ST. BEDE'S COLLEGE, CHRISTCHURCH

New Zealand Tablet, 27 February 1919, Page 19

ST. BEDE'S COLLEGE, CHRISTCHURCH

FOUNDATION-STONE CEREMONY. The foundation-stone of the new Catholic Secondary College of St. Bede's, on the North Road, was laid on last Sunday afternoon by his Lordship Bishop Brodie, in the presence of a large gathering of clergy and laity. His Grace Archbishop Redwood, who was expected to be present to perforin the ceremony, was unable to attend, owing to the late arrival of the boat in which he was coming from Australia. Among those who were present were the Yen. Archdeacon Devoy, S.M., Right Rev. Mgr. Mackay, Very Rev. Deans Holley, S.M, (Provincial). Tubman, S.M., Regnault, S.M., and Binsfeld, S.M., Rev. Dr. Kennedy, Very Rev. J. Coffey (Diocesan Administrator, Dunedin), Fathers Quinn, Kerley, Seymour, O’Connell, Dign'an, Price, Leen, Langley, C.SS.R., Buckley, Gilbert, Fogarty, Burger, and Roche. The Very Rev. Father Graham, S.M., M.A. (Rector of St. Bede’s), acted as chairman at the speech-making after the ceremony. The Hibernians formed a guard of honor for his Lordship the Bishop, and the boys of the Marist Brothers’ School provided the music. Representatives of the Catholic Federation, the St. Vincent de Paul Society, and the Children of Mary were also present. After the ceremony of the blessing of the stone and the blessing of the foundation had been performed by his Lordship Bishop Brodie on a dais erected in the front of the buildings speeches were made by several of the clergy present. The Very Rev. Father Graham apologised for the absence of the Metropolitan. His Grace, sent his deep regrets at his absence on that great occasion. Apologies were also received from his Grace Archbishop O’Shea, Right Rev. Dr. Cleary, and clergy from all parts of the Dominion, and also from Sir George Clifford, Mr. Hayward, and others of the laity. Continuing Father Graham said : It gives me exceeding great pleasure to welcome you here to-day. I am especially pleased to see so many representatives of the clergy from all parts of New Zealand, who have come long distances at great personal inconvenience to show by their presence and practical support their interest in the great cause of Catholic education, which in this day’s .ceremony takes another forward step. It was in the year 1911 that we began our work in Christchurch in the premises we now occupy, which before our occupation of them served as the cradle of that great institution, Nazareth House, a temporary home. It was owing to the insistent demand of the late Bishop of the diocese, his Lordship Dr. Grimes, who after equipping his diocese so thoroughly with churches, schools, and institutions, sought to complete his work by the establishment of a school where boys could receive the secondary education so necessary in these days under Catholic guidance and amid Catholic influences. Owing to the difficulty of financing immediately the undertaking and starting straight away on a big scheme such as is now, thank God ! being commenced, we were forced to limit the scope of our work to that of a day school, which at best could serve only for boys resident in Christchurch. Meanwhile we were instructed by our superiors to look round for a suitable property, which would serve as a site for the future college. It was about the beginning of the year 1914 that the property on which we are assembled to-day was brought under our notice, and both Father Quinn and I saw. that it was in every way admirably suited for our requirements. Dean Regnault, who as Provincial of the Society of Mary, was responsible for our establishment in Christchurch, was still Provincial then; and on viewing the property in company with his Lordship Bishop Grimes and several members ’of the Provincial Chapter, which had just been sitting in Wellington, he pronounced it suitable; and on the eve of his departure for Europe to attend the General Chapter of the 1 Order, set the crown on his long term of successful administration as Provincial by purchas-

