ARCHBISHOP O'SHEA IN TARANAKI

New Zealand Tablet, 30 October 1913, Page 49

ARCHBISHOP O'SHEA IN TARANAKI

CIVIC RECEPTION IN HAWERA His Grace Archbishop O'Shea, who arrived in Hawera on Monday afternoon,- October 13, was in the evening accorded a civic reception in, the' Borough Chambers (says a local paper). Senior Councillor T. Barmby presided, in the unavoidable absence of the Mayor (Mr. A. W. Gillies), who is still confined to his home as the result of the recent motor car accident in Wanganui. There was a large gathering of citizens. Apologies for absence were also received from Councillor Reid, Messrs. R. H. Nolan, and W. A. Parkinson. Very Rev. Dean Power and the Rev. Father Duffy, of Patea, were present. Cr. Barmby said it gave him very great pleasure to extend to his Grace a hearty welcome on behalf of the citizens of Hawera. He apologised for the absence of the Mayor, who was suffering somewhat from his recent accident, and Mr. Gillies had asked the speaker to take his place. Cr. Barmby said it was a very pleasing duty to take part in welcoming one back to his native town,, if not the town of his birth, very nearly so, especially under the very honorable circumstances his Grace had come back among his fellow townsmen and fellow .churchmen, he having attained by dint of perseverance, diligence, and ability, both in literary and theological attainments, and also by his sterling good character,, to the highest position which can be attained in the Catholic Church in this Dominion. He had not the pleasure of knowing his Grace in his youth, but he had had the pleasure of living next door to his good old mother for two years. He had had many conversations with those who had known his Grace when a boy in Hawera, and who had spoken well of his Grace in the athletic field. The high and honorable position to which Archbishop O'Shea had attained must be very gratifying to Dean Power, to the members of his Grace's Church, and. to the citizens of Hawera generally. It always gave the citizens pleasure to recognise merit and to honor those who had gained good positions in any walk of life by dint of hard work, good character, and industry. The great administrative abilities of his Grace must have been recognised by the rulers of his Church, or else he would not have been placed in the high and honorable position he now occupied. He, was quite sure his Grace must be gratified at seeing such a large number of his own people present, together with members of other churches connected with the town, who were all very pleased indeed to welcome the Archbishop on this his first archiepiscopal visit to his native town. He was expressing the opinion of all the citizens in saying he wished his Grace God-speed in his noble work.

Cr. Morrissey said that perhaps he was the only councillor who remembered his Grace thirty years ago. Although he had not gone to school with his Grace, he had known those who had, and who had spoken to him of the energy his Grace had put into his work. It was very gratifying to know that so high an honor had been conferred upon his Grace —a position which would require a great amount of tact and judgment, and he thought his Grace would have those qualities. He felt sure this archdiocese would be very safe in the hands of his Grace, and he would like to "congratulate Archbishop O'Shea upon the high honor that had been conferred upon him. Archbishop O'Shea, on rising to reply, was received with enthusiastic applause. His Grace said he was very thankful to Cr. Barmby and the large number of ladies and gentlemen present for the warm reception to the town, in which he had spent his boyhood, and in which he had gone to school. He felt, with respect to the dignity which he had been raised to, and the honor which went with; it, that the people of Hawera could claim a share of that honor. It was

about thirty years since he had left Hawera to go to college; he had really never lived here since that time, but he had often visited the town, and he had

