ARCHDIOCESE OF WELLINGTON

New Zealand Tablet, Volume LI, Issue 15, 10 April 1924, Page 27

ARCHDIOCESE OF WELLINGTON

(From our own correspondent.) April 4. Already folk are beginning to plan for Easter. Besides the tournament of the combined Catholic clubs there are many other attractions planned for the holidays. The silver jubilee of Victoria University College will take place at that time, and representatives are coming from the other University centres for the event. A church parade is on the programme, and the Students' Guild here is hoping to have its own parade. They are numerous enough for it, provided the holidays are spent here. If too many go home it would not be worth while. By the bye the Rector has offered the college chapel for the first Guild wedding; surely the offer won't be wasted!

Father Smythc presented his jubilee balance-sheet on Sunday, and also the balance-sheet for St. Francis’s Hall, which has more than justified its existence. ‘ “The Australian prelates,” he said, “remarked on the equipment of the hall, saying that they had seen nothing finer south of the line.” The hall was the property of the parish, so the compliment was theirs. The hall had done wonderful service during the jubilee celebrations. It was a rendezvous for all the visitors, where they could rest and be refreshed. It will, by its name, be a memorial of the jubilee and the Archbishop. Thorndon had headed the list of contributions, Boulcott Street being next.

The Marists are to have a house in Auckland, and Father Gondringer, whose name has been associated so long with St. Patrick’s, is to be in charge. Considerable interest attaches to the announcement from the historical point of view. The Marist Society was formed for missionary work. The Marists were the first evangelists in this country for the faith.. Bishop Pompallier was a secular, but his assistants were Marist priests. Hokianga, Kororareka,, Auckland! Before Wellington itself these outposts were associated with the Marists, Perhaps some day when these lands have the magic of antiquity, faithful feet will go seeking Kororareka and pilgrimages of grace will find the graves where lie the men who lit here first the torch of God. Many a missionary then knew what it was to tie the stump of his shoe to his foot with'a thong of flax, and to sleep with a saddle for a pillow. The church in this country has had good servants, and their strip of earth is holy ground. 4 On Sunday evening after church, Fathers O’Neill and O’Donnell came to address the Cumann. They , got a great welcome. . Father . O’Neill, who has held many a Gaelic

class in the South, spoke in glowing terms of the work of the Society that holds the Irish boys and girls together in a strange country. He was listened to with delight by a large audience, who were greatly touched by the humor and pathos of his address. He would visit, he said, the Irish clubs in Chicago and Dublin and-bring back the latest ideas. Both ho and Father O’Donnell were as much at homo with their .audience as if they had known them for years. Father John Kelly, in the course of a beautifully delivered little speech, thanked the soggarts of Gore and Waikiwi for their words to the Club, and was ably seconded by Rev. Father Fallon. The president, Mr. Nolan, thanked them also—lt was great to see the boys and girls crowd round the visitors, eager to greet them in the good old Gaelic tongue. Father O’Neill threw off some fine jests in the Gaelic. Its a great welcome will be awaiting them on their return!

One hears of little hidden acts, of kindness that are very much to be commended. Such was the action of a. Catholic lady who sent a motor car to the Ewart Hospital so that the Catholic patients there should have an opportunity to see the jubilee procession. It was a gracious thought and should bring a blessing. The St. Vincent de Paul Society is holding a meeting to-night to discuss means of entertaining the Catholic oflh cers and men during Fleet Week. The city will be en fete during , that week. Rev. Father Kliraeck, of Upper Hutt, preached a scholarly sermon at Buckle Street on Sunday night. The congregation praised it warmly afterwards. Brother Louis has returned and he got a great reception from the boys. He found a crowd of them waiting outside the house, with eager faces, and as he went from room to room in the school itself he got a great ovation. He left, his own home and his own country to come and teach here, and by its warm-hearted, spontaneous welcome loung New Zealand tried to show him that it appreciated he sacrifice. It tried to make his return another homecoming.