ST. MARY'S CHURCH

Dominion, Volume 11, Issue 218, 3 June 1918, Page 7

ST. MARY'S CHURCH

NEW BUILDING TO BE ERECTED TRUST FUND OPENED AVER £4000 ALREADY IN SIGHT As a result of.the recent fire at St. Mary of the Angela Church, ■ Bouloott Street, it has been decided to erect a 'new structure; in place of tho damaged ibuiJding, and'flt a meeting of Cntliolics' and sympathisers held at the Bo'ulcott street Schoolroom yesterday, donations (to the amount of well over ,£IOOO ■were promised towards the fund which lias been established for. the purpose of caiTying out the work, The meeting was very largely attended, and was presided pver toy Father Mahony, parish priest. L-iinong those present were His Grace :Archbishop O'Shea, the Venerable Archtleacon Devoy, and-other members of the clergy. ' , "It is proposed," taid Father Mahony in opening tho meeting, "to build a worthy temple in place of the venerable for. Mary of the. Angels Church, which lias: been practically destroyed." Tho Sp ui <£. iyeTOd t° his early associations tod. th£ old enure': and mentioned tho names of several uverend fathers who. aaa\ beon connected with it in former years. ■ St. Mary of tho Angels had wide and great claims upon many hundreds of people, and they intended' to set forth with courage to try to ■ replace it. Not , only was St. Mary's held' in reverence by Catholics, but it was held in veneration by many non-Catholics as . well. That was evidenced by the many expressions of -sympathy they had received since the firo took place. Father Mahony said the United Insnranco Company had settled the insurance claim ■with promptitude, paving the sum of MOO -without demur. The total amount, then, available for the erection of the new church was .£lßl3 10s. Svmpathy with their misfortune they wanted to see tako a practical form, and he' counted not only on the generosity of the people, but even sacrifice. With the co-operation of all, he had no doubt that within a •reasonably short time they would -be able to set about building a, new church worthy of the purpose for which it was erected, worthy of Wellington, and; hd boped, worthy of the Dominion of New Zealand, too. . .' ■

■«Amongst various letters of sympathy Mad by Father Mahony was one from tho Hev. H. van Staveren, Jewish Rabbi of Wellington, who eratod that he reErettetli the old church jhad been destroyed, and hoped there would soon be erected 4 new edifice in which'the parishioners could carry out the worship of Almighty God. (Applause.)

A "Work of Necessity. Archbishop O'Shea "expressed his sympathy, with the parishioners in tho loss they had sustained, end remarked u£on the sacred recollections St. Mary's had for hundreds of Catholics in every part ot tho Doiniuioih Tho building of a new, commodious, and beautiful church .would entail great sacrifices, but they, as Catholics, knew how to mako sacrifices. It was unfortunate that the work fell iipon them in time of war, but the carrying on of works of religion in war time >-as just, as essential as In times of. ipcaco. In their task they would have Jiot only tho practical sympathy-of uie Catholics in every parish, but of a greatmany non-Catholics also. He had great pleasure in subscribing the sum of .towards the building, fund. (Applause.) Mr, T. Halpin then proposed: "That a now church be-erected in place of St. Mary of tho Angels,', practically destroyed by fire, and that steps be taken now to raise funds for'this purpose."'. . Mr.Halpin remarked that ho considered no-' thing : under. ,£20,000 would cover the cost of a new church. Ho looked upon the' 6ite of tho old building, as ideal for a church, and they should erect an edifice rwhich would be a credit to their efforts. Mr. E. J. Healy seconded the motion. Speaking in support of the resolution, Archdeacon Devoy said he had been intimately connected with St. Mary of. the !Angels Clrui-ch for 3 great many years, and iwas the third parish priest there," Ho had added, to -the old. church, and 'made it.' double the size'it was. The people'of Newtown sympathised with' the parishioners in their loss, and he had instruct ed his assistant priest to impress upon the peoplo of Island Bay and Kilbirnie the necessity of assisting the fund. It might .not be possible to erect the wholo chnrch at once, but they could a.t least I>uild a portion that would meet tho Jieeds of the congregation.,for the time T»ing. _ On behalf of himself and assistant priest, he had pleasure in donating USSO to the fund. (Applause.) Support to the objects of the meeting ,vas-also expressed by Messrs. J; J. M'Grath, M. J. Eeardon. D. R.-Inwlor, .T. Scott, and Major A. A; Corrigan. In the course of his remarks. Mr. Eeardon said he was pleased;to note that the jiamo of St. Mary of the Angels would ho retained, and expressed the hope that those responsible for the erection of the new chnrch would seo that it was erected of materials obtained in New Zealand. Finance Committee Appointed. Tho-resolution was put to the meeting hnd carried unanimously, and the following were appointed a finance committee to take steps to,raise the necessary' funds:—Father Mahony, Messrs. Maurice

