FATHER HENNEBERY AT ST. MARY’S -CATHEDRAL.

New Zealand Times, Volume XXXIII, Issue 5403, 22 July 1878, Page 2

FATHER HENNEBERY AT ST. MARY’S -CATHEDRAL.

Although there were a few. seats vacant and standing room in the aisles, a large congregation assembled in St* Mary’s Cathedral yesterday at 11 a.m M when Pontifical High Mass was celebrated by the Right Rev. Bishop Redwood, assisted by the Rev, Father McGumness, P.P., and another clergyman of the diocese, and the parish priest of Blenheim. At , the two earlier masses the admission was free, but at eleven o’clock admission was obtained by tickets at half-a-crown each; the proceeds of which are to be devoted towards reducing the debt incurred on the completion of the Cathedral. After the celebration of Mass, the Rev. Father Hennebery preached a sermon, but before entering upon the. subject of his discourse he took the opportunity of referring to matters connected with his special mission to this country. He said 'he was very pleased to be ooce again amongst the kind and good Catholic congregation of Wellington, Since the' commencement of the missions in that Cathedral at the end of last year 10,000 persons had taken .the sacrament from his hands ; 11,110 persons' had taken the temperance pledge; 50Q0 had joined the Society for the Propagation of the Catholic Religion ; and there - had been 70 converts to the Catholic Church. With regard to those who had taken the pleclgc,he was glad tosay that he hadheard of very few having broken it. He had heard the very belt accounts of those who had taken the pledge from him in. Wellington. Altogether he had only heard of three persons having broken the pledge they had taken, one of whom was a washerwoman. (Laughter.) One man to 'whom'be had administered the temperance' pledge went to see him. He .said : “Your reverence, I have been the greatest old toper in Wellington J but I ■ took the pledge from you, and, thank God, I have kept it ever.since/* This was not all he said, aud he (Father Hennebery) was ft little shy in relating ft portion of the man’s stoly, but it •was too good not to be told. He said • “ Ho you know what, your reverence'; I went .into a house the day after taking the pledge, and iaw something alcoholic in a glass on the table, and do yon know it nearly turned my stomach.” (Laughter.) He (Father Henuebery) only hoped a similar sight would always turn that poor fellow’s stomach, as well as the •tomach 'of everybody else who had once felt the beneficial effects of temperance. - Since he was last amongst the people of Wellington he had travelled over almost every part of the South' Island, and had t encountered many trials, tribulations, an(l difficulties, but these were inseparable from those who devoted themselves to the* work of Christ and the propagation of Christianity, In the course of his travels, attempts were made to thwart him in the good work in which he was engaged, and personally he had been the subject of abuse, malignity, and falsehood of every kind. A great deal of this originated with persons wlio denied'the Christian religion altogether. It woe in Dunedin that the first attacks were mads upon him. Thefo'he 1 was charged with slandering America! but he declared that it, was a malicious falsehood to say that he had ever slandered that great country. When referring to I 'America, he had only spoken a portion of the truth ■ he could have said a great deal more than he did; but ho challeugod anybody to assert that what ha did say.-was not strictly the truth. - When referring to "the subject of education, ho pointed out several of the evil effects that had followed upon the introduction, of secularschooliam in America, and what he said on the subject was perfectly true. The person who attacked him most was Me. Charles ’Bright, a man who was paid a year—partly by some of those who assisted in- framing the laws of the country—for blaspheming religion and declaring that Jesus Christ was not God. When he visited the West Coast the. enemies of Christianity were again at work.. He was most violently attacked in a paper called the ‘Hokitika. Evening Star. " He was accused of saying iu one of his lectures that mixed marriages were no marriages at all. Now, such a - statement had never been uttered by him. He took the paper, with him into the pulpit, and read out: what jvas written in the newspaper in question, ■ and asked the good, kindhearted Father. Martin if he had'ever made such a statement. as was attributed to him I Father Martin’s answer was “-No.” He appealed to the congregation if they had ever-’ heard him assert. that mixed, marriages were no marriage? at all j and they never had. 'He publicly denounced the Star's assertion to be a base and wicked falsehood, but the writer persisted in his attack and he (Father Hennebery) found it necessary in self defence to brand him as a liar. ; This, however, did v not put a stop to au indulgence in all kind? of malignity, falsehood, and abuse ; but lie had survived it all, W was still living to declare that he never made such a statement as was attributed to him—that mixed marriages were no marriages at all. The pejraon who was the .author or this base and wicked falsehood was a preacher in Hokitika, but he (Father Heunebery) hod since heard that ho had given up that cabling because something else would pay him better, and he believed he now wished to become a lawyer, and was . at present in this very city with that object,. If ho ever did become ft lawyer,'he could most., appropriately put over hia door the signboard that a wheelweight once put above the place iu which he carried on his: trade—" AU kinds of turning and twisting done here.” (Laughter.) But these malicious 1 , attacks aud. falsehoods did not stop at Hokitika, or with the paper called the Evening Star.. : Amongst other places- which .he visited oa the West Coast he weut to Kumara, where another paper, the Kumara. Times, renewed the attack. He was ’ abused ‘ aud .misrepresented as'before; and everything was done that could possibly be done to' interfere with the success of the good mission in which ho was engaged. Ho did not know whether ho was attacked because there' were eighty drinking places in the township, but perhaps that had something to dowithit. Notwithstanding all the tHals and difficulties with which ho had to. contend, however, his ujission .on tho West

