The Church in New Zealand

New Zealand Tablet, Volume LII, Issue 9, 11 March 1925, Page 19

The Church in New Zealand

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

THE PARISH OF HAWERA.

(Continued from February 25.)

THE PARISH OF HAWERA. The people of Hawera boast that their town is one of the most prosperous in the Dominion, its dairying lands are certainly the finest. The Maori word Hawera means a burnt place. It was so called from the strategy of the Natives, who at dawn one day in the early ’sixties set fire to the fern and scrub on the windward side of the sleeping British army, hoping under cover of the smoke screen to rush the camp and surprise and capture the general and his staff. The scheme failed, but the place retains the name. In the neighborhood of Hawera there are many historic spots. Te-Ngutu-O-Te-Manu, about ten miles distant, was the scene of the heroic death of the gallant Von Tempsky and of the heroism of Father Rolland. The honey-combed tunnels near the mouth of the Waingongoro, about five miles distant, inspire many of the thrilling reminiscences of our veterans. Turuturu-Mokau, not more than one mile from the site selected for the new railway station, was one of the most interesting spots in the Maori war. It has lately been declared a public park, and will soon be as remarkable for the scenic beauty A to which it lends itself as for its historic \Jrfc associations. The late Lawrence Milmoe, a Wj benefactor of the Church, signalised himself / " here, as did also many of his co-religionists. The parish of Hawera was founded in June 1875, with Father -Pertuis as priest in charge. i It is easy to imagine the thoughts that filled the mind of this gentle son of the Church’s V, > eldest daughter as he, came to take charge of a little flock in this the youngest of all

•e lands. As he topped the hill at Nukumaru and gazed upon the wide waters of the Tasman on, his left, and the verdant fields to his right and on the foreground extending to the lordly mountain, whose sides swept down in perfect, unbroken curves, he must have rejoiced that his new home had ; beauties

even greater than that which he had left, A man of deep religious faith, he was in sympathy with nature; nature was to him no meaningless mystery. The verdant fields . through which he travelled, the singing birds that made the air vocal with their welcome to him, the countless stars that sparkled like patines of bright gold when he arrived in Hawera that frosty night in June, the glorions mountain whose snows shone in the full moon, the moaning of the sea as it rolled upon the beach at Waingongoro, all spoke to him of the Immutable God Who was looking in love through the lightly covered veil on the first priest who would represent Him on the beautiful plains. No doubt he raised his voice on that first night and joined it with the voices of the waves and of the stars in humble praise and thanksgiving to his and their Creator. And when morning came, his first morning in Hawera, and Chanticleer had aroused the faithful to sing their, hymn of Lauds, he arose quickly, set up his little altar, and gave to God .the highest praise that earth could give, long before the rising sun had turned the top of Egmont into gold, Ever since that morning fifty years ago, the daily Mass has been offered on this beautiful plain, and every priest as he ascended the

altar steps would hear and feel nature accompanying him with antiphonal harmony. To those who love God nature is no blind, destructive force; in its every phase it is own brother to him who is religious with the religion of the gentle Saint of Assisi, and Father Pertuis was a Inan after St. Francis’ own heart. He had his little flower patch very soon, and his white rabbits which he kept to the end of his life. Many must have been the little sermons he preached to them on the love of God the flowers must send their fragrance up to Him, and the -rabbits return thanks for the sweet herbs: “All ye works of the Lord, bless the Lord: praise

and exalt Him above all for ever." He began his pastoral work in a very humble way,, for the Catholics in Hawera and the plains were few and far between. A small cottage, shifted from the Waihi cemetery, formed a combined church and presbytery, v ,the whole measuring eighteen feet by sixteen. It was not rain-proof the Archbishop on the'occasion' of his first visit had to be continually shifting the altar stone to escape the drip, drip as he was saying Mass, Father : Pertuis soon built a beautiful little Gothic church, which' was long an object of admiration, and much of whose timber' still remaining is the soundest in the locality. I have said that on his first night he must have joined his voice to that of the.stars in thanksgiving; he was a good astronomer and had a fine telescope. In those days it would appear that most of the Hawera settlers thought that all star-gazers were mentally unbalanced,; and many jokes have been handed down, which, though they were meant to be at the expense of the priest, tell only against the teller. He had the habit of rushing into the neighboring houses ■; and dragging out their members to gaze through his "spy-glass" at some wonder he had discovered in the heavens. Ido not know how