ing the property. I may say that, after three long years in our temporary premises, Father Quinn and I began to fear that they were beginning to become permanent. But with the deeds securely in our possession our spirits revived, and we set about planning as to how we could move our quarters to our new property and set out upon our wider field of work unencumbered by limitations in space and lack of scope in establishment. With the consent of Bishop Grimes the Ven. Archdeacon Devoy agreed to release Father Quinn from teaching to begin the work of collecting in the diocese for the new college, and Father Burger was appointed to succeed Father Quinn at St. Bede’s. Father Quinn set out immediately, commencing in Waimate, where the people responded most liberally, ‘ with that genuine faith and loyalty to the Church that has prompted , all the glorious sacrifices that Catholics have made during the last 40 in the cause of education. So successful was this first appeal that our hopes were quickened of seeing very soon the realisation of our wishes in the erection of a thoroughly up-to-date building. But unfortunately the great war broke out, and with the unrest and upset conditions that then followed money became more scarce and more • difficult to obtain. However, the collection w.as continued in many parishes, but at length it was deemed advisable to discontinue it for a time and wait for more favorable conditions. Still the efforts of . Father Quinn met with astounding success, and as the first Rector of St. Bede’s I wish on this occasion to give public expression to the gratitude 1 that I feel towards him for the great work that he accomplished in collecting, under such adverse circumstances, the large sum of more than £3OOQ. This formed the nucleus of the fund for the new building. After the death of Bishop Grimes the Superior-General of the Society of Mary generously donated the portion of the late Bishop’s estate that was bequeathed to him to further the work of St. Bede’s, and thus our fund stood at between £6OOO and £7OOO. On his taking charge of the diocese. Bishop Brodie, with the true pastor’s zeal for the progress of religion, saw immediately that the establishment of a boarding-school for boys was an absolute necessity, and promising us the loyal support of his priests and people urged the commencement, of the work. And thus to-day he has the joy of seeing this great work started. I cannot allow this opportunity to pass without acknowledging the great encouragement we have at all times received from his Lordship Bishop Brodie and my own religious superiors. It has been difficult during these eight years to carry on our work under the trying and distressing conditions under which we had to labor. And were it not for this encouragement and the prospect of one day seeing a college erected in which our scope would be unimpeded, it would have been almost impossible to carry on. However, that condition of things is now about to be changed, and I welcome with glad and grateful heart the arrival of this day that has filled my thoughts during all that eight years. I would be ungrateful ~ and unkind did I forget to thank also those kind benefactors who have contributed so cheerfully and so generously towards this building. May Almighty God bless them for the sacrifices they have made, and reward them for their share in that great work which He Himself has- blessed, the instruction and education of youth. The Very Rev. Dean Holley, Provincial of the Marist Order, said he would simply remind those present that they were there in support of a principle and policy sanctioned by reason and common sense—namelv. that religious and secular knowledge and instruction must not be divorced if education in the full acceptance of the term was to be given. < Believing, as they did, that the great purpose of this- life was to fit them for the life to come, they must insist that moral and religious instruction must go hand in hand with, intellectual training, if any system of education was to - be regarded as complete. The -speaker concluded with outlining what the Marist Fathers had. done for educa- .' tion in .the Dominion <

The Rev. Dr. Kennedy said the function they were- present at that day must have a special interest to all those who knew the"work inaugurated by the late Bishop nine years ago. He congratulated Fathers Graham and Quinn on all they had done for St. Bede's up to the present, and expressed the gratitude of the diocese for the manner in which Bishop Brodie had carried out the life's ideal of his predecessor by the establishment of a diocesan college for secondary education . The Very Rev. Dean Regnault said the co-opera-tion of British and French had been so successful in the great war that he thought French and British should combine in Canterbury to help forward any good work contemplated. The college they had seen commenced that afternoon would be for the benefit of generations to come, for the benefit of the Church, of the Dominion generally, and of the province of Canterbury in particular. The establishment of a college was as heroic a deed as the foundation of a religious order, and it had to be taken just as seriously. It filled a need, and was calculated to confer a special benefit on the human race. The children at this college should be trained on the lines of the highest and noblest ideals, so that, they would grow up to be Christian gentlemen able to take their part honorably in the private and public life of New Zealand. They would receive not only intellectual and physical training, but religious training as well so that the moral and spiritual side of their lives would be developed. Catholic education did not end with the primary schools, and with colleges like St. Bede's there would be no need for Catholics- to send their sons and daughters to such secondary secular schools as existed. At the present time they had the Sacred Heart College in Auckland, St, Patrick's College in Wellington, Holy Cross College, Mosgiel, in the south, and now St. Bede's would fill a need for the Catholic youth of Canterbury and Westland. The speaker concluded by urging those who were able to give financial support to the college. The Very Rev. Father Coffey, on behalf of the visiting clergy and the diocese of Dunedin, congratulated the Christchurch diocese on a work so successfully started. He pointed out how the Catholic primary schools were second to none in the world, and their secondary ones should fulfil this proud boast also. Much sacrifice was required of them to maintain their schools and colleges, and the teachers who conducted them had no thought of gain but only of the good they could do. Recently at a meeting of teachers in Wellington he had noticed that there had been a strong bid made for higher wages, it being argued that unless the remuneration was sufficiently attractive, suitable men and women would not be attracted to the profession. At the same meeting a visitor from Canada had said that unless teachers were prepared to carry out their work from sheer love of it and not from the point of view of £ s. d., they could never gain the highest success. And this remark was made to a body that was agitating for higher wages! The speaker complained of the unfairness of the present State education m New Zealand. It cost the country between £7 and £8 per head per year for each child in the primary schools, and £2O per head per annum for each child in the secondary schools. In other words, it cost about £SO to educate the poor man's child, and £l6O to educate the child of the professional man the rich man, and the well-to-do farmer. The poor'man who could not afford to send his child to the secondary school still had to pay his share for the rich man's child's education. "You want to be just to the working man of the country," said Father Coffey, but I say you are not just to him, and if the working man was not blinded by the fallacious arguments set rorth in the daily press he would see this."- They ad recently seen the Minister of Education stumping the Co c U n^« booStmg the existing system of education with £500,000 worth of promises to the school teacher but after all, what wasv.the result of the system Why, they had that same Minister complaining at the tutting

