ROMAN CATHOLIC MISSION IN HAMILTON.

Waikato Argus, Volume IV, Issue 237, 20 January 1898, Page 2

ROMAN CATHOLIC MISSION IN HAMILTON.

On Sunday last the Rev. Father Ginaty, S M., couitncnuucl an eight days' mi-sion in St. Mary's Church, Hamilton. There were large congregations at all the services, and the Rev. Father's remarks as to the utility of missions wero followed with rapt attention. Ou Monday the servios were continued, Mass being celebrated at 6 SO, with evening service at 7.30, when the missioner's discourse dealt wi h the Church'a teaching regarding the Ho'y Virgin, and also on mortal sin and the danger of neglecting the observances of the Church.' Regarding the former, he said God had honoured her above all women in that He had made her His mother, tied the preacher argued that she was, therefore, a powerful protector and patron of the human race. It had been urged that they magnified her into a fourth person of the Trinity, but as the word "trinity" meant "three," it could be the ignorant only who held such an opinion. On Tuesday similar services to those of the previous day were held, the theme of the evening's address beinsr "The Mercy of God," based upon the Parable of the Prodigal Son. In premising his remarks, the preacher re ferred to the apparent indifference of tho men in regard to spiritual things, remarking that they seemed to think if the women and children attended the services and sacraments of the Church it was all that was needed. The men he knew advanced all kinds of excuses for their dilatoriness in this connection, but they might as well try to " open an oyster with their tongue" as to endeavour to satisfy themselves by such means. He narrated an amusing incident which had occurred when he was travelling in South Canterbury on behalf of the Magdala Home—an institution, by the way, which owes its inception to the Rev. Father's zeal and self-sacrificing efforts on its behalf—to show how some men would fence with a straight question relating to Church observances. They found plenty of time for amusements of all descriptions—in fact, they seemed to think of nothing else, and in this they were worse than the benighted pagan, who ki.p.w uo better. Even the irrational beasts do not lie down to rest without first going on their knees, as if to give thanks to their maker for mercies vouchsafed ; therefore the perton who tumbles into bed at night without a word of prayer or thanksgiving is worse than the brute which perisheth. Such people raised up children who copied their parents, and as the parents shewed no honour to their Heavenly Father to their children shewed no honour to them, and thus arose that insubordination and impatience of parental control which was the besetting sin of our land. He had been told that it was impossible for a human being to keep the ten commandments, but to say that was in effect to call God a cruel monster who made laws and punished us because we could not do impossibitics and keep them. If we did our best and attended the means of grace we would be enabled, by divine assistance, to do all that was required of us. True St. Augustine said "The justice of God has damned more than His mercy has saved," and there was a limit beyond which even His mercy would not reach, yet there was mercy for all who sought it and if any were lost it would be their own fault. Father Ginaty concluded a stirring address by relating a touching incident which had come under his notice when visiting in a London Hospital, tending to show the great mercy of God. The service concluded with the benediction by the Rev. Father Amandolini, P.P. The mission will be continued through the present week, Mass being celebrated each day at 6.30 a.m. and evensong, with instruction; at 7.30 p.m. The last service will be on Sunday morning, at early Mass, which will be celebrated at 7.30 a.m., and at its conclusion the Papal blessing will be pronounced. On Sunday at 11 a.m. the Rev. Father Ginaty will open a mission at Cambridge, at the conclusion of which he will proceed to the Goldfields.