many musical instruments he played have some faint recollection of a fife and drum in the South Island laterbut he cerhjynly was a master hand at the concertina, and often accompanied himself on it as he .sang at Benediction. Alany still laugh at the memory of it, and himself had to put up with much chaffing over it, but I have no doubt at all that the angels would rather join in the harmony of Father Pertuis and his concertina than in much of the music that is now called ecclesiastical, and with which our ears and our souls are assaulted in every part of New Zealand. He was not long in acquiring a fair grasp of the English language; he had an excellent tutor in the late Colonel A 1 alone, who was himself a good French scholar. The pupil sometimes startled the tutor, even from the pulpit. It was at Air. Casey’s house at Normanby he made all the children scream, when announcing a death, ho said that such a one had “kicked the bucket.” 'When their mother proceeded to rebuke them after the priest had left, and suggested what a poor attempt they would make at the French or even tiro Irish language, they protested that it was not at the slang they had laughed at all, but at the fright the dear priest looked when clad in their father’s Sunday clothes. Getting wet through and through on many of his journeys, he had to change into whatever he could get, even into the cloth.es of a tall man like Air. Casey. The first name in the Baptismal Register of the new parish is that of .John O’Keefe, born and baptised on the 13th of June, 1875. 4 Of the 72 baptised within the next. 21 months •'-most are still living, but they are scattered far and wide. The first marriage recorded is that of Edward Collins and Alargaret Cunningham, which was celebrated on the 2nd February, 1877. Airs. Collins, who survives her husband, is now living with her daughter in Disraeli Street. Airs. Redding, . the bride of the second marriage, does not look as if she had passed her eighty winters. She was received into the Church on Christmas Day, 1924. Patrick Gilligan and Ellen McNamara, who married young in 1878, give promise of seeing another quarter of a century; they are eagerly looking forward to our jubilee celebrations.. Father Pertuis was not long in Hawera before he established a Catholic school. The first teacher was Miss Coakley, now the wife of Mr. Thomas Lloyd, the well-known barrister of Wanganui. She was succeeded by Aliss Guerin, now Mrs. Austen Whittaker, of Auckland. After her came Aliss Boylan, who later became Mrs. Kirk. These good ladies - were responsible for much of the early training of Archbishop O’Shea, Father Malone, and of many others who are now excellent Catholics in various parts of the Dominion. Father Pertuis was a saintly and zealous t homiest; his name is still revered*in many * '#homes, and many of us pray that he may jstill continue to help the parish of which I die was the founder. After leaving Hawera he spent several fruitful years on the West Coast. He. died in Wellington on February 28. 1906, at the Home of Compassion under / j f the kind care of Mother Mary Aubert. Father Ryan, from the American mission, was in charge during the greater part of