Coast had been a glorious success. The writer who attacked him ;u the Kumara, Thus lost his billet; people withdrew their support from the paper, and the’writer left it with the sympathy of nobody except a few publicans. He hid administered the pledge to 3500 persons oh the West Coast, and they all regretted they had not taken it ten or eleven years ago, as they would have been wealthy men, with happy, prosperous homes around them. It was a happy reflecti.n to him that he had been tlie instrument of effecting so much good since the .commencement-of his missions'in New Zealand,, notwithstanding all the falsehood that was circulated concerning what he said, and the attacks to which he had been subjected ; but he could not be the servant of Christ without being subjected to trials, difficulties, and tribulation. These falsehoods by means of the Press-'Agency were telegraphed ail over New Zealand, and even to the Australian colonies, because, it .was known he was going there,- and therefore his enemies, who were the enemies of temperance and Christianity, wished to block him out in Australia by prejudicing the minds of the people against him, but this would only have the effect of making him still more earnest in the accomplishment of the great mission he- had undertaken. And because be had told his enemies on the West Coast that their assertions were lies, ho was served with a writ claiming £li'Oo, and that writ was still in force. Bat if they swore till doomsday to the contrary, he would tell them that their statements were nothing more nor less than malicious falsehoods. Not only was he kicked and cuffed by them, but they now wanted £IOOO from him ; they would be content with nothing less. (Laughter.) Had he known before he came that be would be made the subject of attack, such’a considertion would not have deterred him from coming to this part-of the world ;' in fact;■ it would have acted as a stronger inducement to visit New - Zealand and Australia-’in the cause of temperance and Christianity. He had not defended himself by writing to the newspapers which maligned him. He had; stuck to his pulpit, and, he was determined to stick to it, whatever his enemies might say against him. Tor the amount of good he had done on the West Coast he was in no way indebted to the ■ writers in the newspapers or the press agents. He disregarded their attacks, and passed them by in the same way that adogof nobler growth and.nature would'pass a yelping cur.’ He could not help relating an anecdote as to some of the opinions formed of him and his mission, on the West Coast. One day .an enthusiastic old Irishwoman came- up: to him- anil said, “Oh, your reverence, do you know,what the Protestants of l the * West 'Coast say 1 about you ?” “ No, my good woman ; what is it ?”, “ They say you are the very devil out of hell.” (Laughter.) He hoped they did not think he was quite so bad,, as that ;- but-whatever anybody might think, he had “-the gratification of feeling in his own heart that by the grace of God be had been instrumental in doing some good in New Zealand. He felt that he had occupied a good deal of their time in referring to matters which were apart from-the sermon he intended to preach on this occasion, but he thought itneoessary, in the first place, to make this digression in order that those whpm he was glad to meet once again might have an explanation from his own. lips at the very first opportunity with regard to the falsehoods that had been circulated concerning him during his visit to Dunedin and the West Coast. The Rev. Father Heunebery then: proceeded to preach a sermon, selecting his text from St. St. John, chap, xix., 18th verse. The discourse was a most eloquent one, ■ bud altogether the reverend gentleman ■ was in the pulpit for an hour and three-quarters. The Cathedral was densely crowded last evening, many people being unable to obtain admission. The Rev. Father Hennebery said that at his last visitation he bad, he feared, neglected sufficiently to enlist their sympathies for the propagation of the. Catholic faith, but he would now ■ atone for his' past neglect and endeavor to enlist their sympathiesfor this object. He reviewed the history of the Catholic Church, and stated that at the present time more than 250,000,000 of the 1,300,000,000 inhabitants of the globe were its liege subjects. After pointing but that'further .steps were necessary to be taken for the propagation of the faith, he announced that on next Sunday books would be- given' to collectors, who would collect from the subscribers the sum of one halfpenny per week, which amount, with the prayers of his people) was’ all the aid he desired fpr missionary enterprise. The amounts collected would be sent annually to (he Paris and Lyons stations. , The congregation were then told to stand up to assert their 'willingness to become subscribers.’ His hearers rose; cn 'masse,.:. He then* alluded to the manner in which he had succeeded in raising a sum of £3500 in Dunedin towards the building of a new Cathedral. The; contributions were promised to be paid; iu three quarterly instalments. The ratio of subscription he then suggested were—For single girls,'£9; laborers, £10; mechanics, £ls to £2O; and the rich from £SO to £IOO.- As so: large, an amount was not required here, he would ask for .subscriptions, ! at a lower ratio, in the same manner, as he considered it derogotory for a priest to have to go from house to house collecting money. At 25 minutes past 8 the reverend father ; descended from tho pulpit, and accompanied by three priests went around the congregation, ■ addressing; tho members individually, to know what amount each would promise to pay in three iustalments, three, months intervening between each payment. At 20 minutes to 10 tho “ visitation" was completed, and in a feiv minutes afterwards the reverend father announced that nearly £llOO had . been- subscribed; beside the £IOO given by his Lordship' the Bishop and £SO by one of their priests. While the col-, lection was being made many of Father; Hennehery’a hearers had gone away, and it was announced, that as the lecture proposed to be given that evening contained weighty matters which all .Catholics, should hear, its. .delivery would he postponed Until this evening)" When it was hoped the audience would be larger than, that assembled at vespers. Many wealthy Catholics were absent-during- the'evening service, but the reverend father said they also would lie solicited to subscribe. The response given to his appeal more than ; fulfilled his anticipations.' .