DIOCESE OF CHRISTCHURCH

New Zealand Tablet, 28 April 1910, Page 654

DIOCESE OF CHRISTCHURCH

(From our own correspondent.)

April 22. The Feast of St. John the Baptist, patron of the diocese, will be observed in the Cathedral on Sunday, June 26. His Lordship Bishop Grimes will be celebrant of the Pontifical High Mass, and the occasional sermon will be preached by his Grace Archbishop Redwood.

The formal opening of the new Nazareth House is fixed for Sunday, June 26, when his Grace Archbishop Redwood will preside. His Lordship Bishop Grimes will also be present, and a very large gathering is anticipated. The Sisters of Nazareth are now in occupation, all the old people and children having been transferred from the old to the new institution. Visitors to the opening ceremony will have the opportunity of seeing this groat and noble charity in full operation.

The net result of the national entertainment in celebration of St. Patrick’s Day is £lO2 14s. The Rev. Mother Superior of Nazareth House, in accepting a cheque for the amount towards the funds of the institution, desires to return her sincere thanks to his Lordship the Bishop, the Very Rev. Father Price, Adm., those who contributed to the programme, and all who assisted in any way in connection with the event.

In his episcopal visitation of the Westland portion of the diocese, his Lordship the Bishop left Grey mouth by a small coastal steamer for Jackson Bay district. In a telegram to the Very Rev. Administrator, the Bishop states that last Thursday night was passed taking shelter under Open Bay Island, a safe landing being effected next morning. On Sunday his Lordship was at Okura, the ‘ farthest south ’ settlement in the diocese, and on next Sunday is to open a new church at Waitangi. A visit to Ross follows, where he remains over May 8.

The ordinary meeting of St. Patrick’s branch of the H.A.C.B. Society was held on last Monday evening in the Hibernian Hall. Bro. M. Grimes, 8.P., presided over a large attendance. Three brothers were reported on the sick fund and one was declared off. Sick pay amounting to £2 Os 8d was passed for payment. Two new members were admitted, one by clearance and one by initiation. A clearance was granted to one brother, and seventeen candidates were proposed for membership. It was decided to accept the invitation of the Christchurch Catholic Club to a card tournament on May 17. Bros. Dobbs and Doolan, delegates to the triennial conference of the society, gave a report of the business transacted at the conference, and at a late hour the discussion on the report was held over till the next meeting. Accounts for £ll Is 7d were passed for payment. The receipts for the evening amounted to £9 6s 3d. The president and vice-president reported on the recent most successful canvass for members at the suburban churches. At Addington the members of the branch approached the Holy Table in a body, and afterwards interviewed all the eligible men of the Sacred Heart congregation, with very satisfactory results.

Speaking in the Cathedral on Sunday, the Very Rev. Father Price, Adm., referred as follows to the recent improvements in connection with the boys’ school, of which the teachers, pupils, and parishioners generally are justly proud: —‘ In this Cathedral parish for many years the boys’ school was in a lamentable state of disrepair, and the site on which the building stood was often referred to as a most disgraceful corner. At a general meeting held some time ago it was resolved to deliver Christchurch from the reproach of possessing one of the worst schools in the diocese, and it was agreed that the building should be raised and put on concrete foundations, thoroughly repaired and completely refurnished, including the convenient and up-to-date dual desks. You may form an idea of the value of the old forms and desks when you are told that the best offer we could get for the lot was £l. It was also agreed to substitute a corrugated iron fence for the old pickets. These improvements have cost roughly £550. At a second meeting of the committee it was decided to continue the iron fence to the end of the school section, to ensure greater privacy, and to asphalt that part of the playground near the school as it was felt that it was quite impossible to keep a clean school if the boys were obliged to take their recreation in mud up to their ankles. These additional improvements will make our total liability in connection with the boys’ school about £7OO, and it is to clear this that I appeal to your generosity to-day. You have now a splendid school, thoroughly equipped and in every way suitable for its great purpose. Envelopes for your offerings will be given to you after all the Masses and Vespers, and you are asked to hand them in on Sunday next if possible, or at latest on Sunday week. A list of donors and of their contributions, together with a detailed statement of the school account, will be printed and distributed at the doors of the Cathedral. I take it that you have a deep and practical sympathy with the good work done by the Brothers for the secular and religious education of your boys. Give generously ; give from a motive of duty and a motive of gratitude.’ Quite a large number visited the school during the day and expressed pleasure at the improvements effected..

