Commonwealth Notes
NEW. SOUTH WALES. The Mother General of the Sisters of Charity and her assistants, at the invitation of his Lordship Br. O’Farrell, Bishop of Bathurst, paid a visit of inspection to Harthorp, Bathurst, recently, with a view to advising on its improvement and equipment for a memorial hospital. They were delighted with the suitability of the building and grounds for the purposes of a hospital, and expressed the opinion that Br. O’Farrell would bo rewarded with gratifying success for his labors in connection with the movement. The party later returned to Sydney. Bight Bev. Br. Foley, Bishop of Ballarat, returned to his .diocese on Wednesday, of last week (says the Freeman's Journal for August 25), after an absence in Europe extending over fifteen months. He was accompanied from Melbourne by several dignitaries, and was welcomed at the Western railway station by a large gathering of citizens. Among those assembled were many persons from various parishes in the diocese, together with about 50 priests. The Bishop, who is the first cousin of his Grace Br. Mannix, whom ho accompanied on his tour through Europe and America, was loudly cheered when ho alighted from the train. He was afterwards received by a guard of honor composed of members of the Hibernian Society and Irish National Foresters. A procession, which included between 20 and 30 motor cars, was formed,, and a march through the city to St. Patrick’s Cathedral took place. The footpaths en mute were lined' with spectators. There was a crowded congregation when Bishop Foley, 50 priests, and members of the committee arrived at the cathedral. An augumented choir was in attendance, and “Ecce Sacerdos” and the “Te Benin” were sung. At the conclusion of a brief ceremony Benediction of the Blessed Sacrament was given by the Bishop, The clergy of the diocese entertained Bishop Foley at dinner during the afternoon. A conversazione was held at St. Patrick’s Hall at night, when the Bishop was presented with addresses. Dr. Foley, in replying, made referencees to his experiences during his tour through the home countries, and spoke of the unhappy conditions of affairs in Ireland.
VICTORIA. At a welcome concert arranged by the Christian Brothers, and held at Wirth’s Olympia, Melbourne, on Saturday night, August 20, the Archbishop of Melbourne explained the position as between the British Government and Bail Eireann, as he sees it. After remarking that he was pleased that Australian numbers had been included in the evening’s programme, and commending the Christian Brothers for giving Australia its proper place in their schools, his Grace said it was equally the duty of Catholic teachers to let their pupils know what their forefathers had suffered for Ireland. They were hopeful at that moment that Ireland would emerge from her suffering, and would no longer be' in need of their sympathy. He hoped that would come true. When they read the /paperseven the hostile press which came into their hands— could see that the Irish people of that moment were unlike the Irish people of other times. They were standing absolutely solid behind their leaders. The Irish people had confidence in their leaders, and if the negotiations proceeding failed, they would still stand solid behind their leaders. (Cheers.) Negotiations were pending. The papers wrote about them in a manner suggesting that they should be all on the tip-toe of expectation about them; but they found on looking into the subject that Bail Eireann had drawn up its agenda paper; that the negotiations were a long way down the list, and that they were not going one inch out of the way to discuss Lloyd George’s proposals until they reached them. The Irish people were cool, calm, and determined. They were not going to be taken in. They were going to walk warily, and were not going to be stampeded into a settlement that would be no settlement. If they got a reasonable offer, they would accept it. If they did not get a reasonable offer, no amount of press stampeding would make them agree to an unreasonable offer. The Irish people might have to suffer, but as far as he could judge they were absolutely
determined to go through with the struggle, whatever it might cost them. (Cheers.) They might have to struggle and suffer more and more, but freedom was worth struggling and suffering for, and the man who would not stand up for it did not deserve to have either a country or freedom. They were being told that Irish sympathisers all over the world were satisfied with the offer made to the Irish people. They did not really know what had been offered so far; but the people who did know did not appear to think they had.got an offer that was acceptable. They all knew that Ireland, before the N offer was made, had been carved up into two portions. They were being led to believe that self-determination was being ceded; but those who were ceding it had cut Ireland into two parts, and had cut it to their own pattern. Once there was talk of having a clear cut of the whole of Ulster, taking in the nine counties; but that was dropped because it was found that in the whole of Ulster the Orangemen and Carsonites would have been in a minority. So they included only six counties, in which there was a big minority of Catholics and Sinn Feiners. Those who made the partition were clever in their generation. They would not give the whole of Ireland Home Rule, because the Protestant minority would have been at the mercy of the Catholic majority; but the Catholic minority in the six counties could be placed under the heel of the Protestant majority and everything was quite all right. They well knew what this meant. They knew that within the last two years the Protestants had turned 5,000 Catholics out of the ship yards of Belfast because they would not say "To hell with the Pope." Those 5,000 workmen were still unemployed, ground under the heel of the Protestant majority. As far as they could see, there was nothing in Lloyd George's proposals that would give them cause for hope that all their wrongs would be righted; in fact, the recent journey of the King to open the Ulster Parliament seemed to have widened the breach. He did not know if King George was responsible. He could only hope he was badly advised.
QUEENSLAND. On Monday, August 22 (Feast of Our Lady’s Assumption), his Grace the Archbishop established and blessed at St. Stephen’s Cathedral the first Australian branch of the Handmaids of the Blessed Sacrament’ (says the Catholic Advocate). About 100 candidates presented themselves for enrolment into the franks of this great body of weekly Communicants, and these candidates were drawn from all classes of Catholic society and from widely-scattered districts throughout the city parishes. This magnificent movement, or crusade as it is termed, of ladies who bind themselves to a closer and more intimate personal service of the Blessed Sacrament, has been blessed and approved by his Holiness Pope Benedict XV. Although it is but four or five years since it was established, it has spread throughout the world, and is now to be found in eight different countries, numbering a roll-call of about 2,000,000 Knights and Handmaids. As an instance of the wonderful enthusiasm that the crusade has aroused, one episode taken from many experiences during the late Avar will suffice. At Aldershot the military chaplain was prevailed upon to establish the Knighthood among the soldiers there in camp; with justifiable misgivings he did so, saying that perhaps he might be able to get fifty weekly Communicants. Within a couple of months of its establishment, he had a roll-call of 2,000 Knights. Father Denis Boyle, the heroic Jesuit chaplain who lost his life on the battlefield, was an enthusiastic member of the Knighthood. He wrote from the war area to the Crusade Headquarters at Osterley, London: “The Knighthood out here is simply wonderful.” He could find no 1 words strong enough to praise it. The only condition exacted for admission into the ranks of the Crusade is a promise, or word of honor, to receive Holy Communion every week wherever practicable, though this promise does not bind under pain of sin. When the Archbishop gave his approval for the establishment of the Crusade in the diocese, a number of ladies sent in their applications for admission into its ranks. On the date above-mentioned the movement was definitely launched as the Women’s Bivision in the Knighthood of the Blessed Sacramentthe first branch established in Australia.
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New Zealand Tablet, 8 September 1921, Page 30
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1,441Commonwealth Notes New Zealand Tablet, 8 September 1921, Page 30
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