1878. He added a little two-storied building to what had been Father Pertuis’ house and first church. This new building had two rooms on the ground floor, whose walls were only eight feet high. The walls of the upper rooms were five feet high with a slanting ceiling eked out of the roof. It was the finest building of its day in Hawera, and was said to be the cynosure of all eyes. It was sold some 25 years ago to Air. John Findlay, who had it re-erected on a beautiful site above the Waingongoro beach. When Air. Finlay, who is a broad-minded and scholarly Irishmen from the “Black North,” was asked by me what he intended to do with it, he replied: “I mean to sanctify it by turning it into an Orange Lodge.” Air. Finlay dearly loves a joke, and his jokes are always good. He loves to be serious too, and he was quite serious when he organised a. public function a few years ago to honor the memory of Father Rolland. On that occasion he presented the parish, the Borough Chambers, and the public library with an enlarged photograph of the valiant priest, underneath which was inscribed the eulogy from Von Tempsky which I have quoted in the beginning of this sketch. When accepting a tender for additions to the presbytery, Father Ryan seemed to think that promises were as good as actual payments—they should bo, but seldom are — so he advanced from his own purse about one-third of the cost; but when, after several protracted enquiries, it was clearly shown that the promises had been made and not redeemed, he was on the eve of his return to America recouped by his successor and the church committee, who made the amount a parish liability. The late Dean Grogan came in January, 1879, and remained five years. A man of powerful build and vigorous constitution, and like most Irishmen a lover of a. good horse, he spent most of his time in the saddle. His predecessor travelled on foot and was much handicapped; the parish register shows that the second child baptized in Hawera, though the parents were excellent Catholics, had to wait six months for the Sacrament of Regeneration. This could not happen in Dean Grogan’s time, for on his good horse “Tom,” he would be in Kai Iwi and Oanui in the same week. The Dean acquired some of the present fine property in Hawera, enlarged the church, and built the beautiful little church in Patea, then one of the finest in the archdiocese. With voice and pen he was a valiant defender of the faith, and in many respects he might have sat for the portrait of “Father O’Flynn.” A story is told of a certain hotel-keeper in Patea, who laid a wager at a late hour one Saturday night, that no one in the company would have the pluck to go to the presbytery and wake up Father Grogan, One took up the wager; it was ten pounds. Now, the Dean had long since retired for the night in view of the busy day that was before him. The sportsman called and called in a rather unsteady voice, for he had been imbibing somewhat, but the awakened priest would not answer. The voice still persisting, like the householder of the Gospel, he arose and came to the door, not with a loaf, however, but with the riding-whip which he always

kept in his bedroom; which, when the visitor saw, he said: "I;have come, Father, to give you some money for the new church.' 1 "How much?" asked the Dean, throwing away the whip. "Five pounds," was the reply. "No, you rascal," said the Dean, "since you have given me nothing for six months I" won't take less than ten," and he looked towards tile whip. The visitor handed over the ten pounds and went away quite pleased, he was no poorer and the Dean was the richer, the loss was his who had made the injudicious wager. Not many of us could get a subscription for a new church so easily in these days: I would gladly bo aroused every night in the year at such a price. But it is too generally known that I was never the owner of a riding-whip.

The best years of the Dean's life were spent at Napier, where ho left many memorials of his zeal, notably the fine church near the Railway Station with its commanding tower and steeple. I should like to writo more on the character and work of one who had always been a good friend to me, though we were not of the same generation, but Father Hickson will do all this when he brings his excellent story of the Church in Hawke's Bay up to date.

Among the active canvassers for Church work during the pastorship of Dean Grogan, T find that Mrs. O’Shea was easily first. After her came, in order of merit, Mr. Milmoe, Mr. Dolan, Air. Whittaker, and Mr. John Malone. There was also a very flourishing Confraternity of the Sacred. Heart and Living Rosary. The attendance which was carefully marked shows that the members were faithful to their consecration promise. Mrs. O’Shea was head of the first guild, Mrs. Guerin head of the second, Mr. John Malone head of the third, and T. O’Shea head of the fourth. T. O’Shea must have been a very young boy then; that he was a good shepherd is seen from the fine record of attendance made by Guild Four. The heads of Guilds One and Three gave each a son and daughter to the Church. Sister Aloysious O’Shea has now for many years been head of an important branch house of the Mercy Order in Wellington ; Sister Xavier Malone, who was for several years Reverend Mother of the Sisters of St. Joseph at Wanganui, is now head of their branch house at Hastings; Sister do Sales Casey, who was for several years head of her own convent in Hawera, is now head of the convent at Taihape; while a second daughter of Air. Casey has now charge of the Ha wera Convent School. The late Tom Malone gave two daughters to the cloister, Mrs. Brick gave two, Mr. AlcLoughlin gave two, and Air. Tom Whyte. Air. Roche, Air. Murphy, Air. Kennedy, Air. Hogan, Air. Crompton, Air. Dan King, Air. Whitford, Air. Hamerton, Airs. Doyle, Air. O’Connor, Air. Clarkson, Air. AlcComsky, and Air. Connell gave one each. (To be continued.)