DIOCESE OF AUCKLAND.

New Zealand Tablet, Volume XXVIII, Issue 47, 22 November 1900, Page 5

DIOCESE OF AUCKLAND.

(From our own correspondent.)

November 15.

The laity of the Sacred Heart parish intend to welcome home Dr. Egan with a grand concert, the proceeds of which are to be devoted to the renovation of the presbytery. Rev. Father O'Carroll and Rev. Father Corcoran, of the Cathedral, officiated, in the absence of the Very Rev. Dr. Egan, 0.5.8., at the Sacred Heart Church on last Sunday morning and evening respectively. The local M.H.R.'s continue to receive at the hands of the local Press, through the editorial and correspondence columns, severe castigation for having taken from the colonial treasure chest that extra £40.

Just four years ago — Sunday, November I ">, I^'Jii — Vuckland's fifth Bishop, the Right Rev. Dr. L'nihan. was consecrated. Though young in year«. yet in the number of its rulers our diocese is comparatively old.

The Cemetery Board is ab ut to make an appeal to the four city parishes to furnish at lea^t fioin each twenty volunteers, the whole to set to work to put in order the Symond street Cemetery. The idea is a good one. and I hope a hearty and ready response will be the outcome.

Last Sunday week we had at St. Patricks fully one hundred representatives of the gro%t French Republic attending Ma^, and last Sund y in the same church were to bo witnessed a priest, ami his surroundine countrymen foreign to us in every^hin^ excepting the all-important one of our Holy Faith. We have here an objectlesson of the catholicity of the Church.

'A great battle for the mastery of the South Pacific,' said our JTrrald editor this morning, ' must sooner or later bo f -hght out not with words in Houses of Parliament but with weapons of war upon the high seas.' Again the bellicose editor «aid. 'France and Gertnay must be removed from the Pacific' A t-imple sum in proportion here suggests itself. ' if it takes over 12 months to subdue the Boers how long would it take to ''remove from the Pacific " France and Germany V

A convalescent home ha i been opened in the Mount Eden district, a suburb adjacent to the euy of Aucklan 1. by the good Sisters of Mercy. The home is beautifully bituated and the grounds are exquisitely laid out. It is one of those places where convalecceuts should mend speedily, and its successful management will add another bright chapter to the glorious annals of the illustrious Order of the Sist-rs of Mercy. Mother Ignatius is at present in charge of th" new undertaking.

The Rev. Father Zainey, an Assyrian priest, is at present on a visit to Auckland where he has a brother in bu^inc*. He celebrated Mass at 10 o'clock at St. Patrick's lat-t Sunday in the presence of a large number of his countrymen The ceremony was performed according to the Eistern rite, and was of a most devout and impressive character. Two Assyrians, out.-ide the altar rails throughout the whole service. «ang the accompanying sacred mu«ic. Father Zainey, after Mass, in his native tongue, addressed his fellowconntrymen, in the course of which he said it gave him great pleasure to meet them far away from their native land, and in the practice of their holy religion and which he enjoined upon them never to foreret. They should love and assist each other, and thereby give a living example to tho-.e amongst whom they lived of the teachings of Holy Church, and they would alho bring credit on themselves and the lan 1 of their b'rth.

A concert ■was given List ni'rht by the children attending the Sacred Heart Scho >1. Pons mby. m the «rh<iolroom attached to the church, and prove.! m every w.iv ui'.'-t 'J'Ho a f tendnn<;e was large, the Riuht liev Mon-i^nor (» IN My h»-ing amongst tho-o present. The programme wax or_:ani^>'d hy hi^t^r Peter, and eoneisted of the following items —^ong by infants. • Pussy's Lullaby ; dance, ' Tommy Atkm-' Mi^se* Bnghtie Hirry ar.d Phyllis Wilson ; choruses by the children, • Klfin Call' an] 'Union Jack"; violin solo, 'Mazurka' (Wienuw.ski ), Masr* r Herald Ralph; recitation and song, 'Old Ireland.' Mi^- - Annie Courtney and Eileen Barry ; coon dance, Ali'-s H. Harry; a<tio'i Ming, "Japanese Fan', cantata, ' Gipsies' holiday ' (nu<-ui. Mi-.- C. Harkins) . due", ' I don't want to play in your yard.' M'-^es Murray, song, 'I'm mother's little maid,' Miss Ina Boswoiih. tal>lea-ix, 'Our Girls' and Jacob's Dream ' ; song (boy-,). 'Nhnw me your>Ute'; and drama, ' Gaffer Gray's legacy. The children showed gie.it proficiency, and the costumes usul in the action songs and tableaux were very effective. During the evening Mi s Clare Somerville. recited an address to Moneignor O Reilly, on behalf of the cnildrcn.