CATHOLIC EDUCATION

Wairarapa Times-Age, 30 January 1939, Page 10

CATHOLIC EDUCATION

NEW HIGH SCHOOL. OPENED AT PALMERSTON NORTH. (By Telegraph—Press Association ) PALMERSTO N„ January 29. The Very Rev. Monsignor T. F. Connolly, Wellington, vicar-general of the diocese, officially opened the new St Patrick’s High School in Palmerston North this afternoon in the presence of a large crowd of parishioners. The, school, which has been established by the Marist Brothers Order from funds raised locally, is in Grey Street. It will begin classes immediately. Monsignor J. F. McManus, Palmerston North, presided, and in a brief address said that £2221 had been raised locally. The cost of establishing the school however .was £3400. He appealed for further funds to liquidate the deficit of £1179. The occasion was a momentous one for Catholics in Palmerston North, and the school would be one where religion was the focal point in education. Spiritual and moral rearmament were most needed in the Dominion; this was realised by the Marist Brothers, who undertook, by guiding pupils along righteous paths, to make a handsome contribution to the welfare of society. He expressed his thanks to the mayor, Mr A. E. Mansford, Mr J. Hodgens, M.P., the architect, Mr R. Hood, and parishioners.

Monsignor Connolly offered his congratulations to priests and parishioners in Palmerston North on the attainment of a long-cherished hope. He expressed pleasure that the Marist Brothers had at last penetrated to the Manawatu. There were some, he said, who considered that Catholics were peculiar people. Certainly the State provided first-class schools and teachers and education was free to rich and poor alike, but Catholics gave themselves another burden —the building of their own schools and the provision of their own teachers. To heighten their folly they .paid for their own share of the State education system which they did not use. Because the State’s facilities were not used by Catholics did not mean a lack of appreciation or that the teachers in the Catholic schools did not educate pupils to every requirement of the State. Education consisted of the formation and development of the child's mind, and where the State and the Catholics did not see eye to eye was in religious education, which was a necessity of life today. He felt sure that Palmerston North would show the benefits that it must, receive from the establishment of the Marist Brothers' school.

Mr Mansford and Mr Hodgens added their congratulations.

The history of the Marist Brothers Order was then traced by Brother Benignus, who said that since the end of the French Revolution 10,000 brothers and 160,000 pupils were to be found in the world. Brother Tarcisius, who will direct teaching in the new school, outlined the aims which he and Brother Bernard would pursue.