Death of the Bishop of Sale, Victoria

New Zealand Tablet, Volume LII, Issue 2, 14 January 1925, Page 29

Death of the Bishop of Sale, Victoria

, ' .- The news of. Bishop Phelan's death will . arouse no surprise, but will cause much sor- : ; row, in Victoria. For mere than a year the -knowledge of his delicate .health . kept his numerous friends in a state of alarm, alternating with great contentment on hearing ,i, ~of improvements in his. condition. At first - " he was the sole person unaware that a serious, malady threatened to cut him off in the midst of his vigorous and successful labors. When he realised eventually that his career was likely to end soon, he accepted the sentence with all the resignation that a man * of deep faith like his shows in such a crisis. .

THE LATE BISHOP PHELAN

His death will be felt not only in his o>diocese, but in the archdiocese of Melbourne. The zeal and organising ability by which Melbourne benefited for a number of years have been freely offered to the diocese of Sale during the eleven years he has been Bishop of that diocese. From the financial and the spiritual point of view, the diocese made wonderful progress under -his active care. Ready to spend himself and to be spent, he devoted his talents as a writer and speaker and organiser to the service of priests and people with happy results that cannot easily be overpraised. His interest in the Austral Light and the Catholic Truth Society— his facile pen was always at their disposal,will have made his name known in all parts of Australasia. The success of big undertakings in Melbourne, such as the Catholic Congress in • 1904, was due, in large measure, to his untiring - energy and splendid unselfishness. Amidst distracting cares as administrator of St. Patrick's, he devoted spare moments to serious study and both in pulpit and in press gave the Catholic public the fruits of his reading. ' The Catholic institutions of Melbourne found in him a constant and encouraging friend whose sound judgment enabled them to develop on practical and permanent lines. The deceased prelate was Iborn in County Kilkenny in 1860. He made his studies first at Mount Melleray Seminary and later at St. Patrick's College, Carlow. In both :/ schools he had as a companion Right Rev. Dr. Carroll of Lismore, N.S.W. At Dr.. Carroll's consecration in 1910, the preacher was his friend, Bishop Phelan, at that time Dean Phelan, who had travelled an immense , distance in order to be with his class-mate v of Melleray and Oarlow days. - ' . .' ■

There was an unusually strong bond of affection between Dr. Phelan and his brother,. Father Michael Phelan, S.J. Both men of literary tastes who in the written and ' the spoken word carried weight by the soundness of their judgment and by.-their mastery of language; their affect'on for each other impressed deeply all who had the privilege of knowing both. • To his distinguished Jesuit brother, Father Michael Phelan, and to the priests and people of Sale, and to his brother-bishops of Australia and New Zealand we tender our profound sympathy in the great loss sustained by all through the death of one whose brilliant services to religion will be long and lovingly remembered. —R.T.P. -■ <~>

BOOK NOTICES The Catholic Director)/ for 1925. From Burns, Oates, and Washlbourne", Ltd. Cloth, 2/-; leather, 4/-. A beautiful little combination of pocketdiary and ecclesiastical calender. There is a page for every day, which, besides leaving plenty of space for notes, gives a very full list of Saints, together with particulars of the Mass to be said, and, as a bottom marginal, a gem.of thought from the writings of the Saints and others. A most useful Christmas or New Year gift for a Catholic. S.H.C —The Magazine of the Sacred Heart College, Auckland, conducted by the Marist Brothers. An excellent school annual from every point of view, reflecting the excellence of, the school itself. It contains the usual resume of the doings of the different departments during the year in education and in sport; and how successful these have been, is summed up thus in the Editorial: "The year 1923, with its two University Scholarships, its four Senior National Scholarships, and its total of sixty-nine passes out of a possible seventy, reaches a point of unprecedented excellence." Amongst old boys, who have gained laurels in sport, are C. Brownlie, M. Brownlie, and G. Hart, members of the All Blacks, and Leo Quin who won the Amateur Golf Championship of New Zealand. There are also two excellent essays, one on Tennyson and the other "The Catholic Church and Education in New Zealand." We heartily congratulate the three youthful editors, P. Soljak, H. Cuming, and R. Keenan. The Bedean, The Magazine of St. Bede's College, Christchurch. This is the youngest of the N.Z. Catholic College magazines, and necessarily does not reach the level of its elder brothers. Nevertheless, it gives every promise, of developing into something good. With the accumulating experience of each succeeding year, and with the financial assistance of Old Bedeans, whose number will be ever increasing, it should soon rival both in matter and form its motherly contemporaries. The school has every reason to be proud of its record during the year, and we feel sure that under the guidance ofVery Rev. Father Geaney and

his able assistants, its many successes willj be multiplied and magnified. Floreat. '"'■■'f>f ; Blue and White. The Magazine of St. Patrick's College, Wellington. . "V, The editors and printers of Blue and White are to be highly complimented in having produced a really high-class number, equalling, if not excelling, the issues'of previous years. While meant primarily for Patricians," past and present, it, nevertheless, has an interest for outsides, as showing the numerous activities of an up-to-date college, and ""the vigor and success with which these are pursued in a Catholic College in our own land. ; Besides what may be termed the domestic, matter of the magazine there are some very fin© essays, amongst which we select for special mention "Pioneers in Education." Almanac of the Franciscan Missionaries of Mary. Longmans, Green and Co. If one wishes to get an insight into the missionary enterprises of the Catholic Church be should spend a. shilling on I his almanac. It contains chatty little accounts of life in the different countries in which these devoted • Sisters, the Franciscan Missionaries of Mary, work. And they seem to be working everywhere—in Palestine, Turkey, India; Burma, Ceylon, China, Japan, Morocco, Tunis, Algeria., Egypt, The Congos, Madagascar, North and South America, and the Philippines. 'They have twenty thousand children in their orphanages, schools, and workrooms; their thirty-seven hospitals 'accommodate 33,000 sick; and their sixty dispensaries treat 1,200,000 cases annually. The Institute was founded only forty-four years ago, and it is only one of many in the vast missionary fields of the .Catholic Church. The magazine also- contains some' pleasant short stories and is .illustrated throughout.' Charms of Dunedin. An . illustrated booklet of 32 pages, got out by the firm of Coulls, Somerville, Wilkie, Dunedin. As its name implies, it is a descriptive guide to the utilities and beauties of this city, natural and otherwise. The illustrations are well selected and nicely reproduced. It is a pity that the gentleman who supplied the literary matter did not give a little space to the different churches and their locations. There are some, churches in Dunedin. A good many visitors probably' stay over a Sunday and it might interest them to know where the places of worship are to be found. One reference is made to a Catholic institution (p. 7) and it is a wrong one. Nor'-West o' West. Angus and Robertson, . Ltd. Price, 2/6. A number of short stories reprinted from different Australian magazines and papers, in which H. E. Riemann deals in an interesting way with some aspects of life in the North-West of Australia. Malays and luggers and pearlers and""cock-eyed bobs" which are storms,and the resident magistrate, the policeman and the publican are his principal properties. Those who like this kind of reading get their half-crown's worth in Nor'Wcst o' West'. \ . \ :