Monday and Tuesday's Proceedings

New Zealand Tablet, Volume LI, Issue 9, 28 February 1924, Page 35

Monday and Tuesday's Proceedings

Monday was devoted to motor excursions and to the pleasure, generally, of the visiting prelates and priests. On Tuesday the Hierarchy and about 200 priests were entertained to dinner. MAGNIFICENT DEMONSTRATION AT TOWN HALL. A GREAT AND ENTHUSIASTIC GATHERING.' (From our special reporter.) The Town Hall was thronged on Tuesday evening on the occasion of a great demonstration in further celebration of the Golden Episcopal Jubilee of his Grace ArchbishopRedwood. Archbishop O’Shea presided. Numerous telegrams and letters of congratulation on the unique event were received, also apologies for absence from his Excellency the Governor-General, Dr. Sprott, Anglican Bishop, and the Chancellor of the N.Z. University. Among those from whom congratulatory messages were received were the Most Rev. Dr. Delany, Archbishop of Hobart, Right Rev. Dr. Nicolas, Bishop of Fiji, Right Rev. Dr. Ryan, Bishop of Geraldton, Rev. Father Copere, Rev. Father Rieu, the Rector of St. diamond, the Rector of Dundalk College, Right Rev. Mgr. Walshe, and Rev. Father Maples. The reading of the subjoined addresses was interrupted with frequent bursts of applause. Having read the address from the Hierarchy of Australia, the’ Most Rev. Dr. Kelly, Archbishop of Sydney, referred to the Jubilarian’s stand against the tyranny of the Prohibitionists, to his efforts for Catholic education, and his defence of the rights of Ireland, The Mayor of Nelson, who said he was sent by his Council to honor a great New Zealand citizen, received an ovation. The most picturesque event was the Maori address accompanied by Fathers Yenning and Melu. Half a dozen natives went ,on the platform for the reading of the address, and at the conclusion laid mats at Archbishop Redwood’s feet amid great applause. The address from the Maoris was beautifully illuminated as a labor of love by the Sisters of the Missions of Napier. The Jubilee Song composed by Miss Eileen, Duggan and set to music by Mr. Page (city organist), was sung by a full choir, and was most impressive. Rev. Father Ryan’s singing of “Where’er You Walk” (Handel) was a delight to lovers of music. Signor Truda conducted, and Mr. Paul Cullen presided at the organ. The address from the Hierarchy of New Zealand was read by his Lordship Dr. Cleary; that from the Hierarchy of Australia by his Grace Archbishop Kelly, the New Zealand priests’ address by the Right Rev. Mgr. McKenna. READING AND PRESENTATION OF ADDRESSES. ADDRESS FROM THE N.Z. BISHOPS. Your Grace, We tender to you our hearty felicitations on your attainment of the Golden Jubilee of your career as a Bishop in the Church of God. We thank God for the varied and widespread good which He has been pleased to do in ,this Dominion through your zealous ministry, and under your wise direction and control, during the past five decades of years. The results of your long-drawn labors have been woven into the very tissue of the religious life of the great Archdiocese over which you still happily preside in a hale and honored old age. In the long and strenuous years of your work as a .pioneer. Bishop, you laid, broadband deep,-and sure the foundations on which has been built up one of the. best

equipped dioceses in , these ' southern lands. Under your directing mind, the Archdiocese of , Wellington has been enriched with noble temples of religious worship; and with, institutes of education and charity, to a degree unusual in new countries such as this. These are a source of legitimate pride to your clergy, religious and faithful, and centres of radiated blessing to the nation at large. Those of us whose work lies outside the confines of the Archdiocese are also sharers in your fifty fruitful years of thought and toil for God and souls. We find an example, an inspiration, a spiritual tonic in your life and work. And, through the communion of saints, we and our faithful people, and the ( whole Church of the Living God, are sharers in the precious fruits of your half-century of devoted service of the dear Lord and Redeemer of u» all. For fifty years you have been knocking at the heart* of your people by living, every day, before them, a truth of God. The signatories of this address have had the privilege of closer and more intimate contact with you. It revealed to us those qualities of mind and heart and soul which have won our deep affection: the serenity, the boundless trust in God, the sense of His near Presence, which enabled you at all times either to see the blue in every sky or the