Opening New Church.

Patea Mail, 19 December 1881, Page 3

Opening New Church.

The new church at Patea for the Catholic body was crowded yesterday morning on the occasion of Bishop Redwood opening the church with a dedicatory service, followed by high mass. Father Chastagnon, New Plymouth, said mass, and Father Grogan, the priest in charge of the district, assisted. The sermon was preached by the bishop. Many settlers from the district came in for the opening service, the church being filled in every part. It was pleasing to see so many residents present who were not connected with the Catholic body ; their wish being to show neighborly sympathy in a noble work, and add a generous mite towards its cost.

The altar was decorated with flowers in many vases, and with six large candles and twelve smaller ones, six of these being lighted. On the altar was a small crucifix, and above it against the wall was a large gold crucifix. Pictures of the Savior and the Virgin increased the decorative efiect of the sanctuary. The altar raised in full view, and embellished with those showy adjuncts which are usual in the Catholic ritual, and the bishop and officiating priest in rich purple vestments, gave a sumptuous character to the ritual which would gratify |the initiated, and might interest if not impress those visitors who are accustomed to a plainer ritual. The beautiful devotional music used at high mass is calculated to gratify the imagination and stimulate a feeling of religious fervour. The service of the Catholic church appeals to the senses in a special degree. The bishop and priests with acolytes marched from the sacristy down what would be an aisle in mediaeval gothic architecture, then outside and round the building; the bishop sprinkling holy water, and Father Chastagnon repeating a Latin form of Avords dedicating the structure to God, They returned inside up the other aisle, continuing the ceremony, and the procession ended in the sanctuary. The ordinary service was then commenced. The Bishop’s sermon was on the words of David in the book of Samuel : “ I am rejoiced at the news that ye told to me : avc shall enter into the house of the Lord.” We Catholics (he said) have far more reason to rejoice at having a temple erected in Avhich Jesus Christ himself in person, in his body and blood, his soul and divinity, avil! be present on our altars wheneA'er our holy eucharist is celebrated. Jesus Christ could not say “ This is my body,” if it remained bread. He could not say “ This is my blood,” if it remained Avine. Therefore these Avere the Avords of Omnipotence. The bishop enforced the doctrine of the “ real presence ” by reference to Christ’s miracles in curing the sick man of the palsy, in raising Lazarus from the dead, in stilling the storm on the sea of Galilee, in his oavu foretold crucifixion and resurrection and appearance to his disciples. The bishop argued that Christ had appeared in the spirit in many places, and as his spirit can be everyAvhere, it is equally easy for Christ to be really present on every altar Avhen the ceremony of transubstantiation is performed by a priest in the prescribed manner. Therefore, said the bishop, it is his living body that is present under the appearance of the bread, and it is his real living blood that is present under the appearance of the wine. So that avg haA'e in the blessed eucharist truly and really the substantial presence of the son of God. The holy church has condemned all those who do not believe this doctrine. You Catholics knoAv these things, and I have no need to enter into a discussion of them. Our Saviour in the adorable eucharist is not in the same state as when he appeared to his apostles living. He is in a wonderful manner something like unto a spirit. His body is invested with a wonderful subtlety, not subject to the ordinary laxvs of time and space. When you speak of anything that exists, you speak of its substance. A. piece of Avood, for instance, contains something you cannot see. A small seed is the germ of the large tree, and contains all its undeveloped properties in a form which is not visible. So Avhen avc say Jesus Christ changes his body into the bread on the altar, avg say he changes the appearance Avithout changing the substance. In that change he left all the appearance of the properties of bread, but no substance of bread is there : it has been changed into the substance of his own body. So Avith the Avine. Shall avc cease to believe it because avc cannot understand it ? Is that the reason \vhy men Avill deny it ? If they deny this doctrine, they will deny anything. I will put them some difficulties in nature. They have to admit every day some things Avhich they cannot understand at all ; yet they admit them. He instanced the development of a small grain into a full grown tree, and asked, Can you understand that, O man ? No, neither jmu nor any scientist on the face of the earth ! Therefore there are things in nature around you that transcend your comprehension ; yet you knoAv of their existence. He referred to the mysterious subtlety by which the sound of a man’s voice is made to convey distinct ideas to other minds—not different ideas, but the same words conveying the same ideas to many minds.

