The Church in New Zealand

New Zealand Tablet, Volume LII, Issue 6, 11 February 1925, Page 19

The Church in New Zealand

THE CHURCH IN TARANAKI : A SKETCH PREPARED FOR THE JUBILEE OP

THE PARISH OP HAWERA. (Continued from last weak.)

A With the coming of peace Father Rolland was free to turn to a long-cherished project. Men may smile at his ambition to establish, a monastery at Korn, but he did establish it and it did excellent work while it lasted. He built several houses, or, were they only huts? Many of the disbanded soldiers joined this new Father-Abbot some of them turning their swords into ploughshares, tilled the land after the manner of the monks of St. Benedict; others would spend their days instructing the hoys who were sent there from many parts of the Colony, and all would join in the Vesper hymn as the sun was wooed to rest by the western waves. My old friend, Philip Putnam, Wellington’s well-known choirmaster in the ’eighties and early ’nineties of last century, was at Koru. It r as there he got his taste for music, and it was there he was charmed into the Church by the’ Father-Abbot’s sweet and reverential

With acknowledgment to the N.Z. Tourist Dept.

singing of the psalms of David. Father Rolland was,-a good musician and had a fine tenor voice. Many and many an evening during his Visits to Wellington in the early ’nineties would he entertain me with songs grave and gay, patriotic and religious,, in French and in English. ; ■ ,He made two trips to the .West Coast of the South island in quest of funds for his new venture, his place being filled successively by. Fathers Binsfeld and Lampila. During the second of these trips news came to him of the death of Bishop Viard (June 2, 1872). .The. consequent ►disorganisation during the interval between this and the coming of Bishop. Redwood in November, 1874, made the closing of the monastery inevitable. This brought great sorrow to’ Father Rolland and to his enthusiastic band of volunteers, and who can gauge the blessings of which it has deprived Taranaki : Its memory it is, perhaps, that disheartens thosewho would now like to see even one school

for boys in this the richest province of the land. Father Rolland was horn at Verdun in 1834, so that lie was barely thirty-one years

of age when he came to Taranaki, and proved himself such a hero. The last thirty years of his .life were spent at Reefton, where he died on the thirteenth of July, 1903. “The passing away of Father -Holland,” writes the fol--I lowing issue of the Inangahna Herald “will • leave a gap in the life of the West Coasters which we doubt if any other man can fill.” In the leading article of the same number it says: “Some years ago the old gentleman came in for a little money, but be did not touch it himself. He straightway willed it for the education of young priests. “I have no sons of my own,” said the old ' man, Therefore I will give it to the sons of the Church. . . The attendance at the funeral yesterday was estimated at considerably over 2000, and is the largest assemblage that has ever taken place at Reefton.” FATHER LAMP IDA replaced Father Rolland at Now Plymouth. He built a new church which was blessed by Bishop Redwood on September 28, 1875, and which, when replaced by the present church was for some years used as a parish school. In January, 1878, the first church in the new settlement of Inglewood was blessed and opened by Father Lampila, assisted by Father Pertuis, who was then stationed at Hawera. From the day of his ordination —Christinas Day. 1842 —at Russell in the Bay of Islands, Father Lampila gave evidence of a life of humble holiness, which touched the hearts of all who knew him. Legends, which may Hot be despised as worthless, attest this. But the “trial by fire” is no legend; it is an historical fact. He invited a certain Anglican clergyman to make good in public discussion some assertions he had made concerning the Catholic mission and its priests. The clergyman al tended with a large number of Natives, and offered to put the statements he had made lo the-test of an. ordeal by fire: let them both cast themselves into the midst of a blazing fire, and the one that was not consumed would have truth on his side. Father Lampila, having got the necessary consent from the Bishop, presented himself on the appointed day, prepared to face the ordeal. The parson, panic-stricken, confessed that he had been only joking. The “joke” cost him many of his adherents, who soon became docile children of Holy Church. All the priests so far mentioned were members of the Society of Mary, then a young Society that had been founded in Lyons, and authorised by Papal Brief in 1836. It had for its first Superior-General he who is now revered in the Church as the Venerable Jean-Claude-Mari© Colin. It undertook to carry on the ordinary priestly ministry amongst the people that the priests around them were carrying on, but in addition to this, its special vocation was to maintain colleges, and to labor for foreign missions. How - nobly it carried out its twofold purpose—apud fideles et infideles known in every part of the Old World and the New. That .fits saintly and cultured members did successful work in Taranaki, their successors and the Catholic people have good reason to remember with gratitude. They proved themselves worthy children of Mary; they were filled with the spirit of their Institute, they