golden edge on every cloud. Above all, our close association with you has given us glimpses of what has been the Sacred Fount of all the good that has flown through your soul into the souls of others in'those fifty —namply, the inner, deeply spiritual life of yours, which is hidden with Christ in God. We pray God still more to enrich your life, for the further spread of His Kingdom in this Dominion. We sign ourselves, with much esteem and affection, Always sincerely yours in' Christ, * Thomas O’Shea. * Henry W. art. * Matthew Brodie. James Whyte. •i* James Liston. ADDRESS FROM THE HIERARCHY OF AUSTRALIA. Your Grace,— We, the Archbishops and Bishops of Australia, claim the privilege of joining with New Zealand in celebrating the Golden Jubilee of your Episcopate. We have eagerly looked forward to this day and we thank God that you have been spared to see it in health and vigor. Time has but lightly touched you : and yet, the span of your Grace’s life, and even of your Episcopate, cover* a period of marvellous change in the land of your adoption, You saw the hard and small beginnings of New Zealand, and you have lived to see New Zealand take as her. right an honored place in the Commonwealth of British Nations and , in the Councils of the world’s statesmen. You saw the Church in New Zealand in her infancy, and you have been spared to see her grow and prosper far beyond the hope of those who guided her early steps and faced her early difficulties. And through all these years of growth and striving, your Grace has been a figure outstanding: a gracious personality that won golden opinions from rich and poor, from gentle and simple; a worthy citizen of wide experience and rich culture, who brought wisdom and light and strength to the service of his youthful nation; above all, a Prelate of learning" and eloquence and zeal, who sowed the Gospel seed and watered it, and who, in God’s good Providence, has lived to reap the harvest. Your Grace’s friends, scattered the world over, rejoice with you in this .your Jubilee year and thank God for the blessings which have come, and will come, through your hands. But, we have special reason for joy and thankfulness. For to your colleagues in the Episcopacy, you have always been a friend to lean upon, a brother to love, a father to look up to and revere: patient, helpful, wise in council; virile, fresh, progressive in thought and act : one whom the youngest might approach without diffidence and to whom the oldest might listen with profit. If, in saying so much, we speak with too little reserve, affection to your Grace must be our apology. For in our (hearts, you hav* si place which is wholly your own. In this day which the Lord has made, we rejoice with you. With you we thank God for,. the blpssings of,your

long, well-filled life; and, for the greater good of the Church in New Zealand, we pray God still to lengthen your days and to make the evening of your life, peaceful and fruitful, as 'were the noon-day and the morning. Signed on behalf of the Archbishops and Bishops of Australia, , MICHAEL, • Archbishop of Sydney. February 24, 1924. ADDRESS FROM THE PRIESTS OP THE ARCHDIOCESE. Your Grace, — Of all those who are gathered around you during these Jubilee celebrations, none have greater reason to rejoice than we, the priests of your Archdiocese. We rejoice with you in that God has spared you so long to rule over the Church in this land during its period of infancy—a period no less critical in the case of institutions and great organisations than it is in the lives of individual human beings. The Archdiocese of Wellington was singularly fortunate in obtaining for its first archbishop one whose qualities of mind and heart had so eminently fitted him for the great tasks that were awaiting him. Sprung from one of our best known and most highly respected pioneer families, educated in France, Ireland, and Rome, you have carried through your long life the high ideals which animated the founders of our country —as well as the lofty religious principles which you imbibed at the very fountain heads of our Holy Faith, , ■ On Church and State alike you have left the impress of the noble character moulded in those already far-off days. We are proud of the chief under whom we have served and are serving to-day. If we are found not too unworthy of the great cause to which we have dedicated •ur lives, we wish publicly to ascribe a great part of the credit to the example you set us. To serve in such a cause, under such a chief has been to us a never-failing source of inspiration. & W« wish to put on record our gratitude for your unceasing patience, your