DIOCESE OF CHRISTCHURCH

New Zealand Tablet, 17 April 1913, Page 24

DIOCESE OF CHRISTCHURCH

(From our own correspondent.) April 14. Rev. Father Melu, S.M., of Otaki, is at present on His periodical visit to the Maori Missions of Canterbury and Kaikoura< ■'.■'-.

At the camp of the mounted rifles at Yaldhurst on last Sunday, Mass was celebrated at 10.30 a.m. in the officers mess of No. 8 Regiment by the Rev. Father Hoare, S.M., military chaplain. Addressing the troops present he spoke of the duties of soldiers, loyalty to their country and the King, and to the King of Kings. In each service they needed the same qualities. As they required training and discipline to carry out their duties as soldiers, so also did they need preparation to perform their duty to God. A general meeting of the Society of St. Vincent de Paul, in accordance with the rules, was held on last Monday evening in St. Mary's Schoolroom, Manchester street. The Very Rev. Dean Hills, S.M., V.G., spiritual director of St. Mary's Conference, presided, and the attendance was exceptionally large. A considerable amount of correspondence was read by the president, all of which had been previously attended to. Excellent reports were given by the presidents of the various conferences in the circumscription, of the Particular Council of Christ church, and also received from the diocesan confraternities of Ladies of Charity of the Cathedral and St. Mary's. A pleasing feature of the meeting was the evidence of the vitality of the society as reflected in the several conferences. Excellent and consistent work is being done in visiting families, and public institutions, and in supplying the spiritual and temporal needs of those requiring such help. Particularly satisfactory, too, is the greatly-in-creased membership of the society of late in this city. An interesting address was given by the Very Rev. Dean Hills in the course of which he reiterated his appreciation of the Society of St. Vincent de Paul, acknowledging the helpftilness of its members in the parishes wliere a conference flourishes, and incidentally doing work that the priests could not undertake. Doing all for Almighty God was the watchword of all true Vincentians, and for this an everlasting reward would surely await them. In conclusion, the Very Rev. Dean expressed his intention of having erected in the immediate future a parish hall adjoining St. Mary's to be the home of all the societies, sodalities, and guilds under his jurisdiction, where each would have its own particular apartments, and where meetings could be held without disturbing the existing arrangements of any other place.