The Children of Mary, Gore

New Zealand Tablet, Volume XLVIII, Issue 45, 15 November 1923, Page 31

The Children of Mary, Gore

The evening of Sunday, November 4, marked the close of a Retreat conducted by Rev. Father Duffy, C.SS.R., for the Children of Mary, of the Gore parish. The Retreat commenced on Monday, October 29, and the large attendance at the six o’clock Mass and at the evening devotions during the week testified beyond all doubt to the earnestness and sincerity of those taking part. Many of the girls had long distances to walk, but in spite of that, and notwithstanding the stormy weather experienced for the first few days, the numbers increased as the week wore on. ■ On Friday and Saturday evenings the Devotions were in honor of the Sacred Heart and our Blessed Lady re-

■C spectively, the sermons being appropriate to the occasions. On Sunday morning all the members of. the sodality, wearing the regalia, approached the Holy Table— a sight most edifying to the rest of the congregation and one which must have been very pleasing to the Heart of the Mother of God. In the evening Father Duffy addressed the Children of Mary on the subject of perseverance, exhorting them to be faithful to the rules of the sodality and to that Mother whom Jesus Christ bequeathed to them from the Cross. The sermon was followed by the Consecration of nineteen girls as Children of Mary, while twenty-four received the blue badge and twenty-three the white ribbon, the badge of their reception into the sodality. The extraordinary success which attended this Retreat was due, after God and our Blessed Lady, to the untiring efforts and apostolic zeal of the good Father, who so perseveringly urged the young ladies to live up to the noble ideal presented to them by the Mother of God. That his efforts were successful beyond the expectations of the most sanguine was evidenced in the fact that at the close of the Retreat the roll number was close on ninety. The sincere thanks and deepest gratitude of each and every, member of the sodality go out in one accord to Rev. Father Duffy, who will ever be remembered in the prayers of those for whom he did so much. At the close of the Retreat each member received a souvenir in the shape of a booklet containing choice prayers, which will help to remind them of the many graces received during those happy days.