encouragement in our labors your ever-ready sympathy in our trials and difficulties’ Guided and supported by you, we faced the most perilous tasks with confidence, knowing that a pilot stood at the helm who would steer us safely past all shoals and shallows •into a secure haven of peace. i + We also wish to thank you for the support you always en to the aspirations of that country which many of us claim as our fatherland. Though an Englishman by birth, and endowed with the virile patriotism for which your countrymen are justly famed, you never hesitated to raise your voice on behalf of Justice and Truth, when the -cause of Ireland stood in need of a champion. Ripe in years, riper in wisdom, ripest of all in sanctity you stand before us to-day a source of joy and pride to your people, and for your priests the complete exemplar on which, they all hope to model their own lives. i May we, in conclusion, assure your Grace that our esteem and affection will follow you to the end of your long and glorious career. /u . fi g "°d ™ behalf of the priests of the Archdiocese—(Right Rev. Mgr.) J. McKenna, V.G.; (Right Rev. Mgr.) OSS R oWer; J ‘ 0 Reilly > SM (Provincial); P. Whelan. ADDRESS FROM THE CATHOLIC LAITY OF NZ Your Grace, — .. ' ' We, the Catholic Laity of New Zealand, • tender you our smcerest congratulations on the occasion of your Golden Jubilee as Bishop of Wellington. We are happy to assomate ourselves with the Hierarchy and clergy and with our fellow Catholics of other lands in honoring your Grace ‘ The circumstances that call forth this unanimous expression of respect and affection are unique in the history " ?t- CI l h in Nftw Zealand ; , for your Grace is the link that binds the pioneer days of the early missionaries to that vigorous and well organised body, the Catholic Church m - Zealand tCM3ay ' You were the-first fruits in the priesthood of the sacrifice of those missionaries arid to-dav you , stand, as the, giant kauri of our forests,. a living witness and noble monument to the Faith of our Fathers.

. W« congratulate jour Grace on the splendid clergy you have gathered to your side to help in building up in these lands the City of God. In a special manner we wish to thank your Grace for what you have done for Catholic Education; and to congratulate you again on the devoted religious teachers who have made possible the realisation of your hopes. Under your paternal care colleges and schools have sprung into being and flourished. The instincts of the Good Shepherd have prompted you to foster and encourage the charity of Christ towards all, and in your Grace,. poor, the afflicted, and the orphan have found a protector and friend. We recall with pleasure your Grace’s fifty years of pastoral care as preacher of the Word of God; and rejoice that advancing years still find you teaching your people as in the first days of your episcopate. For your gift to us, the Catholics of Nov of your noble life and character, we wish to put on record our sincerest thanks. We shall always think of you, and shall teach our ■ children to think of you as our gentle, learned, and noble-minded Archbishop. The affection and respect of the Catholic people of half a century we gather up and offer to you to-night in the simple words, “May God bless you, and keep you always.” Signed on behalf of the Catholic Laity of New Zealand, by Messrs. McKenna, Cohun, Sheehan, Marlow, Flynn, Hoskins, HIBERNIAN SOCIETY’S ADDRESS. May it please Your Grace, — Upon the happy celebration of the Golden Jubilee of your consecration to the episcopacy, we tender to you with deep sincerity of heart, the congratulations of the members of the New Zealand District of the HibernianAustralasian Catholic Benefit Society. From your exalted position, you have witnessed the swift growth of a nation, from vigorous youth to splendid maturity. As a churchman, you have moulded the thought of clergy and laity in the image of your own lofty ideals as a citizen, you have propagated your enlightened conceptions of the principles underlying Christian civilisation. As the master builder, and a chief among the second line of pioneers of Catholicism in New Zealand, you will always be remembered in the history of our country. To the sons of the Gael, in whose name our society tenders its felicitations this evening, you have especially endeared yourself by your advocacy of the cause of Ireland in her struggle for nationhood. , In conclusion, we offer gratitude to God that He has spared you to enjoy this great day of your Episcopal Golden Jubilee, and pray that for many years you may continue to grace the Metropolitan See