PRESENTATION TO VERY REV. FATHER KEOGH

New Zealand Tablet, Volume XXXVII, Issue 26, 1 July 1909, Page 1024

PRESENTATION TO VERY REV. FATHER KEOGH

(From our Wellington correspondent.) On Monday evening, June 21, prior to his departure to take up the duties of parish priest of Hastings, the Very Rev. Father Keogh, S.M., 8.A., was accorded a farewell by his many friends in the Concert Chamber of the Town Hall. Dr. T. Cahill was chairman, and among others present were : The Hon. D. Buddo (Minister for Internal Affairs), the Hon. R. A. Loughnan, M.L.C., the Hon. T. W. Hislop, the Rev. H. Van Staveren, Dr. Pollen, Dr. Borghetti, Professor Von Zedlitz, Colonel R. J. Collins, Messrs. D. J. Nathan, M. Kennedy, J. D. Harcourij, Frank Hendry, E. G. Fitzgibbon, H. S. Wardel], T. R. Fleming (Chief Inspector of Schools). The Chairman, in presenting Father Keogh with an illuminated address and a purse containing over one hundred sovereigns, said that they hoped it was only ' Goodbye ' for a very short time to their old and sterling friend. While they regretted losing Father Keogh, they could congratulate their friends at Hastings in getting so worthy a pastor. He hoped it would not be long before they were permitted to welcome him back. The text of the address (which had been illuminated by Mr. S. G. Ross) was as follows^: ' Dear Father, — The news of your departure from the position of Rector of St. Patrick's College has been received by your many friends with great regret, as we feel that during the nine years you have held that important office you have filled it with great efficiency. We recognise that by the educational methods you have adopted, and by the encouragement you have given to outdoor sports, and to the training of the College cadets, you have enabled the boys of St. Patrick's College to take a good place in the examination room, on the sports field, and on the parade ground. Moreover, you have, by your personality, imbued them with a spirit of patriotism and a pride in their school which will help to fit them hereafter for the higher duties of life. While you have maintained the high traditions of your priestly office, you have, as head of St. Patrick's College, become closely associated with the public and social life of Wellington/ and have won your way into the hearts of the community. You will take with you our warmest regards and best wishes, and we beg your acceptance of the accompanying tribute, which is intended to add to your personal comforts in your hew sphere of duty. ' Signed on behalf of your many Wellington friends — Dr. Cahill, chairman ; M. Kennedy, treasurer ; Very Rev. Dean Regnault, S.M., Very Rev. Father O'Shea, S.M., 8.A., Very Rev. Father Goggan, S.M., R. A. Loughnan, M.L.C., R. J. Collins, J. O'Sullivan, H. Pollen, M. W. Bourke, H. S. Wardell, B. Doherty, E. Fitzgibbon, P. J. O'Regan, L. DAvan, Geo. Winder, T. Madden, W. Finlay, F. Ryan, and A. i<ay (secretary).' Mr. H. S. Wardell congratulated Father Keogh on the good work he had done at St. Patrick's College, and went on to remark that every one of the public was concerned in the personality of the heads of our public schools, at which the- education and character acquired formed the basis of the students' future career. When such work was done so well as at St. Patrick's College, it was their cfuty and pleasure to applaud the work and congratulate the worker. They were also present to express their great regret at the fact that Father Keogh' s duties had necessitated his retirement from a position which he had so well filled, and to assure him that he would be missed by a large circle of friends, whose good wishes, along with those of all of them, would follow him into his new sphere of duty. Mr. Martin Kennedy, speajking as one who had been rlosely interested in St. Patrick's College since its founding, remarked that the retiring Rector had creditably carried out the traditions of the college, and the Catholic community would greatly regret his departure. The college had been established to give a secular and a religious education, and it was to be a' recruiting ground for the priesthood. Since Father Keogh had been at the head of the college it had been arranged that the college masters should have the opportunity of taking university degrees at Victoria College, and, further, he believed that twentytwo students had been sent to Meeanee for the priest-