CATHOLIC EDUCATION.

Addressing the congregation at Mass in the Cathedral on Sunday (writes our Christchurch correspondent), the Very Rev. Father Price, Adm., spoke as follows on the subject of Catholic education: Not in bread alone doth man live, but in every word that proceedeth from the mouth of God. These words were addressed by Moses to the Israelites before entering the promised land in reference to the wonderful heavenly gift called manna with which they were miraculously fed in the desert. They have always struck mo as being peculiarly applicable to the onestion of religions education of children, because they seem to me to explain and define the attitude of Catholics with regard to the education question. Not on secular instruction alone can your children be reared so as to thrive and develop into full-grown, matured, Christian men and women, for this, important as it is, only has reference to one side of man s nature and leaves the spiritual aspect of man’s

character totally unprovided for. 'Let ‘it not be supposed that we are indifferent with regard to secular education. We are anxious to obtain the best secular instruction that it is possible to procure, for it is of great interest to all that the national system of education should be made as perfect as possible in order that we may maintain our commercial prosperity. Commercial success is, however, not the only thing necessary for the prosperity of a Christian nation, so that over and above the necessity that the best secular education should be imparted to our children, it is necessary that they should have an undiluted, unmutilated, Christian instruction. We hear a good deal in this Dominion about undogmatic Christianity and about religious instruction of an unsectarian character. The absurdity of these terms is apparent. To be a Christian in any sense of the word you have to commence with a dogma of the most startling and tremendous kindthe Incarnation of the Son of God, upon which dogma is reared the whole superstructure of the Christian religion. An undogmatic creed is as senseless as a statue without shape or a picture without color. Unsectarian means unChristian. Therefore it is because Catholics are convinced of this, and fully realise the fact that if religious instruction was left to the State schools religious education in the country would be doomed to extinction, and because we are convinced also that no greater calamity could befall the land than that Christianity - should lose its hold on the people we are united in our determination that definite, precise, dogmatic, religious instruction shall be imparted to oar children. It is this desire to give our children in our own schools the bread of secular education and the manna of religious instruction that has, inspired the Catholic clergy and people of this Dominion to make such heroic sacrifices for their schools. To form jnan and prepare him to serve his country in the various social offices he may some day, during his career on earth, be called on to fill, and thus in a higher conception prepare him for eternity by elevating his present life, is the work as it is the end of education. In no schools is this lofty ideal of true education so well attained as in those which are taught by religious. Such are the schools of the nuns, the Marist Brothers, and the Christian Brothers. The devoted Brothers leave father and mother and home, and they give their lives to the education of your boys. They do their work zealously and well. They give sound education according to the mind of the Catholic Church, whose educational policy has been consistently the same for nearly 2000 years. Briefly it is A Catholic education for every Catholic child. The Brothers’ schools, however, differ from all others in this respect; they receive no State aid of any kind. But the building of Catholic schools is a work, the difficulty of which has never been considered insuperable to the courageous zeal and robust faith of our Catholic people. The Catholic schools are the threshold and nursery of the Catholic Church. Nor if she can help it, will she allow her children to bo reared in any other nursery ; on no other training ground can they be taught, in all their purity, her divine truths, or be imbued with the fulness of her spirit. And to no duty, perhaps, in her unbroken existence of over 1900 years has the Church manifested such unswerving fidelity as to the question of the education of the young; in nothing, since the days of "Pentecost, has she so fully inherited and displayed the spirit of her divine Founder as in her unwearied care and love of little children/

Ashburton

(From our own correspondent.) April 24. The St. Mary’s Tennis Chib closed their season on Thursday last with a handicap tournament, which proved very interesting. As this is the club’s first season, the play shown by many of the contestants was indeed creditable. Afternoon tea was dispensed by the ladies, and the thanks of the club are due to them for their great generosity in providing refreshments throughout the season. The weekly meetings of the Catholic Young Men’s Club have been well attended of late. The progressive euchre evening proved very enjoyable, tlie prize being won by Mr. T. Purcell. At the last meeting of the club a very interesting and well-written paper entitled ‘ Military Sketch and Downfall of Napoleon ’ was read by Mr. M. J. Burgess. Mr. Ramsay also contributed an Irish reading, which was much appreciated by the members. The club has staited a branch for junior members, who meet on Thursday evenings. They are in charge of Messrs. F. Pritchard, R. Ramsay, and M. J. Moriarty.