was lodged for probate on September 25. The deceased lady left property of the value of By a will dated October 2, 1907, the testatrix provides for the following bequests :—£i 00 to the Foundling Hospital, Broadmeadows; ;£ioo to the priest in charge of St. Mary's, Geelong; ■ £S° to the St. Vincent de Paul Society, Geelong; to the Geelong Ladies' Benevolent Association; to the Geelong Infirmary and Benevolent Association ; to the Girls' Orphanage in connection with the Convent of Mercy, Newtown, Gee!°ng; £50 to the Catholic Boys' Orphanage, Geelong; £$cT to the Little Sisters of the Poor ; and £50 to the Home for Destitute Catholic Children, Surrey Hills. The remainder of the property is left to relatives and friends of the testatrix. Speaking at the blessing and opening of a new presbytery at Flemington on Sunday, September 27, Very Rev. Dean Phelan, V.G., said: 'Just twenty golden years ago I received from the Archbishop my first appointment as curate to Father Nelan, of Essendon, and my first duty there was to say Mass at St. ' Brendan's, across the road, for at that dale Flemington formed * part of the Essendon parish, and my first pastor and myself had to look- after the spiritual wants of that large district between Flemington Bridge and the Deep Creek, and from the old Sydney road to the Saltwater River. You had then only one Mass at St. Brendan's, and even that small church was not overcrowded. Now you are an independent parish, with two priests, two churches, four Masses, and still the cry is for a larger building and more room. And this development is only in harmony with the wonderful development which has taken place in the wider field of the archdiocsee during the same period In August of last year, when we priests and people were reminding our great chief, the Archbishop, of the marvellous progress n the Church of made under his administration, we found that the enormous sum of £1,300,000 had been expended intwenty years churches, schools, presbyteries, convents, and charitable institutions. So that every prominent hilltop in the city and suburbs has been adorned with some beautiful building in which the Catholic children are provided with real education or the abandoned infant will find a foster-mother, or the sinseined soul a virgin protector, or the aged a home to rest from the struggles of life and an opportunity to prepare for our home