spent many delightful holidays in it. , He had therefore shared in the progress and prosperity associated, with the town and district. The fact of his mother and relatives still living in the district helped him to keep up his interest in the town. During the last' few days he had" visited various parts of the province, and everywhere he had seen signs of that prosperity for which Taranaki was now famous. -He had found, however, that many of the old pioneers had passed away j but their virtues were being reproduced in their sons and daughters, and the work which was commenced by the early settlers was being well and ably carried on by their descendants. He might mention that his advancement was an indication* that the highest honors in the Church and State were opened to young Now Zealanders. He was quite sure there were many more who would one day be found occupying the position he had been raised to, and who would be able to fill it more ably than he could. His duties would carry him into many parts of the Dominion and into various lands, and he hoped to be able to sound the praises of his province and of his town : to speak not only of the richness of its land, and of the grand mountain which acted as a sentinel over the land; but to be able to do some good for Hawera and for his fellow-citizens. ' If the people will not believe an Archbishop, whom will they believe?' asked his Grace, amidst much laughter. He had to thank the citizens for their kind welcome, and he only regretted, with Cr. Barmby, that the Mayor had been unable to attend, and he would ask the chairman to tell him how very sorry he was to hear of the circumstances which had prevented his Worship from coming that evening. His Grace, in conclusion, said he would do all he could to forward the interests of the town, regardless of creed and of class. . - *: :' The gathering then dispersed, his Grace being afterwards introduced to many citizens. The Archbishop also met a number who remembered him in his early days. v ' : \ : v Q RECEPTION AT THE CONVENT SCHOOL. His Grace Archbishop O'Shea was given a reception by the pupils of the Hawera Convent School on the following afternoon in the presence of a large gathering of parents, guardians, and friends. Very Rev. Dean Power presided, and in the course of a few introductory remarks pointed out that one of the special reasons why the pupils should be pleased at welcoming his Grace was that the Archbishop had been a pupil at the school. After a number of musical items had been rendered in capital style by the children and members of the choir, Miss Barry presented an address inserted in a beautiful silver frame, to his Grace, while at the same time Misses Mollie Nicholson and Doris O'Donnell presented his Grace with pretty bouquets. . ' ' •;. His Grace, who was received with applause, said he was very grateful indeed for the kind welcome, and he was also very pleased with the concert, which reflected the greatest credit upon the children and those who had trained them. Some of the items were by no means easy, and they were all capitally rendered. He wished to thank the children deeply for their beautiful address, and he was very thankful to them for their offer to help him in his great responsibility of the office which he had been raised to. . One of their reasons why they, as children, had given him a heartier welcome, than to another, was that he was once a pupil of the school. It was thirty years ago since he was a pupil of the school, and he desired to congratulate the parish upon having such a; splendid'school. Catholics had always recognised the necessity for religious education, and that was the reason why they had established their own schools under Catholic teachers, so that their children could receive the necessary religious instruction, together with the subjects that required them to complete their primary education according to the syllabus imposed by the Government. ■ The Hawera parish was one of the first to establish a Catholic school, and the school had gone on progressing, and all through the , past thirty or more years had done an immense amount of good for the rising generation. There had

been: many pupils turned out of the school who had risen to positions of honor in various walks of life, and who had done credit to the school where they had received their early training. The fact that the school had produced.- a number of Tiests and an Archbishop was a testimony to the excellence of the training received at the Catholic school in Hawera. His Grace impressed upon the pupils the necessity for carrying out in practice what they were taught, and of ever upholding the honor of the school. He was quite sure the children would always be faithful to the school, that they would be a credit to it, to the teachers, and a credit to the Church. In conclusion, his Grace wished the school every prosperity. The choir and school children sang a number of pretty solos and choruses; the Misses P. and S. Thurston, and the Misses Fennell and Thurston contributed pianoforte duets, while Miss Fennell gave a pianoforte solo; the Misses Mahoney, Douglas, Rauch, Maloney, Quin, Black, O'Donnell, and Nicholson gave a vocal number. ADDRESS FROM PARISHIONERS. St. Joseph's Church was crowded in the evening for Pontifical Vespers, when Archbishop O'Shea, with Dean Power,' Father Cahill (Kaponga), Father Duffy (Patea), and Father Saunderson (Manaia) officiated . After the beautiful service, Mr. E. Gallagher, on behalf of the parishioners, presented the following address to his Grace: ' Your Grace,With joyful hearts, we bid you welcome to your native town. All rejoice: our pastor, who has known you for five-and-twenty years, our old parishioners who recall the days of your infancy, those who sat beside you in the first Catholic school, and who have watched with interest and delight your subsequent and most honorable career, and even the children of the friends and companions of your early years. All rejoice, because your labors will ease the burdens of our venerable Metropolitan, and your affection will be a solace to his declining days, and because your zeal and ability will enable you in God's good time to be the leader in much good work for Holy Church in this Dominion. Congratulating you on your elevation to so high a dignity, we subscribe ourselves, the Catholics of the parish of Hawera.' Mr. J. Bartlett then read the following address from the Confraternity of the Sacred Heart, Hawera: ' May it please your Grace,The Confraternity of the Sacred Heart is the one society in this parish on which our pastor chiefly relies for active and personal assistance in his work for souls. It is on this account he has done us the honor, which we highly appreciate,, of asking us to read a special address of welcome to your Grace. As a spiritual society, whose members should be filled with zeal for the glory of God, we rejoice that your welcome is surrounded with the ceremonies and splendor of our holy religion. You have been raised to the plenitude of the priesthood, and it is fitting that the chief function of your welcome should take place in the sacramental presence of Him Who is a Priest for ever. We rejoice to see you raised to so high a dignity by the Supreme Shepherd of Christendom. We pray that God may give you many years to labor in this corner of His vineyard, so dear to us, and we are confident that anion? the chief objects of your daily care and solicitude will be the great confraternity of which we are a branch, and whose members' chief ambition is to have their names written on the Sacred Heart of Jesus. ' Signed on behalf of the members—- ' James Bartlett, 'President of the Men's Branch. 'Ethel O'Callaghan, 'President of the Women's Branch.' His Grace's Reply. His Grace, in replying, said that he desired first of all to express his deep thanks to their worthy parish priest for "the great trouble he had taken to make this welcome to his (the Archbishop's) . own town and to

