A NEW ZEALANDER IN AMERICA

New Zealand Tablet, 1 December 1910, Page 1985

A NEW ZEALANDER IN AMERICA

THE EUCHARISTIC CONGRESS

Mr. L. T. Reitehel, writing from New York under date September 25, to the Rev. Father Venning, S.M., Wellington, gives the following particulars of the work of tho St. Vincent do Paul Society in New York, and of the great Eucharistic Congress in Montreal, at which he , was present: ' I. have met Mr. Mulry, the president of the St. Vincent de Paul Society in this city, and he has been most hospitable and kind to me. Like Mr. Kennedy, he is a great business man, having charge of a savings bank with deposits of over one hundred million dollars, and he is also mixed up in various public charitable associations. Ho i 3 also a Papal Knight of St. Gregory. There are 66 conferences in New York, with an active membership of about 1200. The average attendance is the same as with us in Noav Zealandabout 11 or 12. The chief work of the conference is giving temporal relief and visiting the poor. Only in one or two instances has the distribution of Catholic Truth Societies' publications been undertaken on a large scale similar to ouftv I spoke to Mr. Mulry about this, and he quite agrees that it is an excellent work. The Seamen's Mission here is managed by a priest, who devotes his whole time to it. Mr. Mulry tells me that about 40 per cent, of the Brothers attend the general quarterly meetings. In some cases the Brothers attend Mass and receive Holy Communion in a body, and afterwards there is a breakfast, at the conclusion of which the quarterly meeting is held. I suppose it would be rather inconvenient for us to follow this plan in New Zealand, as the clergy could hardly wait for the meeting, if it were held on Sunday morning instead of afternoon. There is a good plan adopted here in order to secure a large attendance at the monthly Particular Council meetings. The secretary sends a report of each meeting, with names of those who attended to each conference supposed to he represented. The members then know if their officers attended. The Church in New York is very strong, and making great headway, and if only the immense leakage could be stopped it would soon be in the majority. I can truthfully say that in all my travels I have not been in any place where careless Catholics are so well attended to and sought after as in New Zealand, and particularly in Wellington. If some of our Wellington methods were adopted in gland and in the great cities of America the gain to the (Jiurch would be enormous. The Brothers will be interested to hear that his Grace the Archbishop of Wellington was not the only representative from New Zealand to attend the Eucharistic Congress at Montreal. The Holy Name Societies of New York engaged a special train leaving here on Saturday night, and returning Sunday night, and I managed to secure a ticket. The train was for men only. Two Dominican priests had charge of the party—about 120 in number. We left here at 7 p.m., and reached Montreal next morning at 9. It was a lovely day, and the city looked gay, with its splendid decorations. After Mass and breakfast we wended our way to the appointed place, where our section was to assemble. The streets were alive with processionists and bands. It was nearly 2 p.m. before our section, which was twentieth on the list, got the order to fall in. We carried the Stars and Stripes, in addition to the society's banners, and the onlookers gave us —or the flagan ovation. The scene in front.of Notre Dame as we passed is almost beyond description. The crowd of Cardinals, Bishops, priests, and religious was a sight to remember. We moved along the three-mile route six deep. The whole route was lined with stands containing some 500,000 spectators. Choirs were stationed at intervals, and the processionists also sang. The decorations were on a larger scale than those in Wellington when the Duke of York arrived. There were about a dozen arches supporting groups of statuary representing Scriptural events, having reference to the Holy Eucharist, and mottoes such as " 0 Salutans Hostia." One would think that every Sister of Charity in America was present. On. one stand alone there were about 400 of them. No women took part in the procession, so their sodalities, not to be outdone, formed groups along the streets and sang hymns or said the Rosary. The St. Vincent de Paul Society was represented in the procession —one section from Brooklyn marching behind us. It has just occurred to me that I could have represented another Brooklyn very appropriately. We reached the mountain at 3.30 p.m., and I patiently waited till 5.40 p.m. for the Cardinal, bearing the Sacred Host, to arrive, but lie was then over a mile away, and very regretfully I had to hurry off to town to catch the train for New York, leaving at 7 o'clock. At the mountain the scene was grand. As tho processionists arrived they filled up the immense fields reserved for them, till at last they looked like an immense army, with thousands of flags and banners. The shades of night were falling when I left, and still that multitude waited, every now and then bursting forth into the refrain of some hymn. The city was illuminated when our train left the station. One hundred special trains left Montreal that night, and nevertheless it is estimated that 200,000 people slept out in the parks. The procession itself lasted over five hours, and it is estimated contained 100,000 clergy and laity. Such a manifestation of faith must have produced a wpnrjerful impression pn non?CftthoHc spectators,''