Archdiocese of Wellington

New Zealand Tablet, Volume LII, Issue 5, 4 February 1925, Page 30

Archdiocese of Wellington

(From our own Correspondent.) January 30. The Marist clergy come out of Retreat this morning. There are the usual brief reunions of busy priests who seldom meet otherwise. The Hibernian Society here will welcome recruits. Speaking on the subject on Sunday Rev. Father Smythe advised all young men to ensure against loss by accident or sickness by joining this well-known Catholic Benefit Society. A pretty and popular wedding was that ot Miss Elsie Kelleher to Mr. E. Sullivan, of Addington, Christchurch. The bride is a well-known member of St. Anne’s congregation, where her parents, Mr. and Mrs P. J. Kelleher, are old residents. She is a niece of Mr. P. D. Hoskins, of this city. The ceremony was performed by Rev. Father Sweeney, of Westport, assisted by Rev. Father Fallon, of St. Anne's. The bridesmaids were Miss Doris Hoskins and Miss Eileen Kelleher. Mr. Aeneas Curran was best man, and Mr. Frank Kelleher, groomsman. A social evening was given by the bride’s parents in honor of the event. The art union promoted by the Catholic Education Board was drawn on Wednesday last. The education fund benefits to the extent of £l2O as a result. St. Patrick’s Day this year will be celebrated by a national concert at the Town Hall. The usual sports will not be held this year. The quarterly meeting of the Catholic Education Board was held last Wednesday, at St. Joseph’s Hall, his Grace Archbishop O’Shea presiding. Accounts totalling £4OO were passed for payment. Encouraging reports were received in regard to the various activities of the board. The date of the annual schools’ social and picture entertainment was fixed for Wednesday, May 13. Island Bay has a St. Anthony’s Bread Box installed, and the Yen. Archdeacon Devoy, S.M., has been able by this means to send to the Home of Compassion the respectable sum of £26 for the year just closed. Retreat for Laymen at Wellington (By P.D.H.) The Week-end Retreat for laymen, conducted by Rev. K. McGrath, Marist Missinner, commenced at St. Patrick’s College on Friday and concluded on Monday morning. The Retreat proved most successful. The full accommodation at the college was availed of, and 50 men of all stations of life assembled to partake of the quiet and regular life afforded by their temporary with-

drawal from the world. The rev. preacher gave a series of fine lectures full of that solid advice so necessary to men nowadays tocombat the evils which, surround them. A feature of the Retreat was the congregational, singing of the men who claimed as one of their number an organist, so that the exercises of the Retreat were enhanced and made more devotional. The feeling experienced by all of the Retreatants was regret at the shortness of the period of the happy spiritual lifewhich they enjoyed, and each man went, away with the resolution of attending futureRetreats and also acting as an advocate for tile cause amongst his friends. The material comforts of the men were not overlooked, and. the college staff, under the direction of .thematron (Mrs. Chamness), did everything possible to make their short sojourn at the college a. most happy one. An acknowledgment of how successful this part of the Retreat was carried out was voiced at its close by Mr. P. J. O’Regan, who, in referring to this matter, said that the attention and cuisine excelled that of a first-class hotel. The same speaker, on behalf of the Retreatants, expressed their gratitude to Father McGrath, the Rector of the college (Very Rev. Father Gilbert, S.M.), the college Fathers and staff for what was done- for them both spiritually and materially.