It was not enough to sly. 11 1 ■; sound struck the tympanum of the ear, or that something affected the optic nerve. That was a something Avhich existed, and yet it could not be seen nor its operation bo defined. So with the existence of a spirit. It Avas as easy to destroy the whole fabric of Christianity as to deny the doctrine of the real presence. This doctrine being true, they could rejoice at having erected a beautiful temple in Avhich Jesus Christ can be really present. Hoav great therefore is a temple of the Catholic church ! The priest forgiA r es sins when he pronounces absolution for the sinner. If the sinner is truly penitent, he is then truly pardoned. If he is a hypocrite, if he neglects to restore ill-gotten goods, if he does not pardon his enemies, if he does not keep out of dangerous occasions of sin, then the priest does not forgive him : “ for Avhose sins ye retain, they are retained.” The sermon Avas lengthy and eloquent, the bishop being a A'ery able preacher, and having an impressiA'e and cultured manner of deliv'ery. CONGRATULATION ON THE BUILDING. At the close of the sermon, the Bishop said : I congratulate you on the completion of this beautiful church. I congratulate your pastor, in the first instance, and I thank him for all the zeal and the perseverance he has manifested in gathering together from your generosity the means to erect this beautiful structure to the glory of God. I thank him for his zeal, and I hope that Jesus Christ will bless him in proportion to what he has done for the erection of a temple to the honor and glory of the divine Lord. And I thank von, my dear felloAV-Catholics, who responded so well to ray appeal on the last occasion. You see now the result of your efforts. It is a credit to any part of the diocese, and a credit to New Zealand. It is one of the most beautiful buildings in this locality. It is elegant and spacious. It is a credit to the Avhole district, and that credit redounds to all Avho contributed the means to do it. I thank Mr O’Dea, the contractor, for carrying out his contract so faithfully and so well. The ivork around you is well done, and a credit to any man ; and the contractor has made- any modifications proposed to him, so as to make the building more perfect than the plan ; and I thank him sincerely for the judgment and good sense he has shown. I hope he will be prosperous in bis business, and be rewarded. I thank also the priest of Ncav Plymouth for having come so far to grace the ceremony with his presence, and celebrate the first divine mass. I thank also the choir who have come all the Avay from Wanganui. I thank all once more for Avhat yon did on the last occasion, and I have once more to appeal to your generosity. There is some debt still on this church, and I hope you will make it a matter of honor and duty to cancel it as soon as possible. What you Avill give to Jesus Christ will be given on good interest. It will come back to you in all manner of blessings. If there ore any non-Catholics present, I thank them. I thank them for Avhat they did on the past occasion; and I may tell them that there is nothing that they believe of truth that I do not respect and do not love. All the truth they received they got from the Catholic church. If we were to put together all the various truths held by churches outside the Catholic church, it Avould be as if you were to break a mirror into various pieces: one has one bit, another has another bit; so that Avhat they have are fragments of true Christianity which came from us. So far as they go, we respect them and love them. There is only one regret toAvards them, that they have not the plenitude of the truth and the plenitude of the graces such as avc possess ; and therefore avc would Avish to persuade them to examine the truths of the church, so that they may join our church again, as their forefathers once Avere Avith us. The bishop then referred to the inquiring and doubting tendency of the age, and said there are scientists in the Catholic church as able as any outside, and these scientists do not find any clashing betAveen Christianity and true science. He referred to evolution and other materialist doctrines as being atrocious and absurd. Father Grogan also thanked the bishop and Father Chastagnon for attending, and thanked the people for seconding his efforts so generously to free their noble new church from debt. If the contributions that day Avere as successful as he hoped, the church would be very nearly freed from debt. It should be their pride that they had not only built a church, but paid for it. He would give on his oavu account £5 more toAvards the church. Contributions Avere then taken, Father Grogan and Mr O’Dea going down one side the church taking names of sums promised or cash then paid ; and Father Chastagnon with Mr John Burke did the same on the other side.

The Bishop afterwards announced that the cash, and sums promised, made the total £IOO. (We learn since that over £7O has been received in cash on this occasion, and other sums promised in church make the total more than £100.)

The Wanganui choir were an important aid to the service, conducted by Mr Hoi croft. They sang the Miserere music to the mass, the more resonant Gloria being inappropriate to the season of Advent. The female voices were good, and the difficult music was snng with precision and effect. Some musical help came from HaAvera.

In the evening, the Bishop preached on the subject of the jubilee. He left Patea to-day, after transacting business with Father Grogan.