Commonwealth Notes

New Zealand Tablet, Volume L, Issue 33, 23 August 1923, Page 35

Commonwealth Notes

NEW SOUTH WALES. Some excellent advice was given the other week by the Rev. Edward Taylor, an Australian, who has just returned to Sydney from Madagascar, a French colony, in which he worked for some years as a representative of the London Missionary Society. "I have come from a country where there are no sects and where sectarianism is almost unknown," he said. "There are differences of societies, but that is a negligible thing. They all work harmoniously in a broad, free spirit." It was, therefore, a little painful to him, Mr. Taylor said, to come back to Australia, and feel that he belonged to a denomination, though he was not ashamed of his denomination. He detested the sectarian spirit, and regretted to see what appeared to be a recrudescence of it. The Christian population of Madagascar is given by the Statesman's Tear Book as 450,000 Protestants and 50,000 Catholics. Every Australian who returns from abroad is shocked at the comparative extent of sectarianism in Australia. And nine-tenths of it is political opportunism. On Wednesday next, 15th inst. (says the Catholic Press for August 9, the Feast of the Assumption of Our Blessed Lady, the many friends of his Grace the Archbishop of Sydney will recall that on that date 22 years ago his Grace was consecrated a Bishop in Rome. We offer his Grace our best congratulations on the years of faithful pastoral ministry that have intervened. Since taking over his high office the Archbishop has been unremitting in the discharge of his many arduous duties. In every sense of the word he has been a good pastor to his people. With apostolic fervor he has spoken on the importance of salvation, and on the dangers that threaten it in our midst. Under his fostering care schools, churches, and institutions of charity and beneficence have been multiplied in the archdiocese of Sydney. His priests appreciate his kindness, his practical wisdom, his courteous disposition. His Grace enjoys excellent health, despite his years and his constant toil. Indeed, as the years go by he seems to become more and more efficient. In civic life the Archbishop has given an example of a prelate whose works and public utterances are without offence to any man. He has made no personal enemies. He has ever promoted civic peace, and has inculcated principles that make for civic harmony and progress. We wish our Archbishop renewed vigor for his work, and many years of rule as the chief pastor of the archdiocese of Sydney. VICTORIA. On behalf of the priests of the Melbourne archdiocese, the Very Rev. Dean Hegarty, P.P., D.D., V.F., presented the Bishop of Geraldton (the Right Rev. Dr. R, Ryan, CM.) with a cheque for £420. In St. Killian's Hall, Bendigo, on Sunday afternoon (says the Freeman's Journal for August 9), a cheque for £2271 3s, representing the profit from the last St. Patrick's Day celebration in Bendigo, was handed the Bishop (Right Rev. Dr. McCarthy), by the president of the committee. The money will be devoted to the maintenance of the Catholic educational institutions in Bendigo district. One of Melbourne's big Catholic charities is likely to change its quarters in the near future. At a largely attended gathering' in St. Vincent de Paul Boys' Orphanage, South Melbourne, the Rev. Brother O'Neill said that the buildings, which had been erected about 70 years ago, had almost outlived their usefulness. It had been found impossible to remodel the place, and the Brothers were giving serious consideration to the erection of a new orphanage. Mr. T. M. Burke had placed at their disposal a site of 117 acres in the metropolitan area, and in the near future it The Church of Our Lady of Victories, Camberwell, was crowded the other Sunday morning, when Archbishop Mannix blessed, four memorial stained-glass windows, erected to the memory of the late Rev. Father George Robinson, who built the church at a cost of £40,000. The donors of these works of art were Miss Amy Castles, Miss O'Shannessy, the Camberwell parishioners, and the late Miss Nora Fogarty (who left a bequest for the purpose). Archbishop Mannix was attended by Rev. Father E. O'Brien (parish priest), Very Rev. Dr. Graber (Administrator of Geraldton diocese, W.A., during the interregnum after Bishop Kelly's death), and Rev. Father Hackett, S.J. r

was possible that the orphanage would be established there. The financial difficulty stood in the way at present. Archbishop Mannix said that a new orphanage was a pressing necessity, and he trusted that it would come soon. One of the most interesting incidents in the life of a religious Order is the celebration of the golden jubilee of one of its professed members. Thursday, July 26, was a day of jubiliation among the members of the Order of Christian Brothers, not only in Victoria, but throughout Australia and New Zealand. The occasion was that of the Rev. Brother M. S. Nunan's attaining his fiftieth year as a Christian Brother. Of his fifty years as a Brother, Brother Nunan has spent twenty-nine of them as collector for the orphanage at South Melbourne. Speaking at North Richmond the other Sunday, the Very Rev. J. Sullivan, S.J., said the Education Act had been brought into existence with the object of driving a wedge into the Catholic body and splitting it asunder. The framers of the Act, however, made a sorry mistake. Catholics built their own schools, and their system of education was most complete and gave excellent results. It was the work done in their schools that counted for most in Catholic life. The main source of strength of the Catholic Church was the Catholic school. Upon elevation to the episcopacy it is usual for the newly-consecrated Bishop to adopt a distinctive crest. That chosen by the Bishop of Geraldton has a triple significance. It consists of the Ryan family crest, a swan (denoting Western Australia), and the coat of arms of the Vincentian Order, picturing the Divine Founder of the Church built upon a rock commissioning His Apostles to go forth and teach all nations. The motto, Evangelizare pauperlbus misit me (to evangelise the poor He hath sent me), and the insignia symbolical of the exalted dignity of the episcopacy, completes the newly-ordained Bishop's coat of arms. The golden jubilee of Mother Mary of the Visitation was celebrated at the Convent of the Good Shepherd, Abbotsford, on Friday, 27th ult. His Grace the Archbishop of Melbourne (Most Rev. Dr. Mannix) celebrated the Anniversary Mass in the convent chapel, at which the jubilarian received Holy Communion. At the conclusion of the Mass the ceremony incidental to the 50th anniversary of religious profession was conducted by his Grace the Archbishop, which included the renewal of the vows of poverty, chastity, and obedience, which had been pronounced that day 50 years ago at the mother house of the Order, Angers, France. Then a golden wreath, signifying the 50 golden years spent in the cloister, was received by the venerable jubilarian at the hands of his Grace the Archbishop, with which was bestowed the Apostolic Benediction from his Holiness the Pope. Mother Mary of the Visitation was for the long period of 24 years Provincial-Superioress at Abbotsford, and for another 20 years had charge of several branches of the Good Shepherd Order throughout Australia. QUEENSLAND. , On the return of his Lordship Bishop Shiel from an extensive tour of the western part of his diocese, extending to far-out Cloncurry, the Catholics of Townsvillo assembled in large numbers on Tuesday, 17th ult., at the School of Arts to entertain their beloved Bishop at a musical social, and to congratulate him on his jubilee of 25 years of priesthood. The Right Rev. Monsignor Bourke, V.G., presided, and said it had been arranged that his Honor Mr. Justice Douglas would read the congratulatory address to his Lordship, and would be supported by Messrs. H. Glynn, Connolly, J. P. Quinn, and M. T. Downey. Unfortunately, however, owing to the influenza epidemic raging in Townsville at the time, both the former gentlemen were unable to be present, and he called upon Mr. Quinn to read the address. Mr. Quinn, in his opening remarks, said he felt honored to have this opportunity to convey to his Lordship the love, affection, and loyalty of the Catholics of Townsville. He said Bishop Shiel had endeared himself to all during the four or five months he resided in Townsville during Monsignor Bourke's absence, when lie not only carried out the functions of Bishop of the Diocese, but also acted and administered to them as their parish priest.