of the Catholic Church in this Dominion. -- We beg to remain, your Grace, Yours most obediently, Claud Colhoun, District President. Daniel Flynn, District Vice-President. James Smith, District Past-President. M. J. Sheahan, District-Treasurer. W. Kane, District Secretary. LETTER FROM DEAN BURKE. Invercargill, February 18, 1924. Your Grace, I wish to join in the vast number of congratulations which will be showered upon you these days by your friends, admirers, and those who have received kindness at your hands; of whom I am one. Owing to pressure of parish work I cannot be present at the ceremonies. I am up to my eyes in building schools. This prevents me from going to Wellington for the great festival. Needless to say I wish to join in the great celebration and in Hie congratulations and good wishes of the multitudes of your well-wishers who will be there, Whilst I remain, Your Grate’s Most Devoted Servant, William Bunr*. (Dean)

REPLY'BY ARCHBISHOP REDWOOD. In rising to address this magnificent gathering of all classes, ranks, and personages on this unique occasion of my long life—the Golden Jubilee of my Episcopate—the . uppermost sentiment in my heart is one of frequent and boundless gratitude, first of all to Almighty God, the merciful bestower of all good gifts, temporal and spiritual, for indeed it is meet and just, right and salutary, that at" all times and in all places we should give due thanks to God our Supreme Benefactor; but particularly do I feel the urgency of that sweet duty on this ever remarkable day of my Golden Jubilee. Grateful .thanks, therefore, to God who, while so many prelates contemporary with me in the year of my consecration have been-removed by death, has mercifully .spared me to stand before the- world as the senior Bishop of the Catholic Church. It is a favor and a- privilege and a mercy that no words can adequately express, when viewing the course of these fifty years, I calmly survey all God’s mercies to me; transported with the thought I am lost in wonder, love, and praise. Next thanks, most grateful thanks to God’s chief representative on earth, his Holiness Pope Pius XL, who, to expressly honor and commemorate this Jubilee, has most graciously deigned by cablegram and brief to confer upon the fortunate Jubilarian the exalted dignity of Assistant at the Pontifical Throne. Thanks also to all this vast assemblage, particularly to the splendid and unprecedented array of distinguished and illustrious prelates from Australia and the South Sea Islands, headed by the revered representative of his Holiness the Pope, his Excellency Archbishop Cattaneo, Apostolic Delegate. Such a sight was never seen before in this Dominion, and when will such another be seen again? Echo, say when! a long long when! DISTINGUISHED VISITORS THANKED. Thanks again to the , right reverend and reverend ecclesiastics of all ranks here present to-night to do honor to my unworthiness, and with this great and representative audience to help me to thank God more effectively by joining their thanksgiving with mine. Yes I Your Excellency Apostolic Delegate, yesl Your Graces' ff Sydney, Melbourne, Brisbane, Adelaide, and Hobart, yes! Your Lordships of all the other dioceses of Australia, you have greatly honored this assembly and this city of Wellington and this Dominion by your august presence, and in their joint names I tender to you my heartfelt thanks and the liveliest expressions of ray unbounded gratitude. You have made this Jubilee celebration an historic event to be remembered unto all time; but with these sentiments of thankfulness rise a multitude of other thoughts and feelings, among them first of all I naturally experience an old man’s pleasure in -reviewing and praising the past, I have seen the cradle of this Dominion, I have seen its promising childhood, its sturdy youth, and its present vigorous manhood. I have seen it rise from a Colony to a Dominion and to the noble status of a self-governing nation, I have also seen the Catholic Church, once a struggling mission among savages, now an organised and flourishing province with its Hierarchy, its churches, its colleges, its schools, its institutions of beneficence and charity, and its religious Orders in rapidly increasing numbers, and the day, I hope, is not far off when it will posses a Cathedral worthy of this metropolis of this Dominion and of the Universal Church. All these facts and projects are fit matter for gladness and jubilation. This, the momentous day of the Lord, let us rejoice and exult therein. ANOTHER PICTURE. But there is. another picture which I cannot overlook, and it has its dark and sombre features. It will not escape- the all-seeing eye of our infinitely just Judge, and this thought sober* any' disordinate desire of elation or feeling of triumph. When that just Judge and Sovereign Lord. of ■ the world sent abroad His sacred envoys, the Apostles, those lights of the world, those pillars of the Church and founders of Christian civilisation upon the ruins of heathendom, He solemnly said to them “when you

