DIOCESE OF CHRiSTCHURCH

New Zealand Tablet, Volume XXXII, Issue 44, 3 November 1904, Page 4

DIOCESE OF CHRiSTCHURCH

(From our own correspondent.) v October HI « The Rev Father Mahony is at Waimate temporarily relieVma- Ihe Rev Father O'Connor, who is Inline: .a brief holiday in the city Father O'Connor assisted m thC Se°S-;S:'Sv whites thus on the address delivered' by his (iracc Archbishop (|arr at the . open.nj iS^KI delivered an inaugural address in which the following sentence occurred •- Wh< le t he v defended their own belief and gave reasons foi the faith

that was in them, they would not use the occasion to mbuLt. the beliefs of those who diflorcd from them." 'i hat is a sentiment that ought to be printed in gold letters, tiarned in a diamond and ruby frame, and placed in the most conspicuous position in every Bethel, big and little, throughout the length and breadth ot this iontiovcrsia.l country. Live and let live is a good motto for every paiscn to paste in his hat, but it is legarded with deep a\ersion by the average New Zealand cleric. i lie dogmatic denominations who imagine { that theirs is the only creed worth considering, and Uiat the otner 291 brands of doctrine are pernicious and c."il doc'nnps, which '-hall got their believers- into gre-it trouble hciealter, aie the most striking leature of the colonial landscape. There is always an indiscreet and narrow-minded paison of some laith or another making rude interjections about the beliefs of the rest of the public in some part of the Antipodes. "What is wanted is a parsonical Hague Conference, and articles of international religious law, the foremost of which shall read ' \ny priest, labbi, clergyman, or other religious teacher tound heaving scornful remarks at anybody else's leligion shall be marooned on a deseit island until he learns tolerance " ' A number of musical friends are this week tendering a beneiit concert in St Mary's School Hall, Manchester st:eet, to Mr. R. Pelt ei sen, who is slowly recovering lrom a severe and protracted illness. Mr. Petersen has always been to the fore in Catholic and charitable entertainments, and it is safe to anticipate that the etloits ot those who arc now giving him a helping hand will be s'icccsslul.