NEW BISHOP OF KERRY

New Zealand Tablet, 11 April 1918, Page 33

NEW BISHOP OF KERRY

his lordship's REFERENCES TO ireland's - W : - '•''"v^: > :J^ Claims. ..:,.-\,-'^.*^.;^J:/..' In St. Mary's Cathedral, Killarney, with impressive ceremonial, the Most Rev. Dr. Charles ; O'Sullivan was consecrated Bishop of Ardfert and Aghadoe. The consecrating prelate, was the Most Rev; Dr. Harty, Archbishop of . Cashel, and - the ~ assistant bishops were Most Rev. Dr. Cohalan, Bishop of Cork, and the Most Rev. Dr. Hackett, Bishop of Waterford and Lismore. The following members of the hierarchy were presentMost Rev. Dr. Browne, Bishop of Cloyne ; Most Rev. Dr. Fogarty, Bishop of Killaloe ; Most. Rev. Dr. MacRory, Bishop of Down and Connor, and the Most Rev. Dr. Mulhern, Bishop of Dromore. The Right Rev. Mgr. Hallinan, Bishop-Elect of Limerick, was also present: . BISHOP OF KILLALOE. Most Rev. Dr. Fogarty, preaching from the text, "Blessed be -the Lord the God of Israel Who alone doth wonderful things," delivered an eloquent sermon, in the course of which he said God, in His goodness, had sent them not only a new bishop, but had given them, in "the Most Rev. Charles O'Sullivan, a Bishop of Kerry after their own hearts. Having paid a high tribute to the work of the late bishop, his Lordship said that seldom had a bishop ascended a throne so fortified by the prayers and good wishes of both priests and people as he who that morning had entrusted to him by God the spiritual sceptre of the Kingdom of Kerry. lie had known him since their student days in Maynooth, when the bishop of today was already reflected in the brilliant, attractive, and most edifying student they all then loved and admired He knew the solid intellect enthroned behind that tranquil brow, now weighted as well *as-adorned by the mitre of Christ and the strength in that gentle hand that now held the crozier of St. Brendan, and the depths of Irish truth and kindness that lay beneath that modest and retiring demeanour. And he knew also how all these great natural gifts were elevated and illumined by a piety of mind and holiness of life that had made him throughout his career most honored by his priesthood and beloved by his people. " It behoved him, in their name, to thank God for having sent them to represent Him a bishop so dear to them and so rich in all the gifts and graces that promised a blessed and glorious episcopate.' Referring to the spiritual mission of Ireland, his Lordship said: "Heaven has marked our island home as an imperial station in the wide Atlantic from which Christ will command to His blessed rule the old world and the new. Twice already has she been used in His Almighty Hand to evangelise two continents. In the distant but glorious days of Columbanus and St. Brendan her Irish missionaries reconquered barbarian Europe for the Kingdom of Christ. Heroism of Ireland. In more recent times the great continents of the New World owe their Catholic life chiefly to the shining faith of . her persecuted but unfaltering children ; and it is still the same, even to-day. Wherever they come, and they are spread over the globe, they bring with them, unfailingly, the Catholic's love of Christ. It travels with the harvester, the soldier, the distant emigrant, the manly youth, and, above all, with her truehearted Irish girls, as virtuous as they are sought after wherever they go. In her glorious history was the heroism of Ireland greater or more exalted than it is to-day Her young people are no less conspicuous for their love of country than for their love of God. They are ready to die for Christ in China. They are ready to die for Ireland.at

