The Church in New Zealand

New Zealand Tablet, Volume LII, Issue 14, 15 April 1925, Page 11

The Church in New Zealand

THE CHURCH IN TARANAKI: A SKETCH PREPARED FOR THE JUBILEE OF • THE PARISH OF HAWERA.

• HAWERA (Continued from March 25): We now come to the biggest venture of all, and this was suggested not by the parish priest, but by Thomas Lavery, whom we buried last September. He was a poor man; he could not be otherwise. For thirty years he was handicapped by a broken leg which had not set properly, so that he could not do much around his little farm. Moreover, he had a large, young .family on whose training and education he was expending all he could make. < He met me on the street one day in 1916 and put into my hand a note for one hundred pounds. "'This," he said, "is for a new church; I think it a shame that the wealthy Catholics of this parish should not' give a better .church to God than the old wooden one/ that is here for close on forty years; it is no credit to our faith, it shows that we have little love for God." I put the money out to!interest; •then at the, end of three years I found that we had made £750 by euchre parties, and I began to think that the erecting of a new church was not an impossibility. But would anxiety for the schools .free me for the advocacy of this new cause? Here again I was reassured. I enquired what were the Government's requirements as to floor space in the schools, and I rejoiced to find that we not only had substantial schools likely to last for generations, but also ample floor space for twice the number of children we had in the parish. So having asked the blessing of God, I set to: work at once-.with pencil' and paper. What magic things are pencil and paper! Did you, dear reader, ever try what you could do with them By

their magic power you might rival the mightiest deeds of the "Goban Sair." I wrote clown the names of three parishioners from each of whom I would ask £IOOO, then the names of jtwenty who might be expected to give £SOO each, then the names of fifty who between them would give £SOOO. I did not write any more; the other £7OOO .would easily come from the poor and from entertainments, the whole making -up the £25,000 .for which at that time, before prices had gone up, we could build a 'beautiful church with its spire pointing to Heaven from a majestic tower. I thought I had only now to ask; money was never so plentiful in New Zealand as in that year. But alas, in the mad riot that had seized upon the people Catholics even were caught up, and while they had money to pour out in shovelful is for war purposes and for pleasure, they had little or nothing to give for the building up'Jaf God's House. Oh, what stories I could tell! It was a sad experience. What had happened to-the people? They had been most generous towards the schools hut they had nothing for the Church. They had arguments, some of them: "Christ condescended to be cradled in a stable, why should "He not continue to condescend to be sacramentally housed in a wooden shanty?" It was not thus Thomas La very argued. But he knows now the beauty of Christ's Eternal' Home. It was heartbreaking. But 'the women remained; God bless the wonien! Ever since a Woman nursed the Child Jesus in her arms, women have been His great lovers and- servitors; and thanks; be to ;God Ave have ever had women in Hawera [who were glad to be true to Him; their names

. Former pastor of Stratford, whose work in Taranaki was referred to in our issue for February 25. will bo found at the end of these articles. In little- or no time they were able to hand me for Him no less a sum than £3OOO, collected by the sale of shilling euchre party tickets from door to door, with the interest accruing thereon. And with the women we had the poor and the workingmen; and I, who knew what the toilers had been doing for religion in the parish, could not despair. Then to strengthen my hopes, Mr. Fred Quin, enthusiastic as every man should be, came on the scene, V-aud in the course of a year he and his committee collected in monthly subscriptions over one thousand pounds. Another factor to revive enthusiasm at this time was the visit cf the Apostolic Delegate. The sixth of December, 1921, will long be remembered in Hawera. No dignitary of Church or State has ever drawn so large a body of people as that which came to honor the representative of the Holy Father, and no procession has ever been so well and gracefully organised. One hundred motor cars gaily decorated in white and gold, the Papal colors, met the Delegate at the top of the Tongahoe Hill and escorted his Excellency to Princes Street, where the procession was formed, with the band at its head. As the town clock struck the hour of twelve, the appointed hour, the sun, after two days' hiding, shone out in all its glory, and continued to shine during the whole of the function; then it hid itself and permitted the rain to fall again, after the Delegate had left for New Plymouth. There were thousands from the country present and all the town's people turned out either to view or take part in the procession. As the procession entered "\ ictoria Street a gigantic triumphal arch of greenery in the centre of the street caught the eye, and joyful cheers arose from five hundred children, dressed in white and waving Papal, flags. They formed a singularly beautiful bodyguard. Beyond the arch the guard was formed by sixty Children of Mary, holding an avenue of flags beneath which his

