THE CHURCH IN NEW ZEALAND

New Zealand Tablet, 31 October 1912, Page 43

THE CHURCH IN NEW ZEALAND

IN THE PATH OF THE PIONEERS (Contributed.) : \. NEW ZEALAND AN ECCLESIASTICAL PROVINCE. Among the chief evidences of progress, and of the importance of the Church in New Zealand were the formation of the Dominion into an Ecclesiastical Province and the appointment of an Archbishop. To adequately estimate the true significance of this forward movement, the outcome oi consistent missionary .zeal, and magnificent co-operation of a generous people, it is tfiouguv well to revert back to a period thirtyseven years prior to that event, and note the then prevailing conditions. In doing this, perhaps no better evidence could be got than tne observations of pioneer priests. With this object in view, I quote the following letter, written by Father Petitjean, who was one of the earliest missionaries in what is now the Metropolitan centre, dated August 15, 1850, and addressed to his brother-in-law. ‘ New Zealand, August 15, 1850. ‘ My dear Brother, — ‘ After the division of New Zealand into two Apostolic Vicariates, Bishop Viard, leaving the northern part to Bishop Pompallier, retired to Wellington, the principal town in his jurisdiction, situated on Cook strait. It was necessary, in order to follow him, to bid adieu to the '■faithful whom we had instructed up to that time, but the filial generosity of their hearts sweetened this separation, and made us taste a part of the hundredfold promised to those who have left all. ‘ On entering Cook Strait, we felt that we approached a stormy region, but more fortunate than many other vessels, which from time to time perished in this redoubtable passage, ours landed us on the Ist of May in the port we were looking for. ‘ To-day, after four months of sojournment, we entertain more than a hope for our holy religion. First of all, on the arrival of a Bishop, the European Catholics are greatly touched. Those of Wellington, hardly numbering two hundred, have collected by their subscription, and even from those of the erring brethren, nearly 1500 francs for the erection of a second church, which was indispensable for the population dispersed over the immense site of this newly rising town. Providence has seen it wise to send here in advance, many Irish and English families, as distinguished by their faith as by the nobility of their rank, who conciliate the public favor towards Catholicism. That which distinguishes our Irish and English brothers is their generosity for all pious establishments. This spirit of devotedness and generosity was perfected in them during the time of persecution, when they not only provided for the requirements of their Church, deprived of all resources, but moreover paid the taxes levied on them by a hostile government. • ‘ With their assistance, our sacred edifice rose with a rapidity which astonished everyone. On the Ist September, four Religious will take possession of a convent, and will open their school. Many other works are being prepared in the different districts. At the Hutt, some miles from Wellington, a missionary laid the foundations of a church and school. The same efforts are being made, no doubt with the same success, at Nelson, and at Akaroa, in Banks Peninsula. I ought not to omit mentioning an interesting hamlet of about two hundred natives, which will have the aspect of a Christian village: it has its chapel, its priest, and its school, and one of the Fathers has taught these , people to till the ground, so that a considerable plain has been sown, and the mill is already awaiting the future harvest. What happiness to be able to procure a little, comfort for these poor islanders! Some other members of the tribe, living at a distance from the town, have embraced our holy Faith. Each day brings here for reasons of relationship or interest, converts from the North, and makes of them apostles among their compatriots.

■ ‘ Behold, dear friend, the first steps and the first conquests of our religion. We! must advance: colonisation is advancing rapidly under the influence of England. In places where ten years ago there were but a few adventurers, are now found towns and suburbs. Everything promotes industry here, the copper and coal fields, the fishing stations: the valleys and fertile plains on which cattle can be reared. , >. . Since, the Presbyterians have founded an establishment in Otago, an immense town has sprung up under the auspices of capitalists taken only from the Anglican community, and bears the significant name of New Canterbury .j It is under such circumstances as these that it is necessary that our Church should take root, and justify, in the midst of rivals who wish to exclude it, its rights to the title of Catholic,Your devoted brother, ‘ Petitjean, S.M.’ Quaint, though interesting and instructive as viewed from the present time, is a short letter to a friend from Father Petitjean, written in the simple, yet effective style so characteristic of the early French Fathers, and dated two years earlier: ‘November 29, 1848. ' About the middle of October, when you were perhaps engaged in political matters in France, Wellington ana tire suburbs were dreadfully shaken by earthquakes, which lasted for eight days. All the brick and the stone buildings were either ruined or greatly damaged. ; Luckily, most of the buildings are of wood, and, thank God, the northern part suffered no damage. But, my dear friend, I know that you are anxious to know how our holy religion is progressing here. I am pleased to say that .we have reason to thank God for the marked progress which* our mission has made. Auckland ought to be proud of its beautiful church, which is 92 feet long and 34 feet wide, and is the most beautiful building in the city. In these distant countries, as in all other English colonies, the Irish help us most in upholding our holy religion. ... Of the three thousand inhabitants of Auckland and. its suburbs, I think there are about one thousand Catholics. Our schools in this town are very well attended and are most flourishing. The Governor is very eager . to help us and offered to assist our Bishop in building a college, principally for the Maoris. Although the degraded members of the European civilisation have done much to add to the wickedness of the Maoris, there are thousands among them who are remarkable for their great piety. May heaven deign to increase our number by the arrival of new workers, for with the assistance of fervent companions we will be able to fight against their superstitious illusions. ‘ John Baptiste Petitjean.’ THE NEW ARCHDIOCESE OF WELLINGTON. Air editorial, published in the New Zealand Tablet of May 6, 1887, congratulating the See of Wellington on the dignity to which it was raised, gives an idea as to the growth of the Church in New Zealand, and pays the following graceful tribute to the merits of its first Archbishop : The announcement that the diocese of- Wellington has been raised to an archbishopric, which we may now receive as confirmed, is one on which the Catholics of the Colony generally may be congratulated. Anything which marks an advance in Catholic growth and testifies to progress made by the Church must necessarily form a cause of rejoicing for them, and the step thus taken by the Holy See does so in a very evident manner. We may now look upon New Zealand as advanced beyond the first struggling and preparatory stage of Catholic settlement, and. promoted to the rank occupied by countries where the Faith has been long established. ‘We must not forget, however, that our Colony is no missionary country properly so called. "Unfortunately, circumstances occurred to prevent a great pdrtion of it from bearing that character in the truest sense of the expression, for, had the Fathers of the Society of Mary been allowed to continue their missions to the native population unimpeded, there is no doubt that at the present time a large part of the , islands would be covered with the settlements apd churches of

