DIOCESE OF AUCKLAND.

New Zealand Tablet, Volume XXIX, Issue 8, 21 February 1901, Page 18

DIOCESE OF AUCKLAND.

(From our own correspondent.)

February U, Rev. Mother Paul has been re-elected to the office of Rev. Mother of the Sisters of Mercy. .v £ he a £ nual of the priests of the diocese, conducted by the Rev. Father Benedict, 0.P., began at the Bishop's House, Ponsonby, on Monday evening. r. n. 0 .? S , unda y Sir Westby and Lady Perceval attended St. Patrick's Cathedral at the eleven o'clock Mass, and again at the evening devotions. Elaborate preparations are being made here for the reoeption and entertainment of the Imperial troops. The Indian section arrived on Monday morning, and everything that is possible has been done to interest them.

A sum of £15 12s waa forwarded from Auckland on Monday to the Rev. Father O'Shea. Wellington, in aid of the Marist Brothers' Indemnity Fund. This is the second instalment sent, making the total amount from Auckland to the fund, £76 4s. A touching tribute was made to the memory of the late Very Rev. Mgr. McDonald the other day at Panmure. The Herald staff were in the vicinity holding a picnic when they left off their enjoyments that they might go and pay their respects to the mortal remains of ' Father Walter.' The Very Rev. Father Gregory, Superior of the Congregation of Passionists in Australasia, in succession to the late Very Rev. Father Vincent, and Rev. b ather Augustine arrived here last week from Sydney. They are to give missions in the city and country parishes commencing at bt. Benedict's next Sunday. They are to be joined in a few days by Rev. Father Hilary and another member of the Order. At the Sacred Heart Church on Sunday week the Very Rev. Dr. Egan, O 5.8., referred to certain comments in a local paper on his sermon of the previous Sunday, explaining the Catholic practice of prayers for the dead. The contributor had written kindly and had offered • information and encouragement ' by stating that many Anglican clergymen believed in prayers for the dead. Dr. Egan remarked that he was well aware of this but that they did so privately. His contention was that public prayers for the dead were not admissible in the Anglican Church, and that recent proof of this was the action of the acting representative of that body in Auckland, who promptly disclaimed the truth of the report that he had offered prayers ' for the illustrious dead 'in his church. Many Anglican ministers had become Catholics and, as such conversion is gradual, so their belief in Catholic doctrine. Protestantism did not admit tho doctrine of purgatory, and without such admission prayere for the dead were senseless. Catholics pray for the dead with the view of assisting the departed, but, given no middle state, Buch help is not wanted in heaven and is useless in hell. This was but a proof of the inconsistency of Protestantism, and yet waß, in a way, consistent with the right of private judgment which Protestants demand for themselves but refuse to otbera, especially to Catholics. Privately a Protestant may believe what he likes, but publicly the denomination to which he belongs has its own special code of belief and error. In referring to the funeral celebration of the day before when representatives of the military and civil bodies of Auckland marched in procession carrying wreaths which they deposited at the foot of the Queen's statue in the Albert Park, Dr. Egan called upon his hearers to try and imagine the result of a similar procession formed by Catholics in honor of the Blessed Virgin. There would be, to say the least, an outburst of indignation against the toleration of such an aot of idolatry And yet. judged by the same standard by which Protestants judge us, every member of yesterday's procession was guilty of an open act of idolatry. Th-s was another proof of the inconsistency and prejudice of non-Catholics. The procession of yesterday was a display of reverence and esteem for the royal dignity und womauly virtues of the decease d Queen, and the wreaths placed at the foot of the Matue and the uncovering and profound inclination of heads in the presence of the same graven image were but tokens of the devotion and a 'miration of the pilprims for her whom the statue represented. This is but natuial, it is nothing more than human instinct, and yet wh< n Catholics follow this same instinct in doing honor to the Queen of Heaven, to the Mother of God, to the Mother of the Kin^ of Kings, to a woman who was not only virtuous but immaculate, they are accused of idolatry. Dr. Egan concluded by baying that just as there is nothing more consoling and reasonable to the human heart and mind, nothing more consonant with Go i s infinite mercy and justice, than the doctrue of purgatory, ho there is nothing more beautiful, nothing more natural, and nothing more in keeping with the instincts of the human heart than the Catholic practice of honoring the statues, image", pictures, and oiber representations of Our Saviour, of His Blessed Mother, and of those distinguished heroes in life's spiritual combat, tbe Bainte of God.