O'Connor, Robert O'Connor, L. Divan, and T. Halpin. Collection lists were then passed round the room,'and as a result a sum of ■over Mdt)o was promised as tho nucleus of a St. Staiy'a Building Trust Fund. Father Mahony expressed liis thimks for tho very generous response A list of tho principal donors to tho fund is.as follows:— £. s. d. Mrs. Martin Kennedy 1000 0 0 Miss Kennedy 500 0 0 Miss A. Kennedy 500 0 (I Mr. Muurico O'Connor. M 0 0' 0 The Marist Fathers ' 250 0 A His Graco Archbishop O'Shea 100 fl 0 Dr. P. F. M'Evedv 100 0 0 Mr. and Mrs. P. .1. Oakes 100 0 0 Mr. Richard Dwyer 100 0 0 Mr. J. J. M'Gratb 100 0 0 Mrs. Macarthy Boid 100 0 0 Von. Archdeacon Devoy 50 0 0 Mr. Robert O'Connor 50 0 0 Mrs. M. J. Maridon 50 0 0 Mr. and Mrs. M. Segrief 40 0 0 Mr. and Mrs. D. E. Lawlor ... 25 0 0 Mr:, B. JJoherty '. 25 0 0 Major T. P. Halpin 25 0 0 Mrs. Beauchamp ....- 25 0 A Mr. and Mrs. Mat. Gleeson ... 25 fl 0 r i lie Redemptorist Fathers 20 0 0 Mr. D. Dalton 20 0 0 Mrs. M. Maguire 20 0 0 Mrs. M. M'Carthy .'. 20 A 0 Mr. ,T, O'Neil r .. 20 fl 0 •Vlajor Corrigan 20 0 0 Mr. K. Kent 20 0 0

Mr. and Mrs. E. J. Healy, Miss Amy Koss, Miss. Eliza Boss, Mr. P. W. Calvin, Mr. '.Thomas O'Brien, each £W 10s. Mr. J. Stevonson, Miss K. Williams; Miss K. Hanuou, 'Mr. P. Carmody, rach .£10; Mrs- Bylnnds, Mr. M. Moloney, Mr. P. A. Lawlor, Mr W. .T. Frost, Mrs. E. Neylon-Butlcr, each .£5 ss. Mrs. W. T. Taylor, Mr. P. M'Cummisky, Mr; John Timmons, Mr. B. Nolan. Miss M. M'Phee, Mr. T. Fuohy, Mrs. P. D. Healy, Miss M. O'Connor, Mr. J. A. Scott, Mrs. Simpion, Mr. B. E Healy, Mr. C. Walsh, Mr. J. J. Carmody, Mr. H. M'Keown, Mr. and Mrs. Tighe, Mr. .r. O'Keefe,- Mr.' John O'Donnell, Misß Wheeler, Miss Keating, Mr. and Mrs. M. Marshall, Mr.' M; J. Kiordan. -Mr. J. O'Sullivan, Mr. J. D. M'Phee, Mr. J; J. L. Burke, Miss E. Quinn, Mr. J. P. Eea.J Mr. and Mrs. Temperley, eacli £h.

The total.in hand up to last evening was ,£1125 ss. 6d.