CONSECRATION OF THE CATHOLIC CHURCH AT PAHAUTANUI.

New Zealand Times, Volume XXXIII, Issue 5331, 29 April 1878, Page 3

CONSECRATION OF THE CATHOLIC CHURCH AT PAHAUTANUI.

Yesterday ] the; interesting und impressive ceremony of ~ the consecration-of : the new Roman Catholic Church, at Pahautauui, by the Right Reverend Bishop, Redwood, took; place.’ Tho building although not - a large’ or imposing structure, is, nevertheless a very neat’ and appropriate one, and reflects much credit on the architect and contractor, Mr/’Turnbuil and Mr. Blaokie. : It .is situated on a gentle eminence about three quarters of a mile from the bridge crossing tho Pahautauui Creek, on the main Eoxton road, and from the ground surrounding the church a most charming prospect is obtained of land and water, cultivated farms and primitive bush, such as can hardly be surpassed amongst the many beautiful landscapes which may be found within a day’s ride or drive from Wellington. This new’church’is built to accommodate about one hundred persons, and yesterday, its seat holding power was taxed to the uttermost, there being more than that number- presents A considerable section of the residents in the immediate and : Roman Catholic alike —wended their way in vehicles,’ on horseback, and bn foot,’ to the scene of action, and, there were, several visitors from' town, whoso numbers . would probably-have; been, larger! had not the, weather , looked threatening in tho early morning.; Notwithstanding ‘ the unfavorable .aspect; ,of the clouds, however, as the morning dawned, the. sun soon afterwards shone brightly, and hot a drop of rain fell from after six o'clock. A more, enjoyable day for a trip into the country could not be imagined. ' Amongst the visitors from town were Messrs;, Buckley, (solicitor), Jack- f son, (Government surveyor), - Turnbull, (architect), and J. Macdonald. Several; who were expected from Wellington did-hot put in an appearance, owing probably to the-threat-ening aspect of the weather in ' the early morning. This new church, as ■we' have said, will comfortably accomodate 100 persons ; its length is 38? feet by 18, and its height about 15 feet. There are five windows on each side of the building, and two on either side of the front entrance, above which is a belfry with a small bell, hardly large enough to enable its tones to be heard at any considerable distance,’ bnt this defect can, no doubt, be easily rectified at a future time. The interior is not yet lined, but when this part of the work is done it will add very much to the internal appearance of the .building.. The cost of the work has been abput £2OO, of which amount £l5O has been subscribed; and there is a debt of £SO or thereabouts, which no ! doubt will soon be cleared off. , Punctually, at 11 o’clock the ceremony of consecration began,- the following address to the Bishop being presented immediately before the commencement of the service-:

“ To the Eight Reverend-F. Redwood, Bishop of Wellington. May it please Your Lordship,— My Lord, with moat sincere pleasure, and a depth of gratitude which we feel more than we can express, we, the Catholics of Pahautanni and Porirua, meet here today to give your Lordship a hearty welcome. Wo have been long waiting for an opportunity to hail the presence of your Lordship in our midst; but being few, and very much scattered, we had no fit place of worship wherein to meet together and receive your Lordship. By • very great exertions, and. the help of kind friends, to whom we express our sincere gratitude, here now stands the (building which we; ask your Lordship to dedicate, to the glory of God, under the title of the Sacred Heart. of Jesus. De’go,' therefore} to bless it with, the: rites of our Holy Church, and deign, also to call down the blessing of Heaven upon us, your children, and upon all who have given us their generous assistance.” [Here follow the signatures.] : . ; ■■ : ; ' The Bishop expressed his thanks . for the cordial welcome given to him, and; congratulated the congregation on the. accomplishment of a great , event; for the Catholic Church did regard the consecration of a; new place of worship as a great event, and cause for thankfulness and rejoicing; He: thanked all who hid contributed to the work, and invoked the Divine blessing upon thorn all. Ho briefly explained the ceremonies which were : to be gone through, and their meaning, and then proceeded with. the. consecration. Walking round the exterior of the church, accompanied by the Rev. Father Yardin and a number; of' children, the girls dressed in white and the boys, in black, the Bishop blessed it, carrying a'sprig of hyssop, and the Psalm “Thou hast sprinkled me,” &c.,, being chanted. The interior of the building was then perambulated; sprinkled with holy water,' and blessed. The altar having been prepared, the congregation entered, and in: a few moments every available seat was taken by a most attentive and devout congregation.' The service of the mass was then proceeded with, and a most eloquent and practical sermon was delivered by the Bishop, a sermon the leading points of which Christians of all denominations must acknowledge as sound and worthy of the deepest consideration. , His Lordship took for his text the following words from St. John : “Behold the Lamb of God : Behold Him who taketh away the sins of the world.” This Jie said was the great mission of Jesus Christ, and of the Catholic Church. For this our Saviour, who was God and man, had immolated himself, and after a life of suffering had died an ignominious death on the cross. Bat people must not think that because the Saviour had done this' they were to do nothing themselves. They must repent of their sins, do penance for them, and above all strive not to commit them again; otherwise all the atonement made by Christ and all the Church could do for them would hoof no avail. They must sincerely and truly.repent, not in words only, but by deeds, before they, could obtain remission of their sins. They must pray earnestly and sincerely for forgiveness, and i-when forgivien must- keep but of sin. It was the ; mission, of Christ and the Church to enable them to do this, and ho could have taken no more „ appropriate . words than the text he had chosen from St. John to illustrate the doctrine. Ho was not there to-day to “make a show,” ; The Catholic church did not desire at any time to “ make a show.” Soma men of the world said Catholics were fond of making a show and parade, so as to make an impression on the minds of tho people, but this was not the fact. The Catholic Church did make on impression in the world because she was a queen—a great and mighty p OW or and made herself felt on that account. Her religion was , given once - and , for all, and was the same yesterday, today, and for over. Her object was - to bring souls to God, and she would rather bo the means of preventing one grievous sin being committed in New Zealand than that.'the colony should bo crowned with all 'material prosperity. All the wealth and worldly l prosperity of tho land were as nothing in her eyes compared to the prevention of one, single grievous sin. Jesus Christ did not come Into the world to tell men how to bo rioh in money or high in the world’s esteem, but how to bo saved. That was',His mission, and that was. the work of His Church. All sins were not of the same kind—some were Venial,’ that is,, easily pardoned, and did not necessarily alienate God’s friendship; -but mortal sin, unless, truly repented of and forgiveness ob-; tained for, would blast a man’s son! everlastingly. .'To steal a trifle from a rich man, although wrong and culpable, wasriot such a groat sin as to rob the widow and orphan, and t» speak hastily in an uncharitable; way of a neighbor was pot so bad as seeking to destroy his reputation by calumny. Mortal sin—daring acts of rebellion against God, Placed aum In a rank with I the boasts of tho field; Indeed lower, for those animals did obey their master. The Bishop then referred to the

