The Church in New Zealand

New Zealand Tablet, Volume LII, Issue 42, 4 November 1925, Page 19

The Church in New Zealand

Marist Missioners In accordance with the designs of the illustrious founder of their Order, the Venerable Father Colin, the first duties (together with the teaching of youths in secondary schools) undertaken by the Fathers of the now world-wide Society of Alary, was the preaching of missions in poor and neglected parishes of France..

VENERABLE JOHN CLAUD .COLIN, Founder of the Society of Mary. This feature of the work of the Order is given prominence by the then Holy Father Pope Gregory XVI, who, in his Bull of Approbation wrote: “Gregory XVI, , Pope, “For a Perpetual Remembrance. “The salvation of all nations, the care of which we have received from the care of the Prince of Pastors, and * the Bishop of souls, urges us to be ever watchful that we leave no means untried by which, from the rising of the sun to its going down, the name of the Lord may be glorified and the most Holy Catholic Faith, without which it is impossible to please God, may flourish and shine throughout the world. For this our paternal heart is filled with an especial benevolence

SOME HISTORICAL NOTES.

for those ecclesiastical men who, united in a society, having in mind their vocation and the purpose of their institute, do not cease, by the preaching of the divine word and the dispensation of the manifold grace of God, to instruct the people in sound doctrine anddevote all their attention and all their efforts to produce in the Vineyard of the Lord,, abundant fruits of virtue and holiness. Hence it is, that we learned with great satisfaction that our beloved son, Claude Colin, had some years since, laid the foundation of ' a Society of religious men, with the title of Society of Mary.- This Society proposes as its end, to increase the glory of God and the honor of His Most Blessed Mother, and to spread the Church of Rome both by Christian education of children and by missions, even in the remote parts of the world, etc, etc.” “Given at Rome, at St. Peter’s, under the seal of the fisherman, April 2, 1836, in the sixth year of our pontificate.” Prior to the founding of the staff of Marist Missioners in New Zealand —those able and eloquent preachers whose earnest work throughout the Dominion and Commonwealth States of Australia has borne such abundant fruit, and endeared the zealous missioners so closely to the multitudes who have benefited by their spiritual ministrationsindividual Marist Fathers conducted missions and Retreats from time to time throughout these lands. Those remembered by the present writer as ■ prominent Marist Mission preachers were Very Rev. Stephen Cummings, S.M., who afterwards became the first Vicar-General of the diocese of Christchurch under Bishop Grimes. Father Cummings, a fine preacher and true pastor, while on sick leave and still holding his position, passed away in London. Very Rev. Father Le Menant des Ohesnais, S.M., a great theologian, controversialist, and writer (one of his best-known works being The Church and the World), a well-known missioner and lecturer, also became Vicar-Gen-eral of Christchurch, and, like Father Cummings, pastor of the Cathedral parish. He died at Temuka, after retirement, a parish in which much of his life’s work had been accomplished. There was, too, Rev. Father James Goggan, S.M., a Missioner who labored long and successfully in the United States of America, and still, happily, with us; the scene of Father Goggan’s present labors being the parish of Hastings, Hawke’s Bay. Father Goggan’s style as a preacher appealed greatly to the devotional feelings

FATHER JAMES TAYLOR, S.M., 'former Superior 'of the Marist Missioned. Father Taylor was the first priest to visit the Chatham Islands, the Catholic residents of which retain affectionate remembrances of him.

of his hearers. During his term of office as Provincial of the Society of Mary in Now Zealand, the Very Rev, Dean Regnault, S.M., inaugurated, and incidentally fostered thereby, one of the main objectives of the Society of Mary, the Staff of Marist Missioned, the members of which are so well known. Of the first band, the only one still “on tho mission” is Very Rev. Father Thomas McCarthy (the present Superior), famous as a preacher, and zealous to a degree in furthering the work of his Divine Master. From the Marist Mission Record we have very courteously been supplied with the following interesting ’ details relating to the Marist Mission Staff: “In January, 1908, the Very Rev. Dean Regnault, Provincial, determined on the establishment of a permanent missionary staff in the Province of New Zealand. Two Fathers were appointed for the work: Very Rev. Father O’Connell and Rev. Father Kim- , bell. Tho first mission preached was at Akaroa, which auspiciously opened on the ■'Feast of Our Lady’s Assumption, 1908. In N 1910 Father, McCarthy was added to the ’staff. ' Missions were given by these Fathers in New Zealand, Tasmania, and New South Wales. Father Herring joined up in Sep!tember, 1915; the late Father Taylor having

been added to the staff in June, 1912. In 1914 Father O’Connell was appointed to the charge of St. Mary’s, Bouloott Street, Wellington ; Father Taylor being named his successor. The latter (whose photograph we reproduce) continued in office till his untimely death at Townsville, Rockhampton, on July 28, 1919. Since then Father McCarthy has been Superior, In 1924 a band of three missionaries went to Australia at the request of Bishop Carroll, of Lismore. A new House has been opened at Ashgrove, Brisbane, where the following Fathers are in residence:— Fathers Herring, Vincent, Ainsworth, O’Leary, and Kane. Father Eccleton is at present at the Mater Misericord iae Hospital, Auckland, recovering from a serious nervous breakdown. The following constitute the New Zealand staff, whose head quarters are at Golder’s Hill, Wellington: Fathers McCarthy (Superior), Very Rev. Dean Regnault (Vice-superior and Econome) ; Fathers McGrath. Heffernan, Joyce, and Spilla no. XA