LATE BISHOP CLEARY

Gisborne Times, Volume LXX, Issue 11124, 6 February 1930, Page 3

LATE BISHOP CLEARY

TRIBUTE IN ‘‘THE LONDON TIMES.” LONDON, Dec. 10. “Tho. Times” to-day jn its appreciation of Bishop Cleary recalls Mark Twain's prophecy. 'Jhe American tourist described rather Cleary ■;as ho then was) as an earnest and zealous priest, and a lovable man. “He will nse,” said Main twain. “Ho will be a bishop, some day later an archbishop, anu afterwards a cardinal, and finally an archangel.” The Times reiers to tno Bishop's great gilts as an organiser and journalist: his keen interest in social questions, particularly temperance, upon which Ins views were strongly prohibitionist m character. But. as Mark Twain discovered, lie was tile most humane and genial of men, and he had a wide range of friends, extending beyond the Orders of his own communion, which loses in him one of its leading figures in New Zealand. Miss Cliristitch writes in “The Times” tile accompanying tribute to the late Bishop Lieary:---“During long years he worked T> procure a national pastor lor the Tugoslav settlers in New Zealand, u concession that was only to ho realised after the liberation and reunion of the Southern Slavs. Bishop Cleary was quick to recognise and appreciate the splendid work of cultivation, done by .the Jugoslavs in the orchards and vineyards of Oratia, at tho foot of the Vi.aita-, kero Ranges, and also at Avondale and Henderson .He more than once expressed his delight at the beautiful Calvary Group, a typical example of Dalmatian art, which was carved hv Jugo-Slav immigrants and presented to St. Patrick s Cathedral Auckland, where it adorns the high altar. “Anxious to meet the natural wish of this industrious, deserving element of ins diocese. Bishop Cleary appealed to the hierarchy of Jugoslavia for a priest from the.homeland to minister to them in their own language. Father Milan Pin. linovitch, parish priest of Podgora. Dalmatia, volunteered for the mission and was welcomed by the Bishop in person, who escorted him to the numerous Jugo-Slav settlements. Here the enthusiasm was boundless: for the House of l’av linoyitch is cherished for its defence mf national rights in the Imperial Parliament, at Vienna. In a letter received from Bishop Cleary some time ago ho assured me that nothing could be. more useful than the regular dispatch of Jugo-Slav Catholic literature to New Zealand, so that the Jugo-Slav settlers in acquiring English as they rapidly and efficiently do, should not forget their own anecestral language and traditions. He was truly a shepherd to all sections of his ’flock.”