of the Senate ..that business men and editors of papers all grumbled at the atrocious writing, spelling, and composition, of * their correspondents. As matters were now* a business man , preferred to take a boy straight from the primary school to his office, rather than from the secondary school when , the boy thought he knew all there was to know and refused to learn. The speaker concluded by insisting that it was unfair to expect Catholics to share all the burdens “and responsibilities of citizenship and yet refuse to let them have one penny of public money for their schools. BISHOP BRODIE’S ADDRESS. My first-words, said his Lordship, must be to express my regret at the unavoidable absence of Archbishop Redwood,, who had gone to Australia on import-ant-ecclesiastical business, but had been . detained longer than expected, owing to epidemic conditions in New Zealand, and then in Australia. His Grace had reached New Zealand by the first available steamer, but not m time to be in Christchurch for the important ceremony of to-day. The presence of Archbishop Redwood to-day would have been singuarly appropriate—he is as it were, the first fruits of the work of Catholic education and of the work of the Marist Fathers m the cause of Catholic education in New Zealand; his illustrious career has been closely entwined with the Catholic religious and educational development of our. Dominion; his zeal and untiring energy have left their impress on the progress of this diocese, which was formerly under his jurisdiction and, as in Wellington he started St. Patrick’s College on its career of remarkable success, his presence to-day would have been an incentive to us , all to make St. Bede’s -worthy of the best traditions in the work of secondary education of our Catholic youth. Father Graham has asked me to address you today on the important but intensely practical subject of finance. Of this fact we must not lose sight; we are to-day entering upon a work which will involve heavy financial and personal sacrifice, but it will be a sacrifice for which the beneficial results will amply compensate us. It may interest you to know the amount of money already expended in this diocese on the erection of schools—the amount, including sites, structures, maintenance, and residences of Brothers and Sisters— reached the large sum of £167,000; and within the next three or four years, we will expend another £60,000 including the sum of close on £25,000 on St. Bede’s. This expenditure does not include the money expended in the maintainence and support of teachers. It has to be remembered that, according to the education report for 1917. Catholics contributed at the rate of £1 13s per head per annum to the upkeep of the public school system, or a total of about £202,000, and, in addition, relieved the Government of the education of about 15,000 children, meaning a saving to the Government of £IIO,OOO. It can readily be seen that the financial sacrifice involved in the work of Catholic education is very heavy. The personal sacrifice is greater still it demands of our priests, Brothers, and Sisters a life’s devotion to the sacred work of Christian education, so that our Catholic children may have the priceless advantage of being trained in the knowledge and practice of their holy faith—no word's of mine can adequately acknowledge this sacrificeno appreciation on the part of the Catholic body can be too great for the work of our devoted and, self-sacrificing Catholic teachers.

Catholic Education'in its Relation to the Catholic Faith.

I frankly make this admission that without our school system, our holy faith would soon be exterminated. This is a truth ever recognised by the friends and enemies of religion from time immemorial. In regard .to education, the Catholic position is thus outlined: 1. Intellectual education must not be separated from religious or moral instruction. 2. Religion should be an essential part, the vivifying principle of education.