his own parish so enthusiastic and so cordial / As stated in the address, they had known each other for five-and-twenty years, and when he was raised to the priesthood it was Dean Power who had assisted him af. - his firaf. IVfooa in wr^n, i- :'*.u-.'.i 'i'J..:.j.-„ r.'« r ■ —.-. : ' — ">> --•»™ m utiuugwii, auuui/ twenty years ago. Afterwards Dean Power came to Hawera to. be parish priest, in which town he (Archbishop O'Shea) spent his boyhood and went to school. It was also a coincidence that Dean Power should have been one of those who had assisted in the ceremony of his consecration "fs Coadjutor- Archbishop recently in the same city of Wellington. He was perfectly sure that the work the Dean had done in this parish for so many years and the labors which he was at present engaged in would be blessed to the fullest extent by Almighty God. The joy with which the Dean saw one of his. parishioners come back to Hawera invested with such a high dignity was a joy that was shared by all of the parishioners, not on account of the speaker's own poor personality, but because of God's glory, and because the event marked a great epoch in the history of the Catholic parish in Hawera. In reply to the address wh lc h the parishioners had so kindly presented to him, bis Grace said he must thank them most sincerely for the sentiments contained in that address. The parishioners had promised to lighten his burden, and they could do this only by their prayers and by a good example in living up to the teachings of the Holy Church. His Grace had always been edified and consoled at the signs of the strong, living faith that had permeated the parishioners of Hawera. He had known that they were faithful in approaching the Sacraments, and that they were thoroughly in earnest about the practices of their holy religion. And perhaps nowhere in the. archdiocese was there so fervent, so pious, and- so earnest a congregation. This 'was peculiarly gratifying to him. The address from the confraternity of the Sacred Heart pleased him most particularly. This society was of great assistance to the pastor, and he was pleased to hear that it was doing so well m the parish. It was, of course, a matter of regret when he came back to find that so many old laces were no longer here, those he knew as a boy many of whom had passed to their reward. It was gratifying to him to know that those who had come alter them, and those who had come from other places were walking in the footsteps of the pioneers who had founded the Church in this fair district of Taranaki His(Grace went on to elaborate on the faithful work or the-pioneers and of those who were following, and he said he could only exhort them to continue in that way He knew also that the material side of the parish had not been neglected, and under their zealous parish priest the parish had made many advances in this respect. He understood that the parishioners contemplated making greater improvements in the future especially in regard to the buildings required for education. That particularly delighted him, that great work of Christian education, and his Grace went onto refer to the good work of the' Catholic schools, which was -up to the requirements of the State inspectors. He was delighted to know that the Catholic school m Hawera had always obtained most excellent r ZT tS >, J 1 Grace referred at length to the objects or the Catholic Federation, pointing out that its purpose was to do away with the present injustice which existed towards the Church in compelling its members to educate their own children as well as levying on them taxes to support an educational system which Catholics could not conscientiously take advantage of He believed that there were many members of denominations outside the Catholic Church who were fair-minded enough to like to see this injustice removed, and a system of education introduced satisfactory to all parties. The movement of the" Catholic federation had been taken up most enthusiastically throughout the Dominion, and he was sure that the parish of Hawera would assist it. In conclusion, his Urace again thanked the parishioners for their splendid, reception, and he asked them for their prayers in the great responsibility which had been placed upon him in his new office. ' .