breaking of the leading ; commandments as mortal sins, and pointed out: the wickedness and odious ingratitude, displayed by man, for whom God had done so much, and whose benefit we hll more or less enjoyed. We were hard upon Judas, who sold his master for 30 pieces of silver, hut we ought to lie hard upon ourselves. Did not men sell themselves, and their souls, perhaps sometimes, for less than 30 pieces of silver ; aye, even Tor a miserable glass of liquor. Those who committed mortal sins were Deicides, murderers of God in their hearts, and, as St. Paul said, by their .acts “ cruoifietl again the son of God. Ought not Christians therefore’ to detest sm, and avoid . the fearful punishment ‘ which awaited impenitent and .unforgiven sinners? Some people contended that there’ was no hell, but the doctrine of an eternal hell—a place of everlasting torment ? with material fire—was both consonant with reason and was expressly laid down in Holy Scripture; but even if material fire - - were - 1 absent, there was the hell of remorse. We ■ had ;our' Saviours own words that there would be ; a day of judgment, when he 1 would pronounce the sentence to tho unrepentant and uhforgiven, ’’Depart from mo ye cursed into everlasting fire,” whilst to the justified he would say, ’’ Come ye blessed/’ &e. The words were clear and spoken in unraistakeable language, and he earnestly exhorted all his, bearers to ponder these things in their hearts, and earnestly to seek God-’s forgiveness in the way pointed out in his'Holy AYord and in the doctrines of the Church. God was ready to forgive sin if man would, only repent. He was good and gracious to Mary Magdalene. He forgave Peter after hie denial of him, and made him-the head of his Church, and all who isin’oerely:- did penance—hot talked about it,; bub really, did it—repented; of their sins, and. resolved by God’s grace never to commit them, again, ho would by no means cast out. , Salva-j tion was open to all, if they would only, seek it, and he earnestly trusted that; all who heard: him that day would be amongst the number who should be cleansed from their slrisnnd’receive Divine'grace. In’ conclusion he would say a few words in reference to the opening of thisnewchurch. Hehearfcilyrejoiccd atthecompletion of the work, Which was a great event, and matter for -congratulation and .thankfulness. Here in this building they would hear God’s word read and preached, and would learn that the supreme object of ’the existence of God’s Ghurph! and its ordinances was to enable them to avoid sin. -He thanked’all those who had contributed by .subscriptions or otherwise to its accomplishment. He would, remind them that there was a small’debt oh the build-ing/-and hoped that at the collection'at” the close of the service they would each and all contributei something, according'to the means and ability with which Divine Providence had blessed them. What was given to the j erection of a church was given to God himself, IHe invoked the Divine blessing on? all present —upon themselves, their families/their homes, their undertakings, ’ and all that was dear to them, and prayed that'all good might attend them in time and eternity . After tho conclusion of the sermon and the mass, the sacrament of confirmation was administered to one candidate—the youthful daughter of a settler in the locality;' none others presenting themselves. ” During the mass, the RCv. : Father Yardiu read a list of subsciptions in aid of the building of this church, by which it appeared that £l5O had beeh-subscribed, and there was' a debt of about £SO. The collection at the close of the service realised £lB. e ' ; ' ' The church was very prettily decorated with flowers, ferns, and evergreens, and the scene was a most pleasing and impressive one, the! remembrance of which will- no doubt 'be long present in the memories of those who witnessed it. ■ - In. the afternoon the Bishop, the visitors from Wellington,? and -'others were entertained at dinner at Hilton’s Hotel,- where a most substantial and excellent repast was set before the guests which did'credit to the resources’of the establishment. Ample justice was done to the good things provided,' and had 1 -time, allowed it was intended/ we'believe, that a few' speeches appropriate to the occasion should have been made; but most of those present had to leave early in the afternoon, and therefore nothing of the kind /was attempted,' The visitors from town seemed''much pleased with the trip and gratified at tho hospitality shown to them by the settlers ;of' the : pleasant and thriving district of Pahautiwiui.