PAEROA

New Zealand Tablet, Volume XXXI, Issue 38, 17 September 1903, Page 20

PAEROA

The devotion of the Forty Hours' Adoration began in St. Mary's Catholic Church on Sunday (says the ' Paeroa Gazette,' August 26), and was brought to a conclusion on Tuesday morning. The church was filled with worshippers at the morning and evening services on the three days, and the sanctuary was beautifully decorated with hangings, ferns, flowers, etc., by the Sisters of the convent. Dean Hackett preached an explanatory discourse on Sunday evening, when there was a crowded congregation. He defined the teaching of the Catholic Church on the Real Presence, and showed how in the Blessed Sacrament Christ continued to manifest His love for the children of the human race. On Monday evening another large congregation assembled for special devotions, and Monsignor O'Reilly, who had come from the Thames to assist, preached on the miraculous multiplication of food in the desert by Christs and showed how this was but a type of the sacramental food with which -the Redeemer would feed mankind until the end of time. On Tuesday morning Monsignor O'Reilly again addressed the congregation at the conclusion of the ceremonies, and expressed his pleasure 'at the numbers who had approached the altar rails that morning. In the early days, when his ministrations extended to Ohinemuri, the people were very few and scattered ; now they had services not only on Sundays but also on week days. Moreover, a Catholic school had been established, and nuns were in charge who were doing a noble work on behalf of Christian education, so necessary at the present time in the Colony.

Monsignor O'Reilly was formerly in charge of Paeroa, Te Aroha, Waihi, etc., and paid periodical visits to 'hese parts while ministering to his own flock at Thames. Many of the older residents of Paeroa were present at his sermon last Monday evening, and remarked that he still possessed the vigor and eloquence of his younger days.