The Maori Missions

New Zealand Tablet, Volume XXXVII, Issue 3, 21 January 1909, Page 113

The Maori Missions

The Council of St. Joseph's Foreign Missionary Society held its.- half-yearly meeting on .November 25 "at Herbert House, Belgrave Square, London. The- Marquis of Ripon, President of the Council, presided. There were also present the Right Rev. Dr. Lenihan, Bishop of Auckland; the Very. Rev. Father Henry, Superior-General; the Lady Herbert of Lea, the Countess of Cottenham, .the Hon. Mrs. Frazer, the Hon. Mrs. Codrington, - Mrs. Rathbone, Miss Berners, Miss Fox, Miss Pauline Willis, Mr. John G. Kenyon, the Very > Rev. Father, Ahearne, Rector of . Mill Hill, and the Rev. Father Cullen, secretary. The Marquis of Ripon having taken the chair, letters for the most part enclosing subscriptions, and all containing expressions of regret for unavoidable absence, were read. They- were t from his Grace the Archbishop, the Duke of Norfolk, K.G., E.M., Lady Arundell of Wardour, Lady Ellenborough, the Earl of Gainsborough, Mrs. Campbell, the Baroness" Ralli of Trieste, Miss Sperling, the Dowager- Duchess of Newcastle, the Lady Mary Howard, Mrs. Harmar, - Mrs. Gbs- • selin, the Hon. Mrs. Preston, Mr. George Lane Fox, Mr. Charles W. Clifford, Vice-President of the Council, the Earl of Denbigh, etc. - The annual report stated that there were 177 students in the- four colleges of the Society, which was an increase of 37 over last year. His Lordship the Bishop of Auckland in moving the adoption of the report said it gave him great pleasure to be present at their interesting meeting. They had heard in the report much about the missions of their Society, and he wished to speak to them about their missions- in his diocese. He wished to thank them publicly for -having sent such a number of excellent priests to work among the Maoris. No words of his could convey' his appreciation of the great, he would say the extreme, virtue to be found in every one of 'the priests sent out from Mill Hill. Their priests needed great patience, for although the Maori was good-hearted, and the best of the savage races, he was not easily won to the quiet devotional practices of the Church. He preferred the sound of the- drum and the cymbals, and the shouting of- the sects. Their priests in" New Zealand had not the great consolation of their priests in Uganda, for instance, where they counted their con- I verts by thousands year by year. There were between three and four thousand Catholics among the thirty thousand Maoris in the diocese of Auckland. At the present time in New .Zealand' they had to be content with occa- ' sional conversions, even as they were in England. There was one cause of complaint against the Mill Hill missionaries to the Maoris; there was one pre- - cept of the Church they did not inculcate. They did not impress upon the Catholic Maoris that they were bound to contribute to the support of their pastors. Their good priests preferred to suffer hardships and privations rather than press their legitimate claims, upon their people... Speaking of hardships, there was one which could, and he thought should, be removed. It was the custom for the priest to ride to distant mission stations with a box of vestments and all things required for celebrating Holy Mass, etc. He would suggest that each mission station be supplied with every requisite ; in -other words, he thought every station should have a complete outfit of its own. It would be cheaper in the long run, for vestments, etc., cannot be packed up and carried from place to place without much wear and tear. However, that and many other little matters could best be .. settled by a visit of their Superior-General, and he cordially invited Father Henry to his diocese to see upon the spot the good work being done by the priests of St. Joseph^ Society. He thanked them for their kind attention to his remarks, and had much pleasure in moving the adoption of the report. The Marquis of Ripon,. in seconding the motion for the adoption of the report, said it was a great pleasure and a great advantage to have among them the Bishop of Auckland, in whoso diocese their priests were laboring. It was .consoling to hear from his lips the good words he was able to speak about them.