hood. They hoped soon to have a Native priesthood in the Dominion. Service as a parish priest was the proper training for a bishop, and he had no doubt that Father Keogh would be ready to answer any call of his ecclesiastical superiors. He felt sure that if the exigency occurred he would be prepared to return to the college later on. Professor Von Zedlitz, of Victoria College, also spoke, expressing high appreciation of Father Keogh as a brother teacher. Men who set such a pace as' Father Keogh, . he said, made the rest of the teaching profession sometimes feel very small indeed. The memory he would leave behind him in the teaching profession would be of immense value to those engaged in the same work, and* they would venerate Ms memory as a valuable example of how one man could combine > the best qualities , of a teacher and a man in the same person. - Hon. R. A. Loughnan, M.L.C., added his meed to the eulogies passed on Father Keogh, making a special poiut of his firm devotion to principle^ his kindliness and hospitality, and the extraordinary thoroughness with which he did everything to which he put his hand. The Hon. D. Buddo remarked that he had mci; in the South several old boys of St. Patrick's College, who spoke very highly of their old Rector. They all wished him a happy future and great prosperity. Three cheers greeted Father Keo'gh when he rose to make acknowledgment of the gift. It was kind, he said, that one's friends always looked with a magnifying-glass en the good qualities one might have and determinedly turned the blind eye on the others. He could not but be flattered at the kind words spoken, and, after the public reception last August, he had not looked for such a gathering. Ho had expected to leave Wellington as quietly as a small mouse. He had every hope and assurance that the worlc done at St. Patrick's College during the past nine years would be pushed on to greater perfection under the new regime. With the Very Rev. Dr. Kennedy in charge of the college, they might be able to prove that the sunshine was brighter here than anywhere else. The college was a living organism, and was continually growing. It was an evidence of the spirit manifested throughout the college that two students, who last year had qualified for the M.A. degree, were new commencing the science course, and they had been teaching in the college all the time. As in studies, the college boys had done well in snorts, and the cadets were flourishing. It was a good thing for a country to have every man ready to take up the gun when necessary, and no nation worthy of the name should be satisfied with men who were unable to prevent an enemy from intruding. He was pleased to have among his friends representatives of the Government, the University, the Education Department, and the learned professions, and the distance betweeji Wellington and Hastings would make no difference in his friendships. It was gratifying to know that the gift which he had received was not from a political coterie, or from one religious denomination. H9 would find pleasure in telling the new rector of the immense fund of kindliness and assistance to be had from all classes of Wellington citizens. Musical items were contributed by Misses Driscoll and Edith Martin, and Messrs. E. Parkes, Wiseman, F. Hendry, Archer, and Hobman, Mr. D. A. Kenny playing the accompaniments. On Wednesday morning the pupils of St. Patrick's College met in the College Study Hall to bid farewell to the Very Rev. Father Keogh, S.M., B.A. (the Rector), who is leaving for Hastings. An illuminated address in album form and a set of the Cambridge History in 15 volumes were presented to Father Keogh. The Senior Prefect, Master C. J. Outtrim, made the presentation. The esteem in which the Very Rev. Father Keogh is held by the district residents of all denominations was amply demonstrated by the large and representative gathering which assembled in the Day's Bay Pavilion on Friday' evening, June 18. The Mayor of Eastbourne presided. After a very fine concert programme, the members cf the committee assembled on the stage, and Messrs. Ay.A v . L. Herdman and J. P.- Kelly expressed, on behalf of the residents, the great esteem in which Father Keogh is held and the general regret that is felt at his departure. The Mayor, in presenting Father Keogh with a very handsome and massive marble clock, spoke in most appreciative terms of Father Keogh's life-long labor and good work in the cause of religious, educational, and social advancement, and stated that the presentation showed the good wishes" and kindly feelings of the whole community. In reply, Father Keogh desired to thank all for the splendid send-off they were giving him, and also for the handsome and costly present, which would serve to remind him of the many happy days he had spent at ' Eastbourne. The clock was inscribed as follows : ' Presented to the Very Rev. Father Keogh by the residents of Eastbourne and adjacent bays on the occasion of his departure from the district; June, 1909.'