Irish News

New Zealand Tablet, Volume LII, Issue 7, 25 February 1925, Page 47

Irish News

REDEMPTORISTS FOR ThR PHILIPPINES—TRAIN DISASTER IN DONEGAL. h“ A NEW IRISH CONGREGATION—THE RESULT OF PROTECTON—IRISH IN S?® SCHOOLS—ARCHBISHOP MANNIX AND THE IRISH TREATY: INTERJr ESTING STATEMENT; .—THE FREE STATE FAIL WAYS.

Five members of the Redemptorist Order in Ireland leave early in the new year for the Philippine Islands. Amongst the number is the Rev. Father Jones, who has been attached to the parent house at Mount St. Alphonsus, Limerick, for some years past. Father Jones, who is a gifted missionary preacher and musician; has been Sub-Director of the Arch-Confraternity of the Holy Family and at the meetings of that great sodality on Monday night and last night (says the Limerick Leader for December 10) the director, Rev. Father Cleary, asked for the prayers of the members for Father Jones and those who were accompanying him in bis mission to the Far East. Amongst the worshippers at the Redemptorist Church Father Jones is very popular, and his departure will be regretted by all who knew him. *? Four passengers were killed and 10 were injured through a gale blowing a train over an embankment on a recent night near Creeslough, Donegal. The engine remained on the rails, but both coaches caught the f u ? of the gale and crashed down an end liniment 40ft high. Only one passenger was uninjured, The dead included a magi it are and his wife, who had been to fetch their son from a hospital, whence they -m i r cd him despite the matron’s appeal to let him remain on such a stormy night. The son is in hospital severely wounded. The latest details shows that a gale blew off the roof and sides of one of the" coaches, the occupants of which were hurled into a ravine. Mr, Cosgrave sent a sympathetic message to the survivors. * An interesting article appeared i•' He Irish Independent during December, showing the effects of the tariff imposed last summer on boots, soap, candles, sweets, and bottles. In all branches of industry it is claimed that trade developed and employment increased. A typical boot-factory increased its output from'6l,ooo pairs in 1923 to 120,000 pairs in 1924. The most remarkable effect has been shown in candles and soap. The imports of these for the three months prior to the imposition of the tariffs were 15,239cwts of candles and 30,869cwts of soap. Since the tariffs were imposed the imports have fallen to 2136cwts of candles and 6497cwts of soap for a similar period of three months. ? The new rules for Secondary schools published on December 11, give a great fillip s to the teaching of Irish. The schools are v to be divided into three classes, named A, B, O. Into Class A are to be put all schools in which all subjects are taught through the medium of Irish. To B will belong all schools

in which Irish is taught to all students or in which all subjects are taught through the Irish. Class C will comprise all remaining schools. Class A will receive 25 per cent, bonus on the capitation grant, and Class B 10 per cent. From 1927-28 forward, all secondary schools must teach Irish. *P In the course of a very interesting lecture at the Irish Club, Limerick, dealing with the Irish at the Antipodes, Rev. James O’Neill, a Limerick priest now home on holidays from New Zealand, made an interesting statement as to the attitude of Archbishop Mannix on the Irish Treaty. “I had the pleasure,” he said, “of hearing from his own lips an account of the manner in which he was arrested on the high seas by order of Lloyd George —a proceeding which made the whole world wonder at the tactlessness of the Welsh statesman. On that occasion, too, I heard from Dr. Mannix’s lips a statement of his views on the situation in Ireland. He would not, he said, have signed that Treaty, but as the people of Ireland had, through their representatives, ratified the agreement it should be the duty of friends of Ireland to do or say nothing that would prevent the authority set up in the twenty-six counties from functioning. Give them a chance to see if they can make a success of the government of Ireland with the heavy handicaps that press on them. And if Ireland is satisfied their friends abroad will all follow suit.” * Since the starting of the Congregation of the Missionary Sisters of Our Lady of the Holy Rosary in March, 1924, the generosity of our Irish Catholics, and particularly of those who are not richly endowed with this world’s goods, has been of a kind to make us feel confident that as long as our new congregation keeps before it the one object of God’s glory it will not fail through want of material sources (says a Home paper). It is remarkable that almost all our donations have come from those who are not well-to-do. In their hearts God’s interests seem to always claim their share. For those who have helped and those who may help in the future, the following short account of the work may be of interest. When the European War ended in 1919 his Lordship, Dr. Shanahan, Bishop of Nigeria, found himself without Sisters to train the women and children of his vast vicariate. As a temporary expedient he availed himself of the services of a few Irish girls, some trained as teachers, others as nurses. This method of meeting the difficulty could not, and was never meant to be permanent. The Bishop was compelled to return to Europe in 1922, and as soon as his health allowed he devoted himself wholeheartedly to the question of providing Sisters.

In June, 1923, his Lordship saw the Holy Father, and it was decided to found a new congregation whose sole work would .he the conversion of the natives. A congregation with a definite and exclusive end will provide better trained instruments and. a more adequate supply than one which has various objects ’and houses to staff in many centres in home countries. The new congregation then was to be for Africa, and especially ; for the conversion of the women and children of Nigeria. r The next difficulty was — was to train the aspirants. God solved this difficulty also. The Dominican Sisters of Oabra, Dublin, in addition to their educational work, had for years been training'candidates for entrance to congregations in South Africa and Australia. Having been in touch with his Lordship Dr. Shanahan’s work for a few years, they generously accepted his request, and offered to supply a staff of Sisters to take charge of the new novitiate until such time as the congregation was able to provide its own superiors and to maintain itself on its own resources. Thus a great difficulty was solved. There remained the question of a house and land. According to the modern Canon Law, the Bishop of each diocese is the authority who alone can allow new congregations or •houses of an old congregation to be erected. Where was a Bishop to be found willing to open his diocese to a congregation whose work lay out in the foreign Missions. With Apostolic zeal, his Lordship Dr. Finegan, Bishop of Kilmore, gave the new congregation a welcome which could not have been warmer had it been established to meet a pressing need of his own diocese. A house with about 200 acres of land was taken outside Killesshandra about 12 miles from the town of Cavan. There on March 7 seven postulants entered. On October 7 the Novitiate was opened and the seven postulants received the white habit. At present (December 8) there are seven novices and eight postulants in the convent, and with God’s help the numbers will increase, so that in a couple of years our Sisters will be actually on the Mission Field. In accordance with the provisions of a recent Act, the railway companies whose lines lay wholly in the Free State were amalgamated at the beginning of the year. The new comoine, known as the “Great Southern Railway Company of Ireland,” ought to be able to effect numerous eccnomies, especially in the West, where a number of the former lines were run in an ineffieint, antiquated manner. Though an early improvement in the ordinary services (which leave much to be desired) is not expected by the public, reduced fares and freights console them for the present. The reductions, averaging, roughly, 12 per cent., may not seem substantial to the British mind but in this country, owing to the agricultural depression which still, to N some extent, prevails, they are regarded as a boon, particularly by farmers, shop-keepers, and workers in Connaught and the remoter districts of the South.