NEW CHURCH AT TUATAPERE

New Zealand Tablet, Volume LII, Issue 24, 1 July 1925, Page 27

NEW CHURCH AT TUATAPERE

-„V When the land, where Tuatapere now stahds, was being cut into sections and offered for sale, the late Very Rev. Father Murphy purchased two containing half an acre, foreseeing that in , time a church would be necessary in that locality. The township lias made great advancement since that date, and is now an important centre. -Father Buckley in taking over the parish soon recognised the necessity for a church in the town and set about making preparation. He inaugurated a carnival, and the financial results were such as to leave him with a substantial sum to proceed. Plans were prepared by Mr. E. R. Wilson, architect, Invercargill, and a contract let to Messrs. Bone Bros., of Orepuki, for its erection. After many delays Sunday, die 21st hit., saw, as it were, the coping-stone placed in position, when the handsome little building was dedicated to St. Theresa, the Little Flower, the first church in New Zealand to be placed under the Saint since her canonisation. -The.day was all that could be desired for such a function —bright sunshineconsequently there was a very large attendance from many parts of Southland. The beautiful ceremony attendant to the opening was carried out by the Right Rev. J. Whyte, D.D., Bishop of Dunedin, assisted by Rev. •Father Buckley, who afterwards celebrated Mass, at which there were fully 300 present.. The new church, of Gothic design, is of v wood and concrete. The nave is 45 feet by 22ft, 12ft walls and 25ft from floor to ridge. ■‘‘The sanctuary is 16ft by 12ft, with a sacristy 10ft by Bft and porch Oft by Oft. The : interior is beautifully finished in red pine ; and venesta, and lighted with handsome leadlight windows. A feature of the church is the beautiful woodwork —all in red pine—the benches and altar being especially attractive. c. The Rev. Father Buckley said he had to thank his Lordship for coming that day to -take part in the function. His presence reminds them that he was head of the Church in this diocese, and through him .they were . reminded that the Pope of Rome was the universal head. It was an occasion for rejoicing that this church was now opened. He wished to congratulate Mr. Wilson for the chaste and dainty church planned for them, one of the best in the parish; also Mr. Bone for the splendid work put in the building. It was well supported and built on a rock just as the Catholic Church has been. He r v wished to thank the choir for their services and their Catholic and non-Catholic friends who had given so generously to the funds. "i Before making an appeal to them he would give them a brief statement of the finances. : The receipts were as follows: —Proceeds of I‘the carnival, £IOB6 2s lid; interest, £l3O \ 0s 4d; concert, £ls ss; donation (Mrs. P. f;®}fde), £4; total, £1235 7s sd. Expenditj(ure Building contract, £1313 15s; clearing spsection, £2O; organ, £18; extras, £3B 15s; •’ll architect’s fees, £B9 7s; advertising, £3 2s 6d; furnishing, £22 2s sd; total, £1505 Is

