Intercolonial

New Zealand Tablet, Volume XXXV, Issue 10, 7 March 1907, Page 35

Intercolonial

On Sunday, February. 17, his Lordship the. ~ Bishop of Sale blessed and opened a new church at-Boolara. Over 350 members d the Irish National Foresters' Benefit- Society.," received Communion at- -St. Mary's f Cathedral, Sydney, on Sunday morning, February 17." All. were in regalia... Afterwards .the breakfast was held in the Cardinal's- Hall, when his' Eminence the Cardinal presided. The Bishop of Ballarat a few Sundays ago laid the foundation stone of the new St. Mary's Church, now in course of erection in .Woods , street, Donald. The collection taken up amounted to £515 9s, wtooh with the amount previously received, viz., £657- 16s, makes the grand total of .£1173 ss, for the building fund. The contract price for the building, which is a Gothic structure,- in- brick, with cement facings, is £2250. The people of Wagga Wagga, and in- fact the public throughout the diocese of Goulburn and in .many . parts of the State of -New South Wales, learned with profound regret of the death on February 16 of the "Very Rev. Michael . Slattery, P.P., V.G., of Wagga. ' Father Slattjery came "to Australia with' Bishop- Gallagher over forty years ago, and was wonderfully popular throughout' . Riverina. He was a native of ' Tallow, County Waterfcird, and was -educated at Fermoy, Clonliffe, _and Maynooth- Colleges.. That he was. -held in affectionate regard by people of all creeds and classes was evidenced by the attendance at the funeral of the Church of England, Presbyterian, and Methodist ministers of Wagga. His Eminence Cardinal Moran, in the course of "an address on the occasion of laying the foundation stone of a church school at Bondi on Sunday, February 17, said : • The erection of these edifices was one of the signs that there was no inanition ar stagnation in the Catholic Church in Australia. The whole , aim, of the Holy Church was not, as their enemies said, to attain "to material supereminence. The' one purpose of the Catholic Church was to spread the . 'Gospel and to bring to • the hearts ' of . her faithful children the knowledge of the love of G-od. He was pleased' that -the Church in Australia, as well- as in other lands, was carrying out the great heavenly mission entrusted to her.' After referring to the 'triumphs achieved by the Church in other countries,, the Cardinal said that now a new power in the Separation Law ■ which was in operation in France, ' assailed the Church. France, under the pretext of separating Church from State, was in reality "aiming at suppression, but it was not against an empty phantom that war had been declared. As an evidence of the vitality of the- Church, the Cardinal quoted statistics demonstrating the growth of Catholicism throughout the world. Speaking at the Irish National Foresters' annual breakfast in Sydney his Eminence Cardinal Moran made some allusions to the recent mission of the Irish envoys. When Messrs. Devlin and Donovan inaugurated thiear campaign (said his- Eminence) it was supposed they might, perhaps, reach the sum- of £10,000, though - this was considered to be an extreme amount.- It ,was generally thought, that £8000. would fully repay their Austrajliajn campaign. Well, instead of £10,000, thfey were . able to announce that, after paying all expense's, the sum of £22,000 net recouped their many meetings-. In, New South Wales- it was conjectured that -£3000. would be the greatest amount that could be received, because they 'had alreajdy shown great enthusifasm in welcoming M>r. William Redmond, who had been richly recompensed for his eloquence in rriiany centres. . Instead of £3000, his (the Cardinal's) distinguished secretary, Monsignor OVHaran, who took such an ' active part in the organisation in New South- Wales, was - able, as the. result of the campaign- in New South Wales, to bring seven drafts of £1000 each on- London, and hand them to the envoys as they were stepping aboard the vessel at Auckland for America. But the . campaign of those young envoys was "not"- tfrily "" a financial triumph, but' in its material influence, and in its political and social bearings, it was crowned with complete success. No element of disunion., was introduced,, and .the greatest harmony and concord everywhere prevailed. Even those who were hitherto most opposed on principle to what they believed to be the aspirations of the Irish nation for Home Rule quitted those .meetings with the solemn protest that no man in his right senses could question the~ aspirations presented by those Irish envoys. - . "