have done your best deem yourselves useless servants.” “How. much more called for is that humble confession in my case, what faults and mistakes in my long career, what opportunities missed and lost, what partial and total failure, what a contrast between what might have been and what is, : what low achievements in face of such high ideals. Hence I feel, and feel deeply, that I far more need your prayers than your praises, and verily I set myself-down among the most useless servants. All praise to God and God alone, for in Him “we live and move and have our being;” without Him we are nothing; we having nothing we can do nothing and therefore we are worth nothing save by His all-powerful grace. He alone is great and alone worketh wonders, ever blessed be His Holy Name. REPLY TO ADDRESSES. I now proceed to answer the addresses seriatum: My dear brethren of the Episcopate of New Zealand I thank you most heartily for your loyal, appreciative and affectionate address. God has blessed me all the time I. have been Metropolitan with excellent Suffragans. Nothing could exceed on all occasions their expressions and proof of devotedness. I thank all those here present for it and for the happy results which their unstinted co-operation has enabled me to achieve. Some have gone to their eternal reward and I deem it. a duty to recall their memory on this unique occasion. The illustrious Bishop Moran, the saintly Bishop Luck, the genial, zealous and devoted Bishop Lenihan, the holy Bishop Verdon, and. the wonderfully , zealous Bishop Grimes, whose name and'fame are immortalised in the classic Cathedral of Christchurch. I thank you again, and I appreciate at its full your beautiful address.. Next comes the address of the Hierarchy of Australia. Well, ( what I appreciate most in their address is the fact of its existence. It has been a surprise to me that they ever came to think of honoring me to such a degree. 1 gratefully accept it, however, and I ask this ecclesiastical province and all the Dominion to join me in their high appreciation of it. As to its very eulogistic terms in my regard I am naturally inclined to discount a deal of its encomiums, and to put this down to the transparent sincerity of the authors of the address, anti to the physiological fact that friendship is somewhat blind to faults and too keen-sighted to qualities. However that may be, the address has my sincere and lasting gratitude. My dear clergy of the Archdiocese I sincerely thank you for your right royal and affectionate address.. . A bountiful Almighty conferred upon me a great blessing in giving me a perfectly united clergy, for union is strength and division is weakness. I have ever been in the happy condition of a helmsman in a boat who knows and feels that he has a crew of rowers willing, strong and united in any crisis. In any supreme difficulty they were ready to give a long pull and a strong pull and a pull altogether, and so no tide or wind or wave could impede their progress. May this union- ever reign supreme, and then whatever may have been your achievements in the past they are but a shadow of what is reserved for the future. Thanks again, most hearty thanks. Much the same may be said to my dear devoted ’laity in response to their most affectionate addresses. There has invariably been for the last fifty years an admirable unison in this diocese between the bishops, the priests and the laity. It is proverbial, the triple cord is not easily broken triple funiculus non rumpitur. The Archdiocese may be fitly compared to an army in campaign. The Bishop is the general in chief, the priests are the officers, and the laity are the rank and file. What can the best general do without a competent staff of officers? What can the best general and the best officers do | without . brave and devoted soldiers ? without. a first-rate rank and file You are my rank and file my dear laity, and you have always behaved nobly q you have ever been ready to co-operate strenuously with your general and his staff, and so in any conflicts and tjght critical moments you have gained notable victories. Continue to do the same and then who can foretell the extent of your future achievement.

