GREYMOUTH.

New Zealand Tablet, Volume XXV, Issue 28, 12 November 1897, Page 19

GREYMOUTH.

(From an occasional correspondent.)

On a recent Sunday ltev. Father Carew preached on the evil results following the irreligious and careless habits of some Catholic parents. The conduct of families is not to be wondered at when the example of such parents is considered. This carelessness of parents is to be seen in various ways. For instance, they subscribe to or allow the scurrilous Jiulhttn to be read in their homes, the Htfiiit is pot. dtred over to learn the weight-- and pedigrees of the '' f.uouriti"-*.'' In fact all sorts oi light literatui care encouraged to enter the home, but to subscribe one sixpence weekly to the Tablet, a paper which it is the bounden duty of e\ery Catholic worthy of the name to support, perish the thought ! Indeed the lolly of some Catholic pirents in this respect, passes comprehension. All who have travelled and have ob*vr\ed know pe-rteutly well, what harm is bjing done to our Catholic youths by ;o called light literature, and how important it is that lamilies should have access to a good Citholie paper sul.li as the Tabl!:t now undoubtedly is. It i>instructive and interesting and is momner the able and only public defender of our religion. Were it not ior the Tauliu' many bitter attacks on our religion, on our priests and nuns, many lies ot history wjuld pass unchallenged. How m.uij Catholics outvie, were it not for the Tablet, would hive read the able replies ot the ltev. Father Grogan to his hardened antagonist. Mr Colons >.' I'aronts. need not wonder at the carelessness, of thcr ehil.iieii in i> l'giuu^ matters wiieu, instead of encomuging, tht-y e\tlude trom their home-, the very journal which ior t'.ic re.i ous advanced it should be our special aim and duty to support.

Considering the wretched weather we are expeiii-ncirg good progress is being made with the building ot the new church at Ahaura. Mr. Eissenhardt being the architect i-i a suilicunt guarant3e that the work will be cairied out in a substantial manner. Tingentleman will ba.\c nothing to do with work of the cheap and nasty kind, but frames his designs so that the work when finished will be pleasing to the eye and will also stand the test oi time. It speaks well for the estimation m which Father Scrvajeau is held by all classes throughout the ril.-trict that, in such a short spaci'of time, he should be ablt to raise Biiihcient funds to enable him to accept a tender for the wot k. Few indeed could accomph.^h, at ,-uih short notice, what was considered to be at present a hopeless ta-k. The popularity of the ie\ert_nd gentleman was further proved by the large numbers who travelled to Ahaura to attend a concert there 111 aid of the church funds. The hall was packed, and the concert, which has been reported in your columns, was most enjojable and was financially and otherwise the "record"' concert ot Ahaura r M success attending Father Seivajean's efforts shows what can be OTJomplished by one earnest worker. During his seven year* residence in this district, the reverend gentleman has worthily upheld tue reputation long since gamed by his countrymen, the valiant missioners of France, as zealous, fcelf -denying, ami practical workers in the cause of Christianity.

The prayers of the congregation were asked last Sunday for the repo3e of the soul of Mrs. Eraser, a devout Catholic, who died recently, after a prolonged illness., and also for Mr. Dillon of the South Beach lately deceased.

A Mr. Allison, Church of England minister, has been holding a mission here at the local English Church. On last Sunday evening he delivered a discourse on " Evolution not being opposed to

Biblical teaching." According: to the local papers the rev. gentle man told his hearers that all mankind were descended from monkeys and quoted freely from Darwin and the Bible to prove that the earth was peopled by a peculiar race prior to Adam's time and trotted out the old stock text of unbelievers re the mystery of the ancestry of Cain's wife. But we know that " the devil can cite Scripture for his own purpose." This is another and striking proof of the divisions existing amongst the churches that separated from the Catholic Church, the mother of Christianity. It is also a p-oof of the wisdom of the Catholic Church in discouraging private interpretation of the Scriptures. Here we have a minister of the Gospol publicly commending Darwin"s work, a book that has done and is still doing so much to unsettle the minds of those who read it. Of course, according to the local papers Mr. Allison is a man of conspicuous ability, a paragon of learning. But it was ever thus. Let even a prominent Catholic deviate a point from the teachings ot the Church or publicly dispute with the Church authorities and he is at once patted on the back by the Prf ss of the world and hailed as a leading light of knowledge, a second Erasmus. All these attacks, on and picking of holes in the Scriptures— and which in reality is a form of Atheism, which it 'is lamentable to see is so widely spreading, and is encouraged by the Press — are enjoyed by the knowing ones who now aver that the Scriptures are stale story books, out of date. What can be expected when their own ministers cist doubt on the genuineness of the Scriptures which they profess to teaoh. The existence of God at all will next be publicly doubted in so-called Christian churches by those professed teachers of Godliness who are so very learned. " But the poor Indian, with untutored mind, sees God in clouds and hears him in the wind."