Excellency walked to the church gates. Hero he passed under a four-fold line of flags representing all nations*-for. the spiritual children of the Pope are of every "race and tribe and tongue under the canopy of Heaven. Surmounting all was the Papal fas of white and gold, typifying purity and love. The singing of the song of welcome and the anthem "Long live the Pope," thrilled the Apostolic Delegate and all present. The beautiful address of: his Excellency and die other addresses are to be found in the printed Souvenir. Mr. L. 0. Hooker was the organiser of the function', and the committee was formed of the priests of Hawera, Man-iia, and Opunake, with Messrs.'Sror'rissey (deputy Mayor), McPhillips (Chairman Waimate West County Council), McCarthy, Franklin, Cul--1 inane, Bartlett, Quin, Gormley, Mahoney, Thurston, Nicholl, and Brennan. The beautiful Souvenir was designed by Mr. Black of the Star Office. This was handed afterwards to the Pope by the Apostolic Delegate. The Holy Father read it through, expressed his great pleasure with it, asked to be allowed to keep it, and sent a special blessing to all the organisers of the function. The Apostolic Delegate later sent, for sixty copies, which he distributed amongst his friends and amongst the great Roman libraries. Mr. Black may take pride in the fact that he is one of the few New Zealand printers whose work has been so honored. His Excellency's parting words: "T will come back to the opening of your new church," gave* a fresh impetus to the work of enlarging the building fund. The ladies resumed their entertainments; they were glad to go from door to door selling their shilling tickets, and it is consoling to learn with what kindness they were received. After all, the hearts of the Catholic people are sound. Even the rich, who missed their opportunity while money was plentiful, are now endeavoring to make up for lost opportunities. On the 31st of December, 1924, we had in hand for our new church the sum of £8145 5s Pd. By the time the jubilee comes in June the amount will have reached, no doubt, £IO,OOO. In January of this year, 1925, our school staff returned with an extra teacher. This entailed an extra class room, which has been provided, so that in addition to the (wo large rooms in Little Regent Street, we have now in Victoria Street four rooms, each twenty-two feet square, with an assembly room attached. This is seventy feet long by sixteen wide and will be used by our parish societies also. The Children of Mary of the parish are making themselves responsible for the cost of the Lady Chapel, which is estimated at about £IOOO. They have already collected within the parish about £2OO and are proposing to interest in the good cause all the branches of the sodality in the Dominion. Miss Joyce and Miss Bartlett, the energetic president and secretary, are evolving a scheme to bring this about. I shall be glad to hear of their success; it would be a significant and edifying gesture on the part of their many associates throughout the Dominion. At a large meeting of parishioners recently

held it was decided that all who subscribed or collected, a sum of £2OO should be called Founders of the new church, and should be entitled to some privilege thereby. It was further decided that a printed notice should be placed in the sacristy where the priest would see it as he vested for Mass, asking all priests who celebrated in the new church to ; make a special memento of the Founders whose names will be attached to the notice. The following have already become Founders: Monsignor Power, Miss Power, Anne Power (R.1.P.), Miss Joyce, Mrs. Gallagher, Mr. Kavanagh, Mrs. O'Donnell, and Mr. Fred Quin. The following are well on the road to the same goal: Mr. Bolger, Mr. Franklin; Mr. Freyne, Mrs. Joyce, Mrs. Harrington, Jklr. Michael Kelly, Mr. Thomas Lavery, Mrs. Fleming, Mr. Gormley, and Mrs. O'oalsgha n. The Hawera portion of this little sketch would not be complete without some mention of Mr. James Bartlett, who has been a devoted parishioner from his boyhood. He has been the church collector for close on forty years, and is found in his place at three Masses and at Vespers every Sunday. During all those years he has been an attendant at daily Mass and has frequently taken the place of server. Without his services it would be difficult to hold our euchre parties or entertainments of any kind. Let not the reader think that Mr. Bartlett is a man of leisure: there is no harder worked man in Hawera. It was ever thus: the man who has most to do in the interests of himself and his family and does it, is the man who finds most time for the service of God and His Church. May God inspire many other men in Hawera to emulate Mr. Bartleft's devotion to the Church and to her cause! His childrens' children will have his example to look back to. Mr. Edward Cullinan is another devoted son of the Church. He and Mr. Furlong, his partner in business at Hawera and Manaia, took an active part in every movement for the good of the Church in both places. Mr. Cullinan has been at least''for thirty years joint treasurer with the parish priest of the parish funds. He stands High in the estimation of all his townsmen. (To be continued.)