Intercolonial

New Zealand Tablet, 10 July 1913, Page 49

Intercolonial

The Rev. J. P. Bartley, 0.F.M., was ordained priest on Sunday June 29, the feast of SS. Peter and Paul, by his Grace the Coadjutor-Archbishop (Most Rev. Dr. Mannix), at the 11 o'clock Mass in St. Mary's Church, Star of the Sea, West Melbourne. A fine, imposing and commodious new primary school for the girls of St. Mary's parish, St. Kilda East, was blessed and opened on Sunday, June 15, by his Grace the Archbishop of Melbourne. The occasional sermon was preached by jthe Rev. Father Hunt, C.SS.R. (Superior of the Redemptorist Fathers), and the Archbishop afterwards delivered an address on the importance of the Catholic school. ; -_'--■'■■ The. ceremony of laying the foundation stone of the new Catholic church in Horsham (Ballarat) was performed on Sunday, June 15, by his Lordship Dr. Higgins. There was a large gathering of the parishioners, as well as many representatives of the other denominations. At the conclusion of the address by the Bishop, Rev. Father Meade, pastor of the district, read out a list of subscriptions, which, including amounts previously subscribed, amounted to nearly £3OOO. The building, which is to cost £3500, will seat 400 persons in the church proper.

The celebration of the golden jubilee of the Rev. Mother Gertrude Sheehy (Superioress-General of the Sisters of Mercy, Bathurst) was the occasion of an enthusiastic demonstration in Bathurst on June 10. The religious part of the day’s celebration took place at SS. Michael and John’s Cathedral, where Mass was celebrated by his Lordship Bishop Dunne, who invested the Rev. Mother Gertrude with a white floral crown and pastoral staff festooned with white roses, to mark the occasion of her jubilee. The procession into the Cathedral was headed by fifty little girls (symbolical of the Rev. Mother Gertrude’s fifty years in religion), clad in white and wearing white veils. Then followed about 100 Sisters of Mercy, representing all the convents of the diocese. Rev. Mother Gertrude, daughter of Edward and Mary Anne de Courcy Sheehy, was born at Springmdunt House, Rathkeale, Limerick, in 1842. She was educated by the Sisters of Mercy, Limerick, and entered the Convent of Mercy, Charleville, Cork, in her eighteenth year. Three years’ later she was professed, and when Bishop Quinn, of Bathurst, solicited the Superioress of Charleville Convent for a community for his diocese, Sister Mary Gertrude was one of those who volunteered for service in Australia. The golden jubilee of the ordination to the priesthood of the Very Rev. Dean Nelan, of Colac, was celebrated with great enthusiasm on June 18. Among those present were his Grace the Archbishop of Melbourne, his Grace the Coadjutor Archbishop (Most Rev. Dr. Mannix), his Lordship the Bishop of Sale, his Lordship the Bishop of Ballarat, and a large number of clergy. The jubilarian was the recipient of substantial proofs of the respect in which he is held by all classes. At a banquet congratulatory speeches were made by the prelates, clergy, and public men. Amongst the tributes which the venerable Dean received on his jubilee anniversary they were many and varied —none was more remarkable (says the Advocate) than that which his Protestant friends offered him; and nothing could be more remarkable than the form which the tribute took. It is a regrettable fact that the evidences of vitality which the Church affords by reason of the ever-expanding growth of church buildings, schools, and convents are a cause of offence to the lesser minds amongst Protestants, who look upon them as a proof of the ‘aggressions of Rome.’ Yet when this group of Protestant citizens bethought themselves of joining in the jubilee celebrations they could think of no better way than presenting the Dean with a framed photograph of himself surrounded by some of the nobler buildings which had been erected through his instrumentality.