TRANSPLANTED IRISH INSTITUTIONS - University of Canterbury

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situation and the married men on their responsibilities as "heads of the household circle."
The unmarried men and boys over twelve were given their instruction on "the glorious time
of youth" and to be "sober, honest, industrious and God-fearing."
Instruction to the
unmarried women and girls over twelve consisted of advice about domestic duties and an
emphasis on the evils of modern society.
Dress and personal adornment were severely censured as occupying too great a portion of the mind
and time of the young ladies of the present day, and it was shown to them that these things, when
dispensed with, did not in the slightest degree lessen the respect that should be paid towards the
members of the fair sex, but on the contrary, exalted their virtues, and placed them higher in the
minds of sensible men. 34
The warnings against worldliness and the emphasis on how women should look could easily
have been the sentiments of a nineteenth century Protestant preacher at a Protestant mission.
This style of preaching adopted by Hennebery was not unlike the Catholic Revivalism that
was popular among American Catholics in the second half of the nineteenth century. Jay P.
Dolan in his Catholic Revivalism emphasises the impact of these revivals and how an
evangelical style parish mission should not be considered usual in the Roman Catholic
tradition.
Its popularity, however, was not entirely based on the drama of its ritual or the appeal of the
preacher... but equally important was the message of the preacher. People came night after night,
not only to see him in action, but also to hear what he had to say. And in the final analysis what
he said was to have a more lasting effect on the culture of Catholicism. 35
With Father Hennebery, the New Zealand Catholic community was treated to an experience
of Catholic revivalism which was becoming popular in America.
The combination of
revival and the cause of temperance was given impetus by the Irish Apostle of Temperance,
Father Theobald Mathew (1790- 1856).
Father Mathew helped to push the cause of
temperance within the Catholic church and the forming of societies committed to
temperance.
Father Hennebery operated in this same manner and even used Father
Mathews pledge which was repeated at the missions and then medals or pledge-cards were
issued.
Paul Link in his biography of Patrick Hennebery, gave an example of the
inscription on the Pledge-cards: "I promise to abstain from all intoxicating Drinks, except
34Ibid., 19 October 1877.
35Jay P. Dolan, Catholic Revivalism: The American Experience 1830-\900, Notre Dame, London,
University of Notre Dame Press, 1978, p. 89.