To my dear Hibernians, a member of whose friendly society I have been for well nigh half a century, from the very outset of my episcopate, I respond that I appreciate highly your address, and I wish you in return, continual and ever increasing prosperity. Your very life and soul are the two mighty sentiments and Fatherland—you are ever true to ' your faith, that ‘admirable gift of . God ” as St. Peter calls it, that “victory which overcometh the world” as St. John, proclaims, you are also ever true to your fatherland beyond the seas, the “Island of scholars and saints,” now, God be praised, a “nation once again.” And you are likewise true to your adopted land which, for many years, is your real fatherland and a very fair one at that. Be ever true to faith and fatherland and you will certainly be a potent factor for the everlasting good of this fair land of which we are all so proud and hopeful. My dear Maori children, my response to your affectionate, filial, and such poetic address shall be short but most grateful, cordial and loving. I am indeed proud to be a successor of the early pioneers of the Catholic Church in your fair land. I am proud to remember your brave forefathers in the faith; proud of your loyalty to them and to me, your present pastor and father. Endeavoring to equal them in -affection for you, I gladly and gratefully draw to my safe and happy mooring your love canoe, and I receive from it most joyously your precious presents of Maori mats woven deftly from your native flax. I send you on return my canoe, dispatched from the unsinkable barque of Peter. Its steersman is faith, its rowers are gratitude and love, while its freight are my thousand spiritual blessings. To all of you for time and eternity “Kia ora-me ake toriu atu.” Last, not least, comes the address of the early settlers; I have, of course, a very tender spot in my heart for the early settlers; they revive such touching memories, they have deserved so well of New Zealand. I receive with the greatest pleasure and satisfaction their sincere congratulations which I value exceedingly, whilst I feel that no words are too emphatic to testify to them my admiration and heartfelt gratitude. SERVICES RECOGNISED. It now remains for me to thank all those devoted persons who in any way, directly or indirectly, have contributed so largely to make this Jubilee celebration a decided success. First of all I particularly thank the very able organisers of the whole proceedings, and no words of mine are adequate to sufficiently praise their zeal, patience, and indefatigable exertions for weeks and months in all manner of ways to ensure success. I thank the musicians, the organisers and singers. I thank the purveyors of our physical comforts in our new hall, and all those generous gentlemen who, in more ways than one, helped us to provide for the table requirements of our guests. I thank those.who liberally provided motor,cars for our never-to-be forgotten excursions and picnics. I thank the electricians for their illumination of the Basilica tower and front. I wish to thank everybody deserving of thanks, and if I forget any among so many benefactors I apologise in advance, for my gratitude extends to all without exception. And now rising for a moment to a higher level I tender my very special thanks to the many religious Orders who have sent me again and again the richest spiritual bououets made up of Masses, Communions, etc., etc., etc., all of which I -prize immeasurably more than any material gifts, because they are as superior to others as the supernatural is to the natural, as Heaven is to earth.. I have done. Universal thanks convey the extent of my appreciation and my gratitude. I sum up all in one- vast Te Deum and Magnificat. May I also express my appreciation of the courtesy and even the reverence shown to my distinguished guests by the people of Wellington. Last Sunday it reminded me of that splendid community spirit which existed in my boyhood. May it never disappear from our midst, and to the Wellington press I wish to express my thanks for tne great fairness they have invariably displayed towards me, and in particular for their generous attitude during the Jubilee days. I wish to thank everybody. - (Applause.)