PAERQA

New Zealand Tablet, Volume XXXVII, Issue 9, 4 March 1909, Page 351

PAERQA

The opening ceremonies -in connection with the first church erected at Waikino (says the Ohinemuri Gazette) took place on Sunday, -February 7, and were attended by crowded congregations. The- Very Rev. Dean Hackett and the Waikino church committee left nothing undone to make the event a red letter day in- the histoi-y of Waikino. The members and .friends, of the I>aeroa and Karangahake Church choirs rendered the music of the' Mass. Mrs.- Collins (Paefoa) presiding at the organ. The sermon was delivered by Very Rev. Dean Hackett, and in the evening Rev. Father Bradley preached. The colectious taken during the day amounted to £80 3s. Dean Hackett expressed his. thanks to the- members of his flock at Waikino, to the visitors who came from Paeroa, Karangahake, and Waihi for their pecuniary assistance, also to the Waikino church committee for their voluntary help in connection with the decoration of interior, and the altar society for its seuvices. The Dean had a special word of praise for Mr. Thomas Cummings, Owharoa, who advanced the amount required by the Waikino ".Catholics to have a church "in" their midst. Special thanks. were tendered by the Dean to the ~Very Rev. Father Brodie (Waihi) and;'the members of the non-Catholic churches present' at both services. , . When reading the list of contributors Dean Hackett referred to the name of one contributor .who was present, with -them that •day — Mrs. Benjamin, - mother of Mrs-., "W.. ' Smith-O'Brien, Waikino. She "served as a link. connecting the, past and present". - The venerable lady" "present that- day attended the opening of old St. Patrick's" 'Cathedral,' Auckland, and was now present with "lier- .gifts, for 'altar and subscription for the latest church", building erected in the "Auckland diocese. The Dean made feeling reference to" the.< old Catholic pioneers who were passfng _away, and exhorted their descendants to follow- in _thir> glorious footsteps. After .the Mass, the members of the choir,' the priests, and visitors were the. guests of Mrs. Bright, ".Victoria House, Waikino. In the afternoon at 3 o'clock the two choirs were driven to Waihi for an outing, and while there visited the local- hospital and rendered some sacred solos for' the "patients.