NEW CHURCH AT OPUNAKE

New Zealand Tablet, Volume LII, Issue 32, 26 August 1925, Page 15

NEW CHURCH AT OPUNAKE

f Thidreams of the Catholic.prioplo of tho The dreams of the Catholic people of the ...parish of Opunake were ; realised.on Ju1y.19,. B when, the beautiful, new church was blessed Jr % . «• •_ - and : Opened by ■ Archbishop O’Shea in ' the presence of probably the largest congregation / that ; has ever gathered in Opunake. Being given a glorious day for the great event, - x ••• . : * ’ / many visitors were present from all parts of Taranaki, and long before 11 o’clock, the, / time ‘scheduled for the function to start, over 200 motor cars were drawn up in front of , . the ■ church. At 11 o’clock the procession

started from the presbytery and proceeded to the front door of the church where the solemn function of blessing the church took place in the presence of over 600 people. This ceremony being concluded, High Mass was’ celebrated in the . presence on the sanctuary of his Grace . Archbishop O’Shea and Right Rev.. Mgr- ; Power, V.F. Rev. Father McHardy (St. Patrick’s College, Wellington) was celebrant; Rev. Father Phelan (Patea), deacon Rev. Father O’Dwyer (Manaia), sub-, deacon ; Rev. Father Menard/COkalo), master of ceremonies. There were also present Rev. Fathers Cullen (Chancellor, Wellington), McCarthy (Marist Missioner), Minogue (New Plymouth), and "Kennedy;:(Opuhake).V,, After High Mass the pastor (Rev. Father Kennedy) ■welcomed his Grace the Archbishop. ? He said he knew it was a great pleasure for Archbishop. O’Shea, to open the new church, because it was a sign of the ' Welfare and progress of the parish. . Father Kennedy then thanked the . architects and builders for their ; good^ and faithful work, and all those who bad so kindly generously assisted in. the effort to make the building of the church‘possible.. ■ ...

SOLEMNLY BLESSED AND OPENED BY ARCHBISHOP O’SHEA.

The new church is of beautiful Gothic ■ architecture designed by Clere arid ‘ Olere, of Wellington. The portion now completed is w • - . * \ ■ 1 , 90 feet by 31 .feet, capable of seating over 400 1 people, together with a choir gallery capable of accommodating over 100 people! All new furniture has been installed, including a beautiful altar and Communion rails, the design of which is the work of Father Schaeffer, a former parish priest. ’ There is also a beautiful new set of Stations of the Cross, the gift of members of the cougrega-

tion; and Mrs. Brennan, now a parishioner of Stratford, has ornamented the church with a beautiful sanctuary lamp. The contract price of the • building was * £3969. Extra work and furniture, the most of which has been donated, makes the total cost £4657. . The,... present debt is £2221. When it js considered that until two years ago the amount in hand for the new build- v ing was only £1298, the priest and people are to be congratulated on their remarkable achievement in such a very short lime. ARCHBISHOP- O’SHEA’S ADDRESS. 1 In his address‘Archbishop O’Shea said this was indeed a great day for the priest and the people of the ; Opunake parish. He 1 congratulated them /upon what they had accomplished through generous giving., All who ,/ ' had had anything to do with such a fine • ' - - r >.>• »>a.' v. # f .v achievement were deserving of - the highest praise. He was sure that the parishioners 1 would go-oh making sacrifices until the debt / was lifted off the building, and further than that he believed the parishioners would realise their pastor’s hope, that he (his Grace) <•

- would soon- return to open; the - completed temple of God: •*. , Continuing,, Jus Grace presented a strik- ’ ing -.word, jpicture of r the founding of/ the Church by Jesus Christ ‘ who appointed ; St. Peter To its head after He passed hence. 4 St. ' .'Peter’s successor reigned n the eternals' city •of Rome to-day. Christ made “unity” sign of the Church./ They all knew; how the apostles went out and established the Church firmly ,far and- wide. The function of the Church’s mission was to minister to the whole but also to preserve and save society. The .Church’s mission was to minister to the whole man, arid a man was composed not only of a soul, but of a body as well. \ . :

( . Problems of the Day. , There were many pressing problems facing society to-day, the world seemed -to bo going back to the state it was in when Christ first walked and preached. When Christ came upon the earth a' great empire was at its zenith. ■ Social, and industrial evils were beginning to eat into the very fabric of < the empire and ' the system of capitalism ‘ was doing then as it was doing to-day, only helping on the powerful and the strong.'/ When that great empire fell, the Catholic Church took up the fragments from the ruins and built up a better civilisation.. The Church saved only the best from the, old pagan world and ,it solved the economic and industrial difficulties that the politicians ■■ of ; the |old empire .could not solve.,. ''gj »:/ Four hundred years/ ago, continued , his Grace, the /unity of Christendom was broken . •■V.-.'av.xW;, -v ‘ v ■/>-• i up because the world had again become very, rich and the rich unshed to destroy the inhence of the Church. When this disruption was accomplished they brought back all the greed and avarice that had . existed in the old empire. z For the last three centuries politicians had tried and failed to remedy

these evils, but there was only one way to Yfemedy them get back to Christianity, Politicians had failed in the old empire arid they showed signs of failing again even if they had not failed already. The only way g>to save society was to return to the teachings of Christ. r'' \ M ' ■ • Church Union. fe At the present time, said the Archbishop, j| r -efforts were being made to reunite the two | great branches of Christianity, and although it might be some time before that unity . *came it would come in the end. He felt confident that the great evils existing in the world to-day would bring men together to seek a way to r reunite the disrupted churches. The conversations between Angli- £ cans/ and Catholics, which had been inter- • r up ted, had recently been resumed, and this p was a hopeful sign. Even in New Zealahd vi\ there was a feeling amongst sincere Catholic • citizens in favor of this union. He personally had been assured by a number of Anglicans that the union was much nearer j ■ than it was ten years ago. He prayed that the reunion would be realised very ’soon. They ere, all children of the same Father • :, nd all believed in the same God. There I was no one now living responsible for the , disruption of the Church, and none to-day were actuated by the doctrines that had actuated their forefathers.. By living up to A their Church Catholics could do a great deal "towards turning men’s minds to their doc-

trines. What a different world it would be if all people served the Lord in the same way! How easy it would be to save society and solve the problems facing the world today, He urged his hearers to do their best to’bring about the reunion by living up to the teachings of the Church, After Archbishop O’Shea addressed the people a collection was . taken up which resulted in the huge sum of £4oo 10s being received. This will considerably , lessen the debt as already stated by the pastor. In the evening, a Mission was opened by Father McCarthy and the church was packed to its Utmost capacity. ■’ Y> ' • '