INTERCOLONIAL

New Zealand Tablet, Volume XXXIII, Issue 2, 12 January 1905, Page 31

INTERCOLONIAL

Four Marist Brothers arrived in Sydney recently nTv?^ mIW?m 1W ? ° f them ' Key " Fathers Sertin SM 7 and Vigpip,, S.M., have gone to Rua Sura (South Solomon Islands) ; and the Key. fathers Rausch SM and Griswarsd, S.M., to Poporag (North Solomon island"

?i nf^Ln . \? h l ° able m Ararat °n December 21 of the death of the Most Key. Dr. Phelan, Bishop of Pittsburg, Pennsylvania, America, which took place on the pievious day, ai the Episcopal Palace. He was 77 years of age, a nd celebrated the jubilee of hi? priest/hood in May last, lie had been in lailing health for some time. The deceased prelate was a brother of Mother Ursula, of tHe Brigtdine Convent Ararat to which institution he had been a constant benefacXOi •

Christmas tivc was a very busy day at St Vincent's Convent (says the 'Freeman's Journal') 'when over two hundred persons received help in the shape of meat, groceries, and provisions of all kinds as well as large supplies of clothing. The Sisters desire to thank all their kind friends who aided them to afford this pleasure to the poor. Special thanks is due to the ex-pupila of the College, also to the ladies who did so much in the way of making garments and trimming hats, a s well as to those who donated sweets and toys.

Key. Father Herbert, S.M., most of whose missionary lite has been spent in New Zealand (says the ' Freeman's Journal '), is once more renewing acquaintance with the city or his birth, having arrived in Sydney last week. For the past two years and a-half Father Herbert has been doing duty at Grey mouth and we regret to learn that his present visit to Sydney is not a mere pleasure trip, but a stern necessity in view of a run-down in health. All who know the zealous young Marist will hope that an extended sojourn in his native State will have beneficent effects upon a constitution which is sadly in need of recuperation. r

A circular letter, signed by the Archbishop of Melbourne, the Key. J. Norris, and Mr. W. L. Bowditch on behalf or the Australian Catholic Truth Society' has been circulated. In commending the objects of the aociety, it is staled that the influence 'of revealed truth on the minds of Australian citizens is gradually growing less, and has well-nigh ceased to be a strong factor in men's Ines. False standards of life tended more and miore towards self-indulgen'je, arid the modern world (it was olten stated) had outgrown the creed of its childhood. The current literature of the day is largely steeped in materialism and agnosticism, and openly rejects the supernatural, wiliile it too frequently inculcates immorality. The powerful ' man on the street " assumes that he has not only a right 'o express his opinion on everything in heaven or on earth, but that his opinion is of equal value with that of the trained intellect who has studied the question with ripe judgment and mature powers. The time has come for the adoption of new methods suited to the new circumstances of the day. It was greatly to be feared that many good people, secure in the confidence of their own traditional faith, were not alive to their responsibilities, it is promised that the first batch of twelve* publications dealing with religious and scientific subjects will be ready lor distribution early in January.

Dr. Dill Macky was placed on the horns of a dilemma the other day in the .Presbytery (says the ' Freeman's Journal ') and he got oft with more or less grace. He moved a resolution which practically censured the Key. Mr. Ferguson for that visit to the Pope— during which anything might have occurred— and this he watered-down somewhat by too much protestation of his charitable relations with his erring brother. It was a painful duty, but still a duty. The difficulty between duty anfd charity appealed to the Scottish humorists present, and the Rev. Mr. M'lntyre relieved the tension imposed upon poor Mr. Dill Macky by (proposing an amendment, which struck out every word of the resolution, except the word ' That,' and substituted words wjiich stated that as Mr. Ferguson had gone to Kome in a purely private capacity as a globe-trotter, it didn't concern the Presbytery's dignity in the least ; and other members went so far as to Bay that the Pope was not such a bad sort after all, and that a visit to him by a Christian clergyman, was preferable to one (say) to the Grand Llama of Thibet. In the end the amendment was rather enthusiastically carried, whereupon the Rev. Dill Macky declared that, although it did not go far enough— it was diametrically opposed to his— he was satisfied. The Key. Dr. Dill is evidently on the down grade of influence.