manifested in their lives the virtues laid down for their guidance by their venerable founder the spirit of the Blessed Virgin, humility, self-denial, and unswerving fidelity to the Holy See. The labors and hardships they endured in sowing the Good Seed have made it easy for their successors.■■to gather in rich harvests of souls. WoeNworth the day that turns ingrate to their memory. The only member of the Society now in Taranaki is Father Menard, the/ scholarly pastor of Okato and Provincial Maori Missioner. He is a man of many parts; but to those outside the fold he is best known for the skill with which lie used to give new life to many disabled motors along the Main South Road, and with which he used to set in order many refractory machines in the neighboring creameries. Now that garages and engineers are becoming common, he is permitted to devote himself entirely to spiritual ministrations. FATHERS BERKLER AND CHASTAGNON. had charge of New Plymouth from 1879 till 1884. The latter built the first church at Stratford, and established the Sisters of Notre Dame des Missions at New Plymouth, where they built their fine convent on land that had been made over to them by. the Bishop of the diocese. FATHER CASSIDY came in 1884, and during his four or live years did great work in the parish. He was a fine preacher, lecturer, and writer, and contributed a lengthy series of brilliant articles to the New Zealand Tablet. After clearing off the parish debt, he set about building a portion of the present presbytery. For this he begged far and wide; he even wrote to the Pope and to the King of Spain for subscriptions. From his Holiness he received a handsome amount, and it is to be assumed that Alphonso XII, or his widow, Donna Maria Christina, sent something to one who could write in Spanish from faraway New Zealand and who could say that he had been educated in Spain.

About Ibis rime the first church in Oka to was opened and blessed by the Archbishop. The welcome to his Grace is spoken of to this day by the farmers at the foot of the mountain. Fifty of these under the command of Mr. Macßcynolds met him at Oakura, and having bowed to the pommel of their saddles for the episcopal blessing, they proceeded to awake every echo in the mountain by their cheering. .His Grace blessed the church, commending the people for their faith and generosity. After the celebration a party of thirty conducted him to Parihaka, where hey were all hospitably entertained lo lunch. So captivated were the chiefs by bis Grace, that they surrounded him and would not let him leave the pah until he had promised to come again in the near future. Perhaps the best known man along the old coach road from Hawera to New Plymouth for half a century was Mr. Marcus J. Macßeynolds, whose name .1 have mentioned, and who is still hale and hearty in his house in the El t ham Road near Opunake. The present generation of Hawera Catholics may not be aware of what the present parishes of South Taranaki owe to him, but if Fathers Pertuis and Grogan could speak they would tell of remarkable devotion to the cause of the Church on his part. It was he who held the outpost of the parish for the much-travelled priests; it was he who gathered the people for prayer when no' priest was at hand, and read from a pious book for the people’s edification and instruction ; it was he who took the priests from house to house, hunting up stray Catholics from Pihama to Oakura, and gathered funds along that road for the many needs of the then large parish of Hawera. He gives the same devoted service to the parish priest in Opunake to-day. May God grant him many more years to carry on his noble work, and edify all who witness it. T do not know anyone in that district to whom the Church was more indebted in the early days, unless it was his dear wife, who went to her reward some ten or twelve years ago. (To be continued.)