Diocesan News

New Zealand Tablet, 18 September 1913, Page 24

Diocesan News

ARCHDIOCESE OF WELLINGTON (From our own correspondent.) *. - September 13. ' • His Grace Archbishop O'Shea left for the Taranaki district last Thursday. .■_„ ■ The Catholic Club held a very successful euchre party in St. Patrick's Hall on last Wednesday evening. Bros. J. J. L. Burke and M. Walsh, representatives from St. Patrick's branch of the H.A.C.B. Society on the Friendly Societies' Dispensary Board, have been elected by that body to the executive of the board. . The Wellington Catholic Education Board met last Wednesday evening under the presidency of his Grace Archbishop O'Shea, the Ven. Archdeacon Devoy being also present. Amounts totalling over £2OO were passed for payment. It was decided to arrange, if possible, a picture entertainment in the Town Hall to augment the fund. ;'■. The New Zealand Rugby team to visit California includes two old St. Patrick's College boys Messrs. Lynch and McKenzie, both of whom distinguished themselves in the game against Australia by scoring tries. The College Old Boys' Association gave them a befitting ' send-off' in the form of a dinner at Godbef's, Cuba street, last Tuesday evening.

The vacancy caused at St. Anne’s through the transfer of the Rev. Father A. T. Herring, S.M., to the Marist Missionary staff has been filled by the appointment of the Rev. Father Joseph Herring, S.M., of St. Mary of the Angels’. The Rev. Father Jas. Tymons, S.M., who has been temporarily relieving at Dannevirke, fills the vacancy at St. Mary’s.

Cabled information was received at the Redemptorist Monastery on Wednesday that Dr. dune, who was Superior of the Redemptorist Order in Wellington some years ago, has been made first Archbishop of Western Australia. Dr. Clune left Wellington four years back to become Superior of the Redemptorist Monastery in Perth, and two years later he was appointed Bishop of Perth.

Last Wednesday evening at St. Anne’s Hall, a most successful social in aid of the schools was held. There was a large attendance, including the Yen. Archdeacon Devoy and Rev. Fathers W. J. Peoples and J. Herring: The hall was tastefully decorated for the occasion, and the arrangements reflected the greatest credit on the hardworking committee of ladies and gentlemen under the direction of the Yen. Archdeacon Devoy.

There were special services held in St. Mary of the Angels’ -Church last Sunday, the occasion being the first official visit of his Grace Archbishop O’Shea since his consecration. In the morning a Solemn High Mass was sung by the Very Rev. Dean Regnault, S.M., -with the Rev. Father J. Herring, S.M., as deacon and the Rev. Father J. Tymons, S.M,. as .subdeacon. The church was again crowded in the evening, when Solemn Benediction was given by his Grace, who also preached an appropriate sermon.

The large and important parish of Te Aro has again been divided, and now made into two parishes— St. Mary of the Angels’ (Boulcott street) and St. Joseph’s (Buckle street). Very Rev. Dean Regnault, S.M. (Provincial), will have charge of St. Mary’s with the Rev. Father Jas. Tymons, S.M., as assistant, whilst his Grace Archbishop O’Shea : will still continue to administer St. Joseph’s. Eleven years ago the parish of Te Aro embraced all Te Aro and South Wellington, whilst to-day the same area contains three large and important parishes, and marks the progress that Catholicity is making in the Metropolitan City. ' The Sacred Heart branch (Thorndon) of the H.A.C.B. Society held a social gathering in the Guildford Terrace Schoolroom on last Friday evening after the fortnightly meeting, when about fifty persons were present. Songs were contributed by Mrs; Connor,

Misses May Curtis, I. Clisby, Una Simon, R. Leydon, and May Brogan. Supper was dispensed under the supervision of Misses E. and L. Tiller and Miss E. Brogan. Ladies being permitted to join the branch is having a good effect. Its representatives are to engage in a debate with the Catholic Club on Friday, September 26. Messrs. R. C. Flanagan, M. J. McGahey, and C. McKenzie are to represent it.

For a great number of years no Customs official in Wellington was better known than Mr. Samuel Kent, whose death occurred at his residence, in Cumberland place on Monday. The deceased was born in Ireland in 1840, and was therefore 73 years of age. When he was 20 years old he came to New Zealand, and spent ten months in Wellington before going to Nelson and Otago. Seven years after his arrival in New Zealand he was back in Wellington. In 1877 he obtained employment with the Customs here as boatman, and he held the position until he was promoted to a messengership in the Department. He was 31 years in the service. Mr. Kent was a fin© type of the old school. He was a man of a most genial disposition, liked by everyone, and had a fund pf information relative to the happenings on the waterfront in Wellington during his long connection with the Department. When he retired four or five years ago the Customs officers in Wellington presented him with a silver watch and a set of pipes. The funeral took place on Wednesday, the body being interred at Karori, prior to which there was a Requiem Mass at St. Mary of the Angels’ Church.— .

One of the first places visited by his Grace Archbishop O’Shea after his elevation to archiepiscopal rank, was St. Mary’s Star of the Sea, Seatoun, a college conducted by tile Sisters of Mercy and appropriately situated overlooking the sea. The college buildings have recently been largely extended at considerable cost, and the Archbishop, who was accompanied by his Grace Archbishop Redwood and his Lordship Bishop Verdon and a large number of clergy, was enabled to see something of the home life of the institution and of the little boys who are the subjects of the motherly solicitude of the Sisters who conduct it. There have been built a new chapel, school, hall, and dormitory, making altogether an extensive pile of buildings. Love, not fear, seems to be the method applied by the patient Sisters of Mercy, and to this rule it has been found all boys readily respond. The little chapel has been decorated by the good Sisters, and the work is that of artists. White lilies of Mary, with clusters of violets at the bottom of their stems, are painted in delicate tints as a dado, and in between has been painted the. monogram A.M., meaning Ave Maria. Grapes and vine leaves form the basis of the decoration of the little altar. The tabernacle is also painted with becoming taste and in keeping with the general scheme of the altar. In the reception-room are several paintings by a religious, which are of astronomical as well as artistic interest, for they are not only accurate pictures of Halley’s comet as it appeared a few years ago, but are beautiful as pictures in themselves.