home, with a piety on their lips which -makes us, their elders'; ashamed ; of our tepidity, r Mammon, - the: great •_. corrupter of,' modern I life, had ■ not corrupted the hearts of the Bishop's flock. . They preferred the Star of /Bethlehem/ to the : golden \ favors of Herod,, house (where Jesus and Mary His Mother took shelter . to Herod's \ palatial ,but material - splendor/ and perhaps for that very reason had been spared, as this country had been : spared, significantly 1 enough and -almost alone v in Europe, the wrath that had come on apostate nations: in this woeful war. ;// THE ADDRESSES./ .-..;." -~ In the afternoon a large number of addresses were presented to the new Bishop... Some were in Irish. They included addresses from the Chapter and priests of the diocese, the people of Tralee, confraternities and sodalities from different parts of the diocese, Christian Brothers, .Presentation Brothers, Gaelic League branches, temperance societies, national school teachers/ Lourdes National Pilgrimages, and several public bodies, including the Kerry County Council. // / The presentation took place outside the palace in the presence of a-large assemblage of clergy and laity. The Killarney Brass Band and Pipers' Band played pleasing music. 'A handsome gift accompanied the address from the people of Tralee. - : . v - // ; / THE BISHOP'S REPLY. "The Blessings of Freedom and Nationhood." "/ Replying to the address from the Chapter " and priests of the diocese, his Lordship said he had received from heaven many favors and blessings for which he could never be sufficiently thankful, but there was too which he had ever most highly prized, that "from the moment he had the privilege of becoming one of their number he had enjoyed not only the generous goodwill but the personal friendship of his brother priests of the diocese of Kerry. "5 "You say of me—and you say it, I trust, with the fullest truth," his Lordship said, "that in accordance with the spirit of Irish priesthood generally, a spirit which has never proved "false to Ireland,^the welfare and the freedom of "this dear, old land of ours, . the revival of our native.language and the preservation of our national individuality have been with me objects second in importance only to the supreme interests of our holy Faith. That is a statement I can fully and. cordially endorse. My first duty, my first care, of course, will be the spiritual interests of the diocese. To these my life has this day been consecrated. x They will, I trust, dominate every other interest in my life and regulate my relations with every class throughout the diocese. But the work of an Irish priest or an Irish bishop is not bounded by the limits of the sane-, tuary. Far and wide beyond these he has obligations . to the community of which he is a member, and it is his duty, as it is his privilege, to take part, in such functions of citizenship as he may be called upon to discharge. "With whatever little ability I possess I have advocated in tire past, and I hope I shall advocate in the future, and advocate fearlessly, the claims of our motherhood to the greatest of all temporal blessings for a country or. a people, the blessing of freedom and nationhood. Every legitimate movement, every effort sanctioned by morality; and religion - that helps ; to advance and-establish that claim has ever had and j will ever have a friend in me. ' ..-_ /'. The Truly Irish Spirit. - - - "The Irish revival movement has always had my earnest sympathy and support. It has appealed to me from the spiritual as well as from the national • and economic standpoint. In.what I really believe as the truly Irish spirit there is that blendiner of religion with every thought, that identification of this life with the supernatural which, as far as I am aware,: is nowhere else to be found in the same degree. That spirit,

as it seems to me, opposes ah r insuperable obstacle to the inroads and ravages of that materialistic attitude of mind which is the I root cause of the ■;■ horrors' ; that disgrace not' only the Christian name but our common humanity throughout the so-called, civilised world to-day. It is the same spirit which, through the centuries unquenched and unquenchable, has bravely and successfully battled against the imposition on our race of alien standards of conduct and belief, and when this age-long conflict comes to a close, when the brighter and better day for which we all hope dawns for our beloved country, it is to the same deathless spirit we owe it that we shall present, as please God we soon shall, the glorious spectacle of a nation ' always ancient, yet ever new ' —a nation that has regained her freedom without forfeiting a single tittle or iota of her Faith, a nation quickened by the influence of a culture wholly her own, and preserving her own Gaelic civilisation free from every taint and alloy of the so-called civilisation of the present day, a nation free and prosperous again, the home of religion and learning, ' a light for the enlightening of the Gentiles,' sending forth again, as in the days of her glorious past, into every corner of the world, made dark and cold by its neglect of Christianity, the bright, warm beams of the knowledge and love of the Redeemer. From my inmost heart T pray that to you and to me, as to Simeon of old, it may be granted to see the day of this glorious salvation." Tribute to Local Government. Replying to the address from the people of Tralee, his Lordship said thoughts and language failed him to give expression to his feelings for the.. princely, magnificent gift which accompanied their address. To the religious communities his Lordship also returned thanks. He fully appreciated the noble work which those Sisters and Brothers were doing for their people in the schools and in the hospitals of the diocese. He thanked sincerely the local governing bodies of the diocese for the eloquent address and good wishes. The temporal welfare of the people was intimately connected with /the success of the labors of their representatives in these councils, and he thought it was the merest justice to say that when due account was taken of all the difficulties that beset their first entrance into office, 20 years agodifficulties not of their own creation—the success that . had marked the administration of the representatives of the people was little less than marvellous.