The Barre daily times. (Barre, Vt.) 1897-1959, 1919-11-18

arose slowly to say a few words in
commentator of the affair ut would
be futile for me to attempt words of
praise. We are not here in order to
indulge in vain glory 1t is not the
wish of your good pastor, and | know
it is not your wish. / came here to-
day, beloved brethren, to offer up the
| holy sacrifice of the mass for three par
ticular ends. First of all, to thank our
divine Lord for all the graces and bless
ings you have received during the past
Is years through the ministration Of
good Father McKenna. That was my
first and primary purpose
And my second purpose for offering
the solemn pontitical mass was to ask
our divine Lord to forgive you, both
pastor and people, for any and every
shortening you may have manifested
during these past years. If at any
time you have failed to correspond to
the great graees that our divine Lord
has showered down on you; and ! have
asked our divine Lord to forgive you
for that.
my third purpose for celebrating
vine Lord that He might give you the
graces for the future, that you might
be more and more faithful to His holy
will That you might, both pastor and
people, be more Jealous of the service
of God
81 am delighted, my good people of
Barre, that you conceived the happy
thought of celebrating this feast When
your representatives called to see me,
| was happy indeed because | knew it
came from your loyal hearts. ! was
happy indeed to tell them that ] would
do whatever | could, and | did the best
| could by offering the solemn sacrifice
Of pontifcal high mass; the best gift |
could give you
Frequently our good people fail to
realize the isolation Of priest in his
own parish. They fail TO realize that
he goes through life receiving only the
encouragement of our divine Lord in
the tabernacle. 0ftentmes his motives
are misunderstood He is criticized for
things which he is not responsible for
and they wait until their pastor is dead
before they speak a kind word OF him.
Il am thankful that the good people
of Barre have had the good sense and
good Catholic faith to show their APP
probation and esteem for their good
pastor while he is still with them And
| am happy to say that came here to
approve Of your action and to bless
you"
With the conclusion of these words,
the assemblage of assistants in the
sanctuary formed in a body, as they
had done at entering, and left the altar,
marching down through the center of
the church Meanwhile the organist,
Miss Lorraine Loranger, whose excel
lent work as an organist had been dis
played throughout the entire services,
executed a very clever march. And
again, after the bishop had relieved
himself Of his ceremonial garb, she
played as he and Rev. Father Mckenna
slowly walked down through the
church midst the throng Of apprecia
tive parishioners. Then the throng Of
people left the church to await the re-
ception this evening.
Fir. McKenna's Career in Brief.
Rev. FIR. McKenna was the son of
Mr. and Mrs John McKenna and was
born in Dingle, County Kerry, Ireland,
March 2, 1855. He obtained his early
education in the schools of his town
and came to the United States when
but Is years of age, locating in Salem,
Mass.
The year following his arrival in the
United States and when at the age Of
is he entered the Ottawa university
and took the classical course there from
1875 to 1879. Then he entered the
Grand Theological seminary at Three
Rivers, r. O., later experimenting his
education with course in French and
philosophy at the Nicolet institute in
Quebec.
Father McKenna was ordained as a
priest on Dec. III, 1881, by Rt. Rev.
DeGoesbriand, first bishop Of the do
eese Of Burlington His first charge
was at Island Pond, where he remained
for two years, then being transferred
to Fairfield, where he was located for
six years The next four years he was
at Norwich, Conn.
After those II years Of service in
two dioceses, Rev. Fir. McKenna was
transferred back to the Burlington do
cese and to the Barre church, which
had but just sprung like magic from
small mission The mission had been
started in 1882, with a meeting place
in the Jackman block, after which the
increase in the number Of adherents
had caused Rev. W. ] O'Sulivan, pas
tor Of st. Augustine's in Montpelier
and head of the mission in Barre, to
engage the academy hall in the old