ARRIVAL AND RECEPTION IN HAMILTON OF HIS GRACE ARCHBISHOP STEINS, CATHOLIC BISHOP OF AUCKLAND.

Waikato Times, Volume XIV, Issue 1197, 28 February 1880, Page 2

ARRIVAL AND RECEPTION IN HAMILTON OF HIS GRACE ARCHBISHOP STEINS, CATHOLIC BISHOP OF AUCKLAND.

There was a numerous gathering of those belonging to the Roman Catholic body, and others, collected at the Hamilton Railway Station yesterday, to welcome His Grace the Catholic Bishop of Auckland, on his arrival in Waikato. Amongst those present we noticed the representative of the De Vere Hunt family, Mr Corboy, Mr and Mrs Deegan, Messrs Cassiday, Norton, Lynch, Connelly, W. Jones, Stokes, E. M. Edgcumbe, J.P., Yon Stunner, T. Jolly, and others. His Grace was accompanied by the Rev Father Walter McDonald, of Auckland, and Father Golden, and after a feAv greetings at the station, the party^ tlrove into Hamilton and across the liver to the Roman Catholic Church. This little church which is very neatly finished, and was tastefully decorated with flowers and e\ergreens for the occasion, was nearly filled with a congregation of the faithful, anxious to pay due respect to the Head of the Church in New Zealand, and this feeling was all the stronger from the fact, that the diocese has been so long without a head, and they were the more heartily rejoiced to welcome one in so distinguished a member of the Hierarchy as Dr Steins. A short service of song and prayer having been brought to a conclusion, Messrs Jones, Stokes, Cassiday, and Crossbie, proceeded to the altar rails, and on behalf of the Catholics of Hamilton, presented the following address to the Archbishop : To His Grace, the Host Rcvd. Dr. Steins, S.J. Archbishop, Bishop of Auckland. May it please vottr Grace, on behalf of the Catholics ot Hamilton, we beg leave to offer you a most sincere crntt inille fcaltha on your first visit to the Waikato, ami we avail ourselves of this propitious occasion to express our deep sense of Gratitude to Almighty God for preserving jou trom the many perils of your long and tedious voyage to the shores of New Zealand. Years of an\ious, nay, e\ en of nen ous suspense ha\ c elapsed trom the time the See of Auckland became vacant, until jour arri\al, and too often did disappointment succeed our most cherished hopes of seeing it speedily filled. Rut the designs ot Pro\ idence are \eiled in mystery, and His councils no man knows. The remembrance of our long orphanage senes to impart additional zest to our gratitude for jour visit to-day, and henceforth we shall enjoy the ministrations and adxicc ot a Chief Pastor, which constitutes the greatest solace of Catholics in every clime. Your Grace will know the honest pride we feel in now being blessed with a Prelate, whose worth yur tecble language cannot express, whose heart and intellect have undergone the discipline and chastening of the Lord in the glorious school of St. Ignatius, and whose mission is from the Apostolic See. "We deem it fitting, Your Grace, here to record our thorough appreciation of the untiring zeal and assiduity of our worthy Pastor for the advancement of our spiritual welfare, and promotion of our holy religion. During the time he has had charge — nearly sk years — of this extensive and scattered district, the regularity and success wherewith he has discharged its onerous and multifarious duties ha\e been the theme of all. In cpnclusiou^ we e.irnestljr hope Your Grace will enjoy your \ isit to the Waikato ; i and we pray that Pro\idcnce may grant you many blissful years in your adopted country, and a Crown of Glory «it the close of your earthly labors. — We have the honor to be, Your Grace's most humble and dexoted servants — William Jones, Edward McGarrigle, Thomas Cassidy, Francis McGovern, John Fitzgerald, John Crossley, Robert G. Stokes. His Grace replied in a brief pastoral speech, in which he expressed the great gratification that his visit to Hamilton afforded him, and the satis- | faction with which he saw such a I building as that they were in erected by the generous contributions of the congregation. They had shown an earnestness in the good work of advancing the welfare of the Holy Church which he trusted would go on and increase. They all had. their duties to perform. He had come here in obedience to the wish of the Highest Authority of the Church. He had been asked to occupy the See of Auckland, and the request he had taken as a command, and was there to do that work to which Providence and the Holy Church had called him. He exhorted them to go on as they had begun, to uphold their Holy Religion, and to follow it despite all obstacles that might seem to deter them. This they knew : that I Jesus whom they woi'shipped was God ; that their Holy Religion was his revealed word ; and that what had come from heaven and from Christ was true. The dogmas of their faith were framed by the Apostles, or rather by Christ Himself. But they must not only hold fast to the truths of the Church : they must show themselves by their works and in their lives practical Christians, till, by joining in the Sacraments and services of the Church, and practically carrying God's precepts into their lives, they drew nearer and nearer to our Lord and Naviour. He trusted that his visit amongst them might be blessed, and that he should see a religious feeling promoted in their hearts, ' and that it would bring forth its fruits, ] not only in their lives, but in the young ' generation now springing up amongst j them, firmly and steadfastly establishing the growth of their Holy Religion in New j Zealand, | The Rev. Father Golden gave notice ' that there would be mass this (Saturday) morning, at 8 o'clock, and that on Wednesday there would be mass at 9 a.m., to be followed by a confirmation of the young. He also desired that those in- , tending to be confirmed should attend in i the church on Monday evening for preparation. _ i The Benediction followed, and His i Grace, attended by his clergy, left the i church. j