DIOCESE OF AUCKLAND

New Zealand Tablet, 14 July 1910, Page 1095

DIOCESE OF AUCKLAND

(By Telegraph from our own correspondent.)

July 11.

; The diamond jubilee of the Sisters of Mercy in Auckland will be commemorated here, and a preliminary meeting to consider the matter is to be held at St. Mary’s Convent next Sunday.

Mr. Daniel - Ryan, who has been appointed the first manager of the Huddart, Parker Steamship Company’s new local office, is an ex-student of St. Patrick’s College, and an ex-president of its Old Boys’ Association. Mr. W. E. Ryan, secretary of St. Patrick’s College Old Boys’ Association, is at present on a visit to Auckland.

On last Tuesday evening Mr. J. P. Kavanagh, the secretary of the local branch of the Newman Society, was successful in winning the oratorical contest at the Auckland University College. This contest, which was the first of its kind held in Auckland, was opened to graduates and undergraduates, and was conducted on the same lines as the Plunket medal competition of Victoria College, with the exception that three judges made the award. After a very

McVe e S and Se w S speeches ■ judges (Messrs. R. m i ? g ‘* d j ~ * Moore, and the Rev. Canon Nelson, M.A.) announced they had no hesitation in coming to a unanimous verdict in Mr. Kavanagh’s favour, g ciiU . Au f and is at present much stirred by the evils rethe t ßench° I bv r m i ni and the scthin 2 denunciation from the Bench by Judge Chapman. Rev. Father Holbrook on last Sunday evening at St. Patrick’s Cathedral devoted his disc9urse to the evils of gambling. He showed that in the racing year 1908-1909 the sum of £1,834,333 passed through the totalisators in the Dominion. This sum exfHWh'J?ipen\°f ol t a ? e pensions the Government conti ibution to hospital and charitable institutions, gaols, mental hospitals, public health, defence, and education In the £T4?O? 6 y 89 TW 9j fi there passed through the Totalizators rfTLHS? should ° MSB them t 0 refleot

m ,T her ® p v , as a lar S e attendance at the usual monthly K tXg w the N |wman Society of New Zealand, which was held on last Sunday afternoon in the Cathedral Hall The secretary reported the receipt of several valuable conrJ+h t r° t 0 the Socl ? ty s . rary , and also promises of Catholic magazines and periodicals for circulation amongst members. The chief business of the meeting was the reading of a paper on The Church and Literature ’ by Miss F V. J. Jacobsen, M.A.-, a vice-president of the society. In f i° • t long .^ d Resting paper, Miss Jacobsen tiaced the history of literature from the earliest Christian times down to the present day, and showed how the Church had ™ been the patron,, protector, and friend-of literature. Miss Jacobsen dealt with the history of literature of various countries of Europe, and demonstrated the close connection which has ever existed between the Church and all that is best in the literature of the Christian world. At the conclusion of the reading of the very able paper the president moved a vote of thanks to Miss Jacobsen, and tins was earned by acclamation. Discussion on the submet of the paper then ensued, amongst those taking part being Rev. lather Edge, Mn Levien, Dr. O’Shaunassy, Miss Tooman, B A., and Rev. Brother George. The question of the Church s attitude towards evil literature, a defence and explanation of the Index, reference to the influence of the Church on literary minds as exemplified in the work of non-Catholic writers, the excellent work of living Catholic novelists and pther topics arising out of the paper were dea t with i. during the course of the discussion. A paper on The scholarship question in New Zealand,’ by the director of the Sacred Heart College, which was on the programme for The meeting, was indefinitely postponed owing to the recent severe illness of Rev, Brother Clement. Members were pleased to hear that Brother Clement is now much improved in health, although it will be some time before he is sufficiently recovered to give his promised paper. The next meeting of the society will be held at the Sacred Heart College on the second Sunday in August, and will take the rorm of a debate between the representatives of the Newman Society and the Sacred Heart College Debating Society on the subject, ‘ That the crusades were beneficial to the civilisation and moral elevation of the people of Europe.’ The Newman Society will take the negative side.

At St. Patrick’s Cathedral on Sunday evening, July 3 > Rev lather Wright preached an instructive discourse °£ 1 ■**'® p S lo n an d Science.’ He said it was the teaching ot the Church that the truths of natural science cannot contradict the truths of revelation, for they both proceed from God. The teaching of the Church on this point was made clear at the third session of the Vatican Council, when it was solemnly declared that although faith is above reason there can never be any real discrepancy between faith and reason, since it is the same God Who reveals mysteries and infuses faith has bestowed the light of reason on the mind. The Church has received no direct mission to teach the truths of astronomy, biology, or geology, her mission being to teach and defend the revelation made by God to man There are, however, times when the Church, as the guardian of revealed truth, has to condemn certain false scientific or philosophical systems, which are opposed to the deposit of faith committed to her care. The late Professor Huxley defined science as sound reasoning, trained and organised common sense. Herr Du Bois Reymond, an avowed evolutionist and materialist, whom Haeckel styles ‘ the allpowerful secretary and dictator of the Berlin Academy of Sciences,’ states that the history of the universe confronts us with no less than seven problems, for which science has no solution to offer. These are the nature of matter and of force, the origin of motion, the origin of life, the apparently designed order of nature, the origin of sensation and consciousness, the origin of rational thought and speech, and freewill. Some of these, in the opinion of Du Bois Raymond, are beyond the possibility of solution. In face of such a confession, what must we think of soiqe of the absurdities put forth in the'name of science? Reference was then made to the methods by which Haeckel attempted to support his theories. In conclusion, Father Wright quoted the opinions of a distinguished German scientist, who said: No one, who has followed the Darwinian movement attentively, can resist the thought that it is a question here of a species of relig'ion, of a sect which in the interest of materialism has substituted unfounded and anti-Christian teachings for the well-grounded dogmas of Christianity.’