Intercolonial

New Zealand Tablet, 26 January 1911, Page 171

Intercolonial

The Rev. Father P. Cogan, of Murrurundi, where he has been in charge for the past ten or eleven years, left Sydney on January 7 for a couple of months’ holiday in New Zealand.

The Rev. Father P. Cullen, Gresford (Maitland), who leaves for the Old Land on a twelve months’ tour, has been presented with an address and purse of sovereigns by the parishioners of Glendon Brook. The Rev. Father Joseph Slattery, C.M., Vice-president of _ St. Stanislaus’ College, Bathurst, who has been appointed local Superior of St. Vincent’s Monastery, Ashheld, is one of the leading scientists of Australia (says the Catholic Press). As a centre of science he has made St. Stanislaus’ famous in this country. He was one of, the first Vincentians to go to Bathurst to take charge of the college in 1888. When wireless telegraphy was in the embryonic stage in Australia he sent a message three miles, from Bathurst to Kelso, up to that time the greatest distance over which a wireless message had been despatched in this part of the world. He also used the X-rays for practical purposes at St. Stanislaus’ before it was in use in any other part of Australia.

The following clerical changes in the archdiocese of Sydney have been officially notified:The Rev. Father Meaney, of the Cathedral staff, has been appointed Inspector of Catholic Schools in the archdiocese; the Rev. Father . McAuliffe, of St. Francis’ Church, Albion street, has been appointed to the Cathedral staff; the Rev. Father Keogh, who recently arrived from Ireland, will act as assistant at St. Francis’ Church, Albion' street. He was ordained at Carlow College at the close of the 1910 scholastic year. The Rev. Father Darby, until lately a member of the teaching staff of St. Columba’s College, Springwood, and who was ordained at the close of last year, will join the Cathedral staff.

His Eminence Cardinal Moran in the course of an address at Enmore on Sunday, January 8, announced that the new primary schools now in course of erection at the Cathedral would cost £IO,OOO, and that the Christian Brothers would take charge of the parish school for boys at St. Mary’s immediately after the Christmas holidays. The girls’ primary schools have hitherto occupied the temporary buildings on the site of ‘ Old St. Mary’s,’ in College street, and the Cardinal’s Hall. These premises will shortly be required for the extension and completion of the Cathedral. In the same way the boys’ primary school and St. Mary’s High School were both conducted in the old pro-Cathedral, on St. Mary’s road. The buildings, which were never suited or properly lighted for school purposes, are being demolished and replaced by up-to-date schools for both boys’ and girls’ primary school training

A few Sundays ago the Very Rev. Dean Phelan, V.G., Melbourne, opened a new church at Mordialloc, dedicated to St. Brigid. The contract price of the church was about £SOO. In the course of his address the Vicar-General said it was useful to cast a retrospective glance at what had been done for Catholic education during the past 35 years. In the archdiocese of Melbourne at present there were 27,000 children being taught in Catholic schools. Between 800 and 900 nuns were assisting in educating them, and there was a large army of Christian Brothers and secular teachers similarly engaged. The Church had spent during the past year £42,000 on primary education in the archdiocese, and the results of such expenditure were to be seen in the full Catholic churches and the multiplication of them. Whilst religious education was attended to in the Catholic schools, secular education was not neglected. That was to be seen by the fact that there was not a public examination open for general competition in Victoria in which Catholic children did not carry off the best awards and the greatest number of prizes. A cable message from Sydney on Friday says:— Catholic Educational Conference carried a series of resolutions similar to those adopted by the Catholic University of the United States, defining the position of the Church in reference to education. These set out that intellectual education must not be separated from moral and religious instruction. Religion should be the centre round which all other instructional subjects are grouped, and the spirit by which they are permeated. Instead of lessening the need of moral and religious training, the advance in educational methods rather emphasises the need to provide the essentials of Christian education. The Church welcomes whatever science may contribute towards rendering the work of the school more efficient, but Catholic parents are bound in conscience to provide an education for. their children, either at home or in the schools, of the right sort. Another series of resolutions dealt with primary education methods in Catholic schools. The Conference adopted several resolutions dealing with secondary schools. It was decided that the standard of proficiency in religious knowledge was of paramount importance, and that too much time should not be devoted to music, as it interfered with other studies. The system of ‘leaving’ certificate decided upon is considered to be such as should admit a pupil to matriculation at the University.