The Church in New Zealand

New Zealand Tablet, Volume LII, Issue 17, 13 May 1925, Page 19

The Church in New Zealand

THE ARCHDIOCESE OF WELLINGTON : IN THE ’SEVENTIES AND AFTER

A Well-Loved Pastor

An old newspaper (March 6, 1875), contained the following—then as now —interesting paragraph:—“The steamer -Easby, which arrived at Wellington from Sydney a few days’ since, brought a welcome addition to the Catholic priesthood 'of New Zealand. Five reverend gentlemen were passengers by the vessel, and on their arrival were received and welcomed .by the Most ,Rev. : Dr. Redwood, , the • Bishop .of y the diocese. The names of the. clergymen were;Rev. Fathers

Yardin, Ryan, Mahoney, Carew, and Kirk.’’

Father (afterwards Dean) Kirk, S.M., mentioned in this connection, was best known as pastor of Wanganui, and his parochial district extended far to the north, and on the South and East included practically the whole of what is now the Rangitikei county. There ho labored over a very lengthy period with great zeal and conspicuous success. Mis death was deeply lamented not alone by his own parishioners, but also by those of every denomination. Passers-by along Victoria. Avenue, Wanganui, pause to look upon a memorial to the dear departed erected by the people of the town as a whole. This monument, which consists of a marble column surmounted with a Celtic cross, is erected on a stone base within the enclosure of St. Mary’s Church and adjacent to the side-walk, bears the following inscription: “In loving memory of the Very Rev. Chas. H. Kirk, S.M., Dean, who was pastor of St. Mary’s, Wanganui, 29 years, and died 22nd march, 1904.—R.1.P.”' Wanganui’s Old-Time Name It is not generally known that the town of Wanganui was originally called Petre, after Lord Petre, chairman of the N.Z. Company, but the inhabitants preferred the town being named after the noble river. It appears that Lord Petre, who was a prominent Catholic, was very desirous that Otago should he a Catholic settlement, but Captain Cargill (founder of Otago) was sufficiently strong on the hoard of management to secure that as a Scotch Presbyterian centre. The Board, however, offered to allow the Canterbury settlement to he a Catholic one, in order to placate Lord Petre, who

had resigned a chairmanship of the-Company owing to his. first proposal being vetoed. ... .He referred the , proposal .to >, make Canterbury a Catholic , settlement to the - Catholic ~ ; Primate of Ireland, but he, could;, not )see r his .wav to fall in with the. idea, and ulti- - r ■- ■■ • • *-■• ••■ • ' • ■ 7 .. *>n ~ mately J. B. Godley took the matteri up, and the Anglican settlement of Canterbury as T established. .. v; * , Wanganui River Place-Names Writing of the Wanganui River and of the. native ■ settlements along its course, Irvine and Alpers, the authors of The Proyress .. of Now Zealand in the Century, says: “Here ; and there a forest clearing, Atene, Coriti, —Athens, Corinth, London, the Jesuit Missionaries with sly humor named them.” Where the learned authors dis- . covered the “humor” (especially sly humor) in this nomenclature is certainly difficult to understand. “Jesuit Missionaries” to the biased cannot bo otherwise than sly, but the humor in the present instance is on the part , of the writers, who, in their innocence, attribute the Catholic Missionary endeavors among the Maoris to that great Order in- , stead of to the equally great Order of Marist Missionaries. Apart probably from an occasional Jesuit Father travelling as a tourist along the Wanganui River, the places named have never been graced by their presence. The writers of the work quoted are on safer ground when they say; —‘The Catholic Colonists do not as a rule sen d their children to the State Schools, but to these of their own; thus paying the proportion of taxes for the education of Protestant children in addition to flu' burden of paying fees for the education of their own. The hardship of those is frankly recognised; but ail proposals to remedy it by State grants to Catholic Schools are defeated as the thin end of the wedge of denominationalism.” Pioneer Missionary to the Manawatu The Feilding correspondent of the IFu/i----(janui Herald, wrote as follows - in October, 1875: “The Rev. D. Moreau, Catholic priest, paid Feilding -a visit ,on Thursday last, and . remained until this morning, when he left for his fixed home at Otaki. .His well-known energy in the cause of truth has made him .V T appreciated by all who have had the pleasure of his acquaintance, and although now in his sixty-third year, he is stopped neither by flood nor storm when on his mission of love, and for the past thirty-three years he has unremittingly, I, am told, travelled, over the length and breadth of New Zealand, to preach, and to teach peace and good-will towards men, not only to the white man, but amongst the savage tribes of natives who in days past, infested the, land. - \ “This is a man whose life has indeed been devoted to the service of the Most High, • and although I differ with him indeed on religious, views, 1 always feel delighted in his visits. .. . . “To sit by a good log fire of a cold night, and enjoy the treat the priest is .sure to give in repeating the various - scenes, he has ’ - been witness of • his struggles ;to reach, the

Island Bay parish, Wellington. . On the celebration of , his eightieth birthday (April 16, 1923) the venerable , pastor received many congratulatory messages from, all - over the Dominion, and. was also the recipient of a number of presentations. At a large gathering of the . parishioners of Island Bay, one of the principal . speakers referred in : , eloquent terms to the Archdeacon’s residence of ,44 years in .Wellington,' * ! The Archdeacon (he, said) arrived by, the good ship Duke of Athol in the year 1879,

pointed to St. Mary of the Angels’, Boulcott Street, which then embraced what-now, con-, stitutes five parishes. Here, over. a period of 17 years,, he proved himself a capable,and. far-seeing administrator in acquiring; land for ’ additional churches and schools and enlarging old St. Mary’s. ' ; ;M . (To be continued.) , . ■ ■ ; Accustom yourself, never ; to tell a deliberate lie either by way of excuse or otherwise, remembering always that God is the God of Truth.—St. Francis of Sales.

habitations of man, after days in the bush, almost starving, and finest of ; all, to hear him tell how -’delighted certain Maoris became when he (the priest) hud followed the example of- St. Patrick, • and by the illustration of the leaves of the trefoil, showed the poor heathen the symbol Of the Holy Trinity. “Father ; Moreau officiated at Mass and Sunday school yesterday in the dining-room of Plummer’s accommodation house, and as he has got a gift of a section from the Corporation, you may depend he will not be long without .a Church.” A Veteran 'Marist Pastor One. of the best loved and best known priests of the. Dominion is the Venerable Archdeacon Devoy, S.M., now pastor of

and has been strenuously carrying out, with conspicuous success, his priestly office over since, striving to promote the kingdom of God in this remote part f of His vineyard. - Although Christchurch, Timaru, and Kunikra could lay claim to his early priestly labors, ' Wellington could claim the longest and "best part of his service years. ' Many of them present that evening couldj trace back to the ’eighties when the Archdeacon, with three other -Marist. Fathers, opened, and conducted St. Patrick’s College, which had proved such a fruitful nursery .. for .vocations to the priesthood, and which had also proved a great boon to the Catholic, youth in fitting them for the various walks of life. After six years engaged in the secondary education of Catholic youth the Archdeacon was ap-