SILVER JUBILEE OF FATHER COFFEY

New Zealand Tablet, 17 June 1915, Page 23

SILVER JUBILEE OF FATHER COFFEY

PRESENTATION FROM THE PRIESTS OF THE DIOCESE. A number of the priests of the diocese of Dunedin met at the Bishop's Palace on June 8 in order to do honor to the Very Rev. Father Coffey, Adm., on the occasion of the silver jubilee of his ordination to the priesthood. His Lordship the Bishop was present with the following priests:—Very Rev. Mgr. O'Leary, V.F., Very Rev. Father Hunt, Rev. Fathers Delany, O'Reilly, J. Lynch, P. O'Neill, Buckley, Corcoran, Kavanagh, D. O'Neill, Foley, Falconer, Kaveney, Liston, Morkane, Collins, Scanlan, and E. Lynch. Several apologies were received.

Monsignor O’Leary referred in graceful terms to the fine priestly qualities of Father Coffey, and congratulated him on the good work he has done in the diocese. Father Coffey, the speaker said speaking from intimate personal knowledge, was a most zealous and devoted priest, who had left his mark on several parishes in the diocese, and who was esteemed throughout New Zealand by non-Catholics as well as by Catholics. He had carried out an arduous and very successful campaign throughout, the diocese on behalf of the St. Vincent de Paul Orphanage at South Dunedin, founded by his Lordship the Bishop, and carried on by the Sisters of Mercy, and since the opening of that institution had been its trusted and active manager. The Christian Brothers’ School would stand as a monument of his boundless energy and. financial genius. He had placed all the priests of the diocese under many obligations to him by his warm hospitality and generous assistance on all occasions.

Monsignor O’Leary then read the following address, and in the name of all his fellow-priests without exception, presented Father Coffey with a substantial cheque: ‘ Very Rev. and Dear Father, —We, the priests of the diocese of Dunedin, desire by our presence and congratulations to heighten the joy that must be yours on this, the twenty-fifth anniversary of your ordination to the priesthood. During the twenty-five years on which the seal of eternity is now set, you have done noble work in illuminating, guiding, strengthening, consoling, and saving souls. You have shown courage of a high order, deep sympathy, and great wisdom. in dealing with the orphanage at South Dunedin; you have spent yourself in building a magnificent school in order that the little ones, whom the Saviour loved, may grow up in an atmosphere of learning and piety, love and obedience, true light and chaste life. Your priestly life has ever been marked by a spirit of disinterestedness and self-sacrifice, by a largeness of heart, ability, and untiring energy. For all these years of zealous devotion in the diocese of Dunedin, we, your fellow-priests, desire to thank you most heartily. In a special way are we grateful for your ever genial hospitality, your successful labors in connection with the clergy sick fund, your ever-ready and valuable assistance, and for those many unremembered acts of kindness that make up the best portion of a man’s life. We beg of you to accept this accompanying gift as a sign of our gratitude and appreciation.

:■ ■■:.'■ 'May your "priestly life run round the five decades of the Rosary, and continue to be full of high resolves and generous deeds in the service of our common Master.' . . ' Signed on behalf of the priests of the diocese, ' John Mack ay, V.G. 'Patrick O'Leary, V.F. 'June 8, 1915.' His Lordship the Bishop offered his congratulations to the jubilarian, and hoped he would live to spend another twenty-five years in the same fruitful service of God. He' thoroughly endorsed all that had been said of Father Coffey's priestly worth and work by Monsignor O'Leary, and in the address, and mentioned particularly his kindly anxiety to help his fellow-priests and his sense of justice in his dealings with them. He assured Father Coffey that his work in the Cathedral parish and in connection with the orphanage was highly appreciated.

Very Rev. Father Coffey, to whom the pleasant function and presentation had come entirely as a surprise, said he hardly knew how to express his gratitude to his fellow-priests, and especially to his Lordship the Bishop. He had always striven to keep intact those happy relations that had always been a distinguishing mark of the clergy of the diocese of Dunedin. He wished to pay a tribute of admiration to the Sisters of Mercy for their work at the orphanage. The Government officials in Wellington had told him again and again that the South Dunedin Orphanage was the best conducted in New Zealand. In the course of the ten years during which he load occupied his present position he had been brought into unusually close contact with practically all the' priests of the diocese, and it was deeply gratifying to him to receive such a unanimous expression of their confidence and esteem. lie thanked them from his heart for their particularly handsome and generous gift, and appreciated, far more than he could say, the cordial and kindly spirit which prompted it.