BLESSED AND OPENED BY BISHOP WHYTE

lid. That left a dehit balance of £269 14s 0.1, and ho was going, with their help, to wipe that out. Tie would ask the collectors, after his Lordship had addressed them, to get to work. Before doing so his Lordship, who delivered a powerful address, joined with Father Buckley in congratulating the people °l Thiatapere on having such a beautiful building in their midst. BISHOP WHYTE’S ADDRESS. Irom the text: “Jesus Christ yesterday, and to-day and the same for ever.” -Heb. xiii., 8, his Lordship said: You have seen this morning the ceremony of th^ blessing of a church. It is an ancient ceremony, many parts of it taking the mind back three thousand years. The psalms recited to-day were sung by Jewish pilgrims either on their way to the Temple of Jerusalem when they delighted in the prospect of visiting that sacred shrine or on their return when they meditated upon the blessesl4 that attended their pious pilgrimage. Jhe sprinkling of the walls, within the church and without, with holy water is almost as ancient as the Catholic Church itself. The Litany of the Saints was said in order to invoke the aid of the great Servants of God, and a special reference was made to Saint Tgresa, the patroness, whom under the simple title of the “Little Flower” the whole Catholic world had informally canonised long before the infallibly voice of the Church pronounced her to be a saint and enjoying eternal bliss in heaven. The final prayer, which was recited at the altar, called down God s blessing upon all who shall come into this church to honor Him. The Catholic Church—the Church founded by Our Blessed Lord nineteen hundred years ago, over which He placed as head St. Peter and over which have presided the Popes, the successors of St. Peter —the Catholic Church clings to her ancient rites, even though she is under no obligation to leave them unchanged. She retains also, but, of necessity, the ancient beliefs,'chief of which is the Divinity of Our Lord, her Founder. Changes of religious views amongst men of the world, progress in science, advance in what is popularly called civilisation, the insatiable craving for novelties—all these things, with which, indeed,. she is deeply conversant, do not weaken her belief in Our Lord’s Divinity or. in the other doctrines He commissioned her to teach. Nevertheless she addresses herself also to the-things of modern life, but she examines all in the ’ light of what she knows, by heavenly knowledge, to be infallibly true. The Church and Science. She shows amazing calmness in the midst of turmoil. Heresies rise up against her, but she resists them with great serenity knowing that the gates of hell will never prevail against her. Men of science dig up bones in Africa or Australia and they call upon their friends to rejoice with them for

they have discovered the primeval auoeEory of the present race of men. The Church knows that our souls are immortal and come from God, not from man or from ape. and?; with a coolness that provokes the • scientist she decides not to accept his theories or suppositions until they are supported by con—vincing evidence. More clearly than the scientist himself does she see where his opinion tends, for she secs in extreme evolution the denial of the very existence of God and; consequently, the total destruction of law and morals. As a further instance of her divine daring, she boldly asserts that miracles take place to-day. as they have taken place since her Founder first commanded her to teach all nations and bring them into the one fold. “Come now, you men of science,’’ she says, “and say how you can account for this undoubted fact: this man was blind and he went to Lourdes and during the procession of the Blessed Sacrament big sight was restored to him. Is there not something more than natural force here? Can anything but narrowmindedness, unscientific prejudices, prevent you from admitting that the supernatural alone could account for this sudden cure?” Honoring the Saints. To the religious bodies or churches which pulled down and defaced and destroyed the statues of saints and accused the Church of worshipping the saints and openly declared that the Catholic Church dishonored God by honoring Mary and the saintsto these bodies she addresses these words: “You think you will compel me through timidity to abandon my ancient reverence for the devout servants of God; you think I cannot, m the face of modern ideas, adhere to the views and practices of past centuries. Nowlisten to me—my long experience, if nothing else, entitles me to lie heard—listen, I ill hold a Jubilee in Rome this year and every country, even the most remote, will send representatives so that the world miy see that the Church of Jesus Christ is co-exten-sive with this found globe; furthermore, I w ill raise up for the veneration of all true Christians men and women whose heroic virtues and whose powerful in flu -nice with God as shown by miracles have prov them to be fit for heaven without needing the cleansing fires of purgatory. Those new Saints shall be taken from various callings, the foundress of a. Religious Order, perhaps, which preserves the high moral tone of its pupils for life by strengthening their faith as a. support and basis for morality. Or, perhaps, I will take the humble parish priest, against his will, and place him among the saints as a patron of all those priests who, though in the world, are not of the world and who, in a crowded world, may be the loneliest of men. I will set before them the holy example of the Cure of Ars to stimulate their zeal and by his prayers for them to bring God s blessing upon their ministrations.” - : The Little Flower. Then the Church wishing to condemn the outward show- of the world, its passions and its vices, its ambitions and its honors, brings out of the obscurity of the cloister*‘at ‘ Lis-

“Oh ! Jreland, isn’t it grand you look, like a bride, in your rich adorning, ■ , . . . With all the pent-up love of may heart, I hid you the top of the morning I”