Opening of a New Church at Puriri

New Zealand Tablet, 12 October 1911, Page 2009

Opening of a New Church at Puriri

- (From our .own correspondent.) The' Right Rey. Dr. Cleary, Bishop, of Auckland, arrived at Thames -on Saturday evening, and was welcomed by the reception committee (Rev. Father Tigar, 0.P., Messrs. J. Coakley, .. Cream, Roche, Kenny, and Hanson),: and parishioners. Owing to the visit being a hurried one, and the Bishop having a full list of .engagements, the formal.reception has been postponed till his Lordship’s visitation in November. The vitality of the Catholic faith in New Zealand .finds frequent expression in the raising of handsome temples to the service of;God in different parts of the country.,, The township of Puriri, which is about eight miles from Thames, was the scene of one of these happy manifestations. The Church of Our Lady of Mercy was blessed and formally opened by the Bishop; on Sunday, September 24. The success which attended' the building of the new church was due to the untiring zeal and energy of the popular priest in charge, the .Rev. IL G. Tigar, O.P. There was a large attendance at the ceremony, the parishioners being supplementedby friends from other quarters. .The Bishop presided at the Mass which was celebrated by Rev. Father Tigar; The music of the Mass (Gounod) was rendered by St. Francis’ choir. After Mass, Father-Tigar extended a cordial welcome to the Bishop, who had consented to. be present on that auspicious occasion at some personal inconvenience. He expressed his feelings of gratitude to -all and sundry who had by their voluntary efforts contributed in various ways to the beauty and adornment of the sacred edifice. " • . The. Bishop then delivered an eloquent sermon in which he dwelt; on the wonderful vitality of the Church, in spite of the series of persecutions to which she had been subjected from early days down to the present time. The Church not only resisted the barbarians, but she civilised and christianised them. Over and over .again, in. different ages, her enemies declared that the. Church was dead or dying, but she had triumphed over all her trials. Catholics could view with calm serenity £ the unprovoked hatred of her enemies, and the methods , which were being employed to devastate and calumniate her. ; They knew, however, that the. Church would not succumb, that the power of evil would not prevail against her, and .that Christ was with her, even unto the end of .the world. The waves of atheism and unbelief - might dash violently against God’s barque, but they could not prevail against her - indestructible character. They must not expect the Church to be always marching v in triumph, always rejoicing she had her Garden .of Sorrows as well as her triumphal road. Her joys and her sorrows travelled in a circle. But she would ultimately triumph. Christ said the time would; come when there would be only one fold. His Lordship concluded by saying that it rejoiced his heart to hear of the goodwill of non-Catholics in the district, 'as evidenced by the remarkable support which they had ; accorded the good pastor in connection with the building and furnishing of the new church. At the conclusion . of the Mass most of the visitors adjourned to Mrs. Corbett’s at Hikutaia for lunch. His Lordship returned to Thames in the evening ,and ; preached; a special, sermon to the men of the parish. He referred to two events in history, one spiritual and the other political. The first event happened four centuries ago and resulted in England, severing her allegiance to the Pope. So vital - was the blow that Catholicism was convulsed and rocked to its very foundations, and contemporary writers believed it completely demolished. But to-day on the one hand we saw one mighty religious organisation united in thought and. practice, and that was the Catholic Church while on • . the -other hand we saw Protestantism- disintegrated into . hundreds of fragments. The plea of many good, earnest Protestants was for unity, and unity was being slowly i effected/ but not in the manner its advocates supposed.' ■ Instead of the amalgamation of the fragments of Protestantism, it was the; reconciliation of Protestants in every grade of society with the faith of their forefathers, that was taking place. In England and the United

States this movement was especially noticeable! The other event in history referred to was the French Revolution. - Voltaire once boasted that the work -of fourteen men would be destroyed by one, and his writings paved the way for the Revolution. But that volcanic force of desperate human energy had failed to crush the Church. Napoleon, who said ‘I saw the Godless' man in 1793; you don’t govern that sort of man, you give him grape shot,’ at the height of his power, when all Europe was under his foot, failed to crush her. The ‘ man of destiny.,’ was an exile when the old Pope, returned to the Vatican. Bismarck, the man of blood and iron,’ used every effort to extirpate the Catholic faith in Germany, but the Church proved triumphant,, and there were over 20 million Catholics in the Fatherland to-day. When men of that- type failed, Catholics could look without gloomy anticipation to the events that were occurring in atheist-ridden France to-day. The Church was not at conflict with science, and science could never' be antagonistic to the Church, since God was the author of both. But the Church was often opposed to the unproven theories of the hucksters of Science. Many of the greatest scientists the world had known made, their submission to Rome. His Lordship concluded with an earnest appeal to all The men of the parish to band themselves together into an association to -promote their spiritual and social welfare. ■ ’* ; • x The Church of Our Lady of Mercy, which stands upon an eminence above the little township of Puriri, is an imposing , edifice in Gothic architecture, and consists of a nave, sanctuary, , sacristy, etc. The church is lined with rimu, and the grain of the wood has been brought out by oiling. The altar is constructed of kauri and puriri woods, and the carving was exquisitely executed by two ladies of the Thames parish. The frontal is in divisions, the dividing bands showing relief carving, grapes and wheat intermingled; and on the outer bands is the nassion flower. The monogram I.H. S. is ; carved on the centre frontal panel. It was designed from the diamond pendant worn by the last Englishman (Viscount Stafford) put to death for his faith. He was beheaded on the Feast of St. Thomas -of Canterbury in the year 1680. A word of praise is due to Mr. J. Harbidge for the amount of time devoted to training the choir and the excellent results-obtained.