DIOCESE OF AUCKLAND

New Zealand Tablet, Volume XXXIII, Issue 34, 24 August 1905, Page 5

DIOCESE OF AUCKLAND

(From our own correspondent.)

August 17. Rp\ . Father Furlong is now in full active, work in /ijs fifrst* parish charge— Devonport. Inspector Goodwin, Government Inspector, Ivas inspected the Marist Brothers' > parochial school, and his report is very satisfactory. The new bronze railing for the front of thefbaptistery at St. Patrick's has arrived, and is in courae of erection. 'It is ornamental, and folds up most conveniently.

The Very Rev. Father A. J. Marion, S.M., Provincial of the Marist Order in Oceania, and Rev.. Father J. tie Fenoyl, of Noumea, arrived from the Islands last evening. They visit Napier and Wellington, and go thence to Sydney.

A progressive euchre party was held last evening in St. Mary's Hall, Onehunga, in add of the local presbytery building fund. It was a great success. Mr* ' J. O'Slullivan was hon. secretary. Rev. Father Mahoney was present during the evening. The committee worked hard. Plans for the new presbytery are in preparation by Messrs. B. Mahoney and Son, architects. 'It will be constructed in brick. At St. Benedict's, on Tuesday, the Feast of the Assumption, special services were held. During the day a splendid set of vestments was presented to ifre Rev. Father Gillan as a recognition of his great zeal and sterling work in the parish generally, and in behalf of the children specially. The Rev. Father heartily thanked the donors for their valuable and serviceable present, which he would always treasure. At St. Patrick's Masses were at 6.30, d, ( and 10 a.m. At the former an immense number attended, including the Children of Mary, who sang appropriate hymns. In the evening 21 aspirants were received into the sodality,:being consecrated by Rev. Father Cahill. Benediction of the Blessed Sacrament followed. After service the members assembled at the convent, when a musical programme was gone through, Rev. Fathers „ Buckley, Cahill, and Hollirook, Adm., being present. Instrumental solos' were given by Misses J. Rist, Fairweather, M. Corrigan, M. Thorne, and M. S'hcahan, vocal soloa by Misses C. Rist and H. Rogers, duels by Missea Duflin and Rist and Miller a red Sheahan, and a recitation by Miss A. McGuire. Tbo following comments upon our recent distinguished vnsitor, Mr. W. H. X', Redmond, M.P., appeared in last Saturday's ' New Zealand Herald ":— ' The warm welcome accorded him in Auckland was characteristic of the race to which he belongs, but those who met him lecognised not only the work and the cause, but also the man, for a'bbve all William Redmond is a. Man. CosmopotMt&n, 'a citizen of the great British Empire, of courtly, kindly manner, he impresses one at once as a strong man and a tower of strength to whatever cause be chose to champion.. But there is a soibtle something behind the conrtly manner, some reserve force which is still apparent when in q'uiesoence ; he is a born fighter. It is in the speech that the true man is revealed ; rin quiet, even tones, yet with forcible elok^tence, clear as a bell, though rapi-d to a degree, his thoughts find expression in beautiful English, and his words charm by their sound alone. His- oratory is even brilliant at times, and marks him at once as the skilled debater and the practised politician. Easily enough that great reserve force behind might burst its bonds and pour forth in hot, tempestuous eloquence, leaping the barriers of conventional terms of speech like a flood of lava when the man is stirred to awger in defence of the rights of the land he loves and ser\es so well, and then one can imagine the scathing, bitter, fiery sentences, shaped on the white hot) anvil of a terrible a/n i ger, hurled across the floor of the British House of Qommons. But it is that quaint old world courtliness, that generous chivalry, that natural Irish kindliness, that Irish, frank, open, generous, honest character which attracts the personal love oE his fellow-countrymen the world over, and the admiration and respect of thousands uhose misfortune it wastobe bocn elsewhere than in the land of St. Partick., Not only is he a Home Ruler, but his views are essentially Liberal, and he ever remembers that he is a citizen of the great British Empire. The strongest argument he put to colonial hearts was that Ireland only sought the same privileges so much cherished by the British self-governing colonies. As was saio 1 of a certain Father O'Flynn, he " had a w>ay wid him," and if there was a man at that gatnering on the " Ventura '* who didn't know what Home Rule meant, he's an* ardent Irish Nationalist now. If that gathering did nothing more it emphasised the love of country inherent in! every Britisher's heart, and the sentiment of it must win the hearty respect and fellow-feeling of all men of " thQ bulldog breed," for England has never had'better soldiers or colonists than those from " the tight little Isle," more power to them ! '