Maori Catholics. But the unhappy accompaniments of non-Catholic colonisation made that imnossible, and we may count it an exceptional blessing that even a remnant of the promised harvest has been gathered in. The missionary Fathers labored, indeed, with : the ability and devotion that are their chief characteristics everywhere, and it was due to events over which they could exercise no control if their labours were not crowned, as in other regions of this hemisphere, with complete and unclouded success. ‘ But another, and a scarcely less important, work was-reserved for them. We have said that the country cannot be properly numbered among those that are purely missionary, and yet there is a sense in which it may be said to be doubly so. Here, also, in due course came the people who belong above all others to that which is known as the missionary race, and whom Almighty God seems to have called in a particular way to plant His Church in remote lands, and to bear the Faith triumphantly into the midst of non-Catholic nations. If it was not the privilege of the missionary Fathers to sow the mustard seed, and see it rise under their fostering care into a goodly tree, it was theirs at least to minister to those who came from a land of faith, and to tend the plant already sprung up and grown lest it should languish and fade away for want of nurture. The Irishman came, moreover, bearing within his bosom the strong undying love of his country, as -well as of his Church, and found a full sympathy in the French missionary, himself so noted for his patriotism that even the irreligious Government, into whose hands his fatherland has now happily fallen, hesitates to interfere with him lest they should weaken the influence of France in foreign countries and remove a source whence attraction to her emanates. We may, therefore, recognise in our New Zealand Church no new-born institution — edifice raised by a people newly gathered into the fold, but a branch of that glorious Church founded by St. Patrick himself, .and which has filled all Europe with its light and borne unshaken the adverse storms of centuries, which has spread out all through the new world and won for its great patron realms that were unknown to the age in which he lived and destined, as we hope, to teem with populations faithful to the creed he taught, and not forgetful of the land that, following on his teaching and example, became, par excellence the Island of Saints and Scholars. When, therefore, our Church in New Zealand receives an elevation, and obtains from the Holy See a mark in approval of its growth and progress, we go back in thought to that ancient Church on whose foundations it also stands, and give thanks to God for the fidelity of our race and the marvels He has wrought through its instrumentality. ‘ And —Ad multos annos. —So would we salute the distinguished prelate who is personally to bear the honors conferred by the Holy Father on New Zealand. We know, indeed, of no prelate more suited to bear his honors becomingly, of none whose zeal and devotion are better proved, of none whose scholarship is more ripe, of none more gifted with all the qualities that form the churchman and adorn the gentleman. But it is scarcely necessary that we should speak of Dr. Redwood to our readers; there are few among them who have not long since learned to reverence and admire him, at least by repute— are even comparatively few who have not availed themselves of the opportunities afforded by the unsparing activity with which his Lordship performs the various duties of his vast diocese to make some degree of personal acquaintance with him. His learning as a theologian and scholar, his eloquence as a preacher, his sanctity as a priest, is known to all his own particular flock and to many of those who live beyond the bounds of his episcopal jurisdiction. It only remains, therefore, for us to repeat our salutation. Ad multos annos —to express our most sincere and heartfelt hope that he may live for many years to perform the duties of his «archiepiscopal see as zealously and well as he has performed those of his bishopric, and to wear the pallium of the archbishop with a dignity as graceful and a humility as touching and profound as those with which he has worn the episcopal mitre.More than this it would be impossible for us to say.’