Perth Amboy evening news., 1923-06-02

June Z:-Dec-
oration Day was an %eventful one
tor the people of st. Mary's Parish,
who recalled the fulfillment of their
long desired ambition, when they
were able to formally present,
through the head of the Diocese,
Rt. Rev. Thomas j. Walsh, D. D.,
LII. D., Bishop of Trenton. the ar
:istic and commodious residence on
the corner of Stevens avenue and
Augusta street, as a convent for the
sisters of Mercy, who for the past
;hirty-eight years nave been teach
ing n st. Mary's School.
The bishop arrived promptly at
Q o'clock and by the time he had
vested in his Episcopal robes, the
2rosS-bearer and the acolytes head
ed the procession of two hundred
and fifty children and adults who
were to receive the sacrament of
confirmation, accompanied by their
sponsors from st. Mary's School.
The little boys presented a beauti-
.ul spectacle of discipline, attired
Ill in white with cardinal red era
watts of the same style, as they
marched in an orderly at
the side of their sponsors and with
out confusion went to the places
previously assigned to them in the
body of the church. The little girls
were also uniform in their very at
tractive costumes of white with lace
wells and cardinal red rosettes, the
emblematic color of the %pentecos-
tai fire appropriated to the Holy
Ghost, and were an inspiration of
grace and innocence as they deVout-
iy filed through the throngs of on
lockers.
When the five hundred children
and sponsors had passed through
the church, the altar boys followed
by the clergy passed through the
portals, coming to a halt just in
side the entrance where the cere-
mony of welcome to the bishop upon
his official visitation, was carried
out. After the bishop had given his
blessing from the altar steps, he
3h1ade a short address to the people,
and congratulated in a most lauda
tory manner, the pastor and the
people, upon the very extraordinary
work that had been accomplished in
the last few years, in the complete
renovation of the church which
gave the people one OF the most
elaborate and richest interiors or
any church in the state; in the
thoroughly remodeled rectory; in
the school increased to nearly twice
Its capacity, and the GROWING of all
in the erection and perfect equip
ment of the new convent which he
had come here to dedicate. he I'M
phasized his pleasure at observing
how st. Mary's parish had not con-
sidereG an; expense too great Tor
the beautifying and making COM
Portable the house which was TO
serve as a dwelling for the Lord and
His devoted brides, the Sisters con-
secrated to His service, in the educ
Aion of st. Mary's children. His
Lordship asserted that St. Mary's
was a Da" ish cornpiete in every &C.
tail, whose browning glory however,
ne singled our as the High school,
which he hoped would be continued
to be ~patronized with constantly in
creasinS attendance.
The Sacrament of Confirmation
was then administered and the visit
ing clergy and people from other
parishes were amazed and edited
at the perfect order with which the
five hundred individuals taking part
moved from pew to sanctuary rail
Aand back again without the slightest
5ConfuSion, but on the contrary,
with the most attractive manoeuvr-
ing. During the Confirmation, ap-
propriate hymns were sung by the
children from the choir which re-
fected great credit upon the train
ins of the sisters and the able Or
ganist. Mrs. William Stephenson.
When the confirmation was over.
solemn benediction of the Blessed
Guiding hymn, Hande1s famous
Hallelujah Chorus. sung by the
school children. surprised and
thrilled the congregation. The chill
dren just confirmed. in an orderly
manner, marched out of the church.
and the places left vacant were fill
ed by the crowds previously unable
to obtain seats.
The reverend pastor in a few
words addressed Bishop Walsh be-
fore presenting the speaker of the
occasion, expressing the gratitude
os the people to his lordship for
coming to honor st. Mary's parish
by his presence upon the occasion
and on this holiday and attributing
the magnificence and grandeur of
the new convent to the inspiration
and announcement of the reverend
bishop without which the new build
ing would never have been erected
on such a grand scale.
Doctor Griffin astonished the WIS.,
itors by a brief record of the success
accompanying tn eefforts and sac
rilca of the Sisters of Mercy during
the thirty eight years of their in
cesSant labor in behalf of Christian
education in this community. More
than two thousand children, he said.
had received their education under
the training of the sisters: nearly
two hundred of whom had COM
pleted their high school course; that
twenty religious vocations to the
sisterhood and half the number to
the priesthood had been nurtured in
that time. The federal. state and
city governments had counted rep
r~esentatives from their pupils. A
great number of lawyers. physi-
Acians, professors. school teachers.
GRAINED nurses. public accountants.
engineers and most efficient en-
ployes in the financial and business
world were products of their rain
ing and that the impetus given for
higher education in recent years by
Their announcement and assistance
and business world. material of the
highest order. He assured the
bishop that the people of st. Mary's
parish were second to none in theif
appreciation and gratitude to the
4. listers for what they had done and
Nhat the monument expressing their
feelings was one in whose erection
nearly every individual in the parish
had had a share by a personal sac
rifice of time. energy and money.
The building, he said, with its fur
nishingS reached an expenditure OF
100000.
DIR. Griffin then presented the Rt.
Rev. Msgr. j. w. Norris, j. G. D.,
pastor of st. Peters Parish, New
Brunswick, who thrilled his hearers