DIOCESE OF AUCKLAND

New Zealand Tablet, 13 June 1918, Page 21

DIOCESE OF AUCKLAND

(From our own correspondent.) , J une 7. The Rev. J. A. Travers, of the Archdiocese of Wellington, is at present on a visit to Auckland.

A Mission for the men of the parish commences at St. Benedict’s Church on Sunday next, and will be conducted by Fathers Ainsworth, S.M., and O’Leary, S.M. At St. Patrick Cathedral on Tuesday evening last Father O’Malley concluded his series of lectures to the Holy Family Confraternity on the subject of “Early Irish History.”

MATER MISERICORDIAE HOSPITAL: OPENING OF THE NEW WING. The official opening of the new wing of the Mater Misericordiae Hospital, at Mount Road, Mount Eden, Auckland, by the Right Rev. Dr. H. W. Cleary’ Bishop of Auckland, took place on Sunday afternoon hist. Notwithstanding the rather uninviting weather, there was a large attendance. His Lordship the Bishop said it gave him very great pleasure to bless and declare open for work -the new wing of the hospital, and proceeded to say that the work they were engaged in that afternoon was not an isolated event, but was a step forward in the long and- triumphal march of the Catholic Church in the alleviation of suffering and misery. Such work, said his Lordship, did not arouse the dramatic interest that war did, nor did it make a great appeal to sentiment ; but it was a Chi istian endeavor that had done vastly more for civilisation than all the wars combined, necessary though some of them had been. The Bishop traced the past pi ogress of such work in the interests of humanity from the days of Paula, a Roman matron, who in establishing a church in Bethlehem 1650 years ago laid the foundation stone of one of the works of the Christian Church. Ibe Sisters of Charity of St. Vincent de Paul,- he said, had done great work, some of their best being in the Crimean War and great American Civil War. What they had done in time of war they would continue to do in time of peace. The splendid services given in the past, he continued, would be given in that hospital in the name ot Paula. After enumerating a number of famous Catholic organisations which had carried on this work through the ages, often under most difficult conditions, the Bishop referred to the Order of the Sisters of Mercy, which, he said, was the first founded in Catholic Ireland for Christian charity, lie concluded by wishing (he Sisters every success in the new building. Ihe Hon. .J. A. Tole, K.C., related the pleasure it. had given him some eight months ago to see the foundations ot the new building rise from .the ground. The present occasion reminded him of the words of Cardinal Wiseman, in Ireland, sixty years ago, when he remarked on the nursing work of the Sisters of Mercy that they had commenced in the most generous spirit of charity. These sentiments, continued the speaker, were as appropriate in connection with the additions to the institution as they were sixty years ago. Mr. Tole went on to say that the Sisters were ministering to (he sick without reward or gain, and without differentiating in respect to (he creeds of patients. Dr. de Clive Lowe, speaking on behalf of the medical staff, said that the new wing was already full of patients. It was, indeed, too small for the requirements of the hospital, and he urged the Bishop and clergy to see that they had a bigger hospital. The new wing had been built on the model of Californian hospitals, everything being up-to-date, the operating theatre, for its size, being one of the best south of the line. Consequently the very best surgical results could bo obtained therein. Referring to the treatment meted out to patients, he said it was immaterial whether they could pay for the attention or not—they were given everything of the best. Dr. G. W. Maskell expressed pleasure in being associated with the opening and the work which the Catholic Church considers one of her most important works. Dr. Florence Keller commended the site of the building to her hearers, and referred to the great work

of the nuns at the hospital of the Mayo Brothers, in Rochester, Indiana, where some 80 doctors were employed. She also expressed admiration for the institution. The Very Rev. Chancellor Holbrook, Father J. A. Travers, and Mr. E. Casey also spoke, the latter making a strong appeal for financial assistance. A collection was taken up and realised a goodly sum. The building consists of 17 single bedrooms, with the operating theatre, the most.modern appliances for sterilising, including an. auto-clave steriliser, being installed. The floor is of composition, and is curved at the walls. The operating table embodies a number of new ideas.