3. Sound moral instruction is impossible apart from religious education. 4. An education which combines the intellectual, moral, and religious elements is the best safeguard for the home and for the social well-being. If our. holy faith has stood the test of time, if it has survived the destructive influences with which it was confronted, if in this young country we can rejoice at the preservation and spread of our holy faith, the principles of Catholic education provide the explanation. The fact that in the diocese of Christchurch the vast sum of £ 167,000 has been expended on buildings connected with the work of education, and that in addition we contemplate an expenditure of some £60,000 in the near future, and the providing of -this amount out of the private funds of Catholics, will furnish ample proof of the earnestness of Catholics in the work of Christian education and the preservation of the faith. We come to consider the work of Christian, education in its Relation to the State, to Social Well-being. * In dealing with this phase of the subject we can remember that we have all passed through a terrific struggle. Catholics have done their share with their non-Catholic fellow-citizens. They have shared the cost in men, money, and life to bring about victory and peace, and now -we are all confronted with the common and, at the same time, the gigantic task of reconstruction. At such a time theories may bo propounded and opinions expressed with the confidence of a sympathetic consideration which at other times might not be expected. Robespierre, one of the leaders of the French Revolution, lived long enough to see the havoc his irreligious campaign wrought on his country, and when about to expiate his terrible crimes he cried out: “The French Nation recognises the existence of a Supreme Being, and the Republic can only be. saved on the eternal basis of morality.” Again, Lord Salisbury, in one of his speeches on the education question : “You have heard too much in recent days of crime and sins and horrors which it is a.shame to mention. You have heard statements of corruption, and you have heard proposals of legislation by which it was hoped that such corruption could be stemmed. There is only one remedy for such corruption, and that is the true teaching of the true principles of Christianity.” If Lord Salisbury were to speak at the present day, even of our fair Dominion of New Zealand, his words could not be more appropriate or more exnlicit. When we read of cases of criminal profiteering, where the ill-gained profits are made at the cost of the life’s blood of our nearest and dearest, and at the price of the sighs and tears of heart-broken loved ones ; when we see the development of industrial conditions driving men to revolution and revolt when we remember that even in this country the authorities have had to call out forces to bludgeon discontented workers into submission ; when the irrefutably just and sacredly noble cause of labor is bring vitiated bv principles and tactics springing from atheism and anarchy, and when the country is practically paralysed bv industrial chaos, there is reason for . thought. When again, we see the evidence of growing immorality, as so frequently evidenced in our divorce courts, when we are impressed that national life is endangered by the frustration of the sacred and Divine purpose of the married state, when, we realise the cruel and unnatural sacrifice of infantile and prenatal lifean evil steadily growing,—it is high time that our legislators and statesmen should pause and ask tins question—Whether, after all, the attitude of the Government in discouraging and embarassing the efforts made on behalf of Christian and religious education has not been a mistake?” President Wilson has said that this war has been a war of ideals, and that the pernicious ideals of enemy nations have precipitated the world-wide disaster with its train of death, destruction, and unspeakable and it is worth while to ask whether on . the all-important

subject of education with its far-reaching consequences,, the State has been .guided by? correct ideals. I have; no hesitation in saying that a just and impartial inquiry on this subject would ©licit evidence which' would be alarmingly and overwhelmingly convincing. With this deep conviction, it will be always my sacred duty to our holy faith and to the State to encourage, to urge my priests, my religious communities, and my people in their great —the noble cause of Christian education. St. Bede’s College will be for the purpose of facilitating the secondary education of our Catholic boys; a department of our educational work hitherto not sufficiently developed. The patron for this college is wisely selected. The name of St. Bede reopens the pages of history and sets before us Pope Gregory, in the year 596, sending St. Augustine to evangelise England ; St. Augustine established a school and seminary at Canterbury, and in a few years the country was studded with schools, seminaries, monasteries ; also the two great universities of Oxford and Cambridge. St. Bede was one of the illustrious oroducts of Catholic England. Bishop Tanner says of St. Bede: “Ho was a prodigy of learning whose erudition we can never cease from admiring, bis writings alone constitute a veritable library and treasure of ail the arts.” As the name of St. Bede’s was illustrious in the educational annals of England, may the career of St. Bede’s College be illustrious in the educational work of this diocese and Dominion. “ I regard St. Bede’s College as a special legacy to mo from my late revered predecessor of honored memory. He left many and notable completed works which redound to his lasting honor, but I always feel I should be untrue to his memory and wanting in my duties to my diocese, if I did not encourage and help this great work which will make a great advance in the educational and religious equipment of the diocese. I thank the Marist Fathers for undertaking the work of St. Bede’s. I feel it is in capable handsthe spirit which actuated the early missionaries of the Society of Mary when,- in pioneering days, they toiled and labored for the spread of the faith ; that spirit has guided St. Patrick’s College to its present posit on of eminence and success, and will, with God’s blessing, guide St. Bede’s in the worthiest traditions of Catholic education. I wish every blessing to St. Bede’s College. May its work bo directed by God’s guidance, inspired by heaven’s blessings, and supported and encouraged by the whole-hearted generosity and appreciation of the clergy and people of the diocese of Christchurch.