TRANSPLANTED IRISH INSTITUTIONS - University of Canterbury

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used Medicinally, and by order of a Medical Man. and to discountenance the Cause and
Practice of Intemperance. "36
The use of such pledges was prominent throughout
Hennebery's campaign in New Zealand.
There was a strong effect on the Catholic community as even at his first mission in
Wellington there were Catholics attending the services who had not attended church for
some time. 37 As notable as the return of these 'lapsed Catholics', was the number of
converts from other churches. At Christchurch there were forty converts and the New
Zealand Tablet made a special point of mentioning that they were not atheists but converts
from other churches. 38 These were impressive results so early in the mission, especially in
Christchurch where even the Protestant churches were so impressed with Hennebery that
they offered a public hall for him to deliver his sennon on 'Drunkenness'.39 The topical
nature of the whole temperance movement must not be underestimated in New Zealand
church life during the nineteenth century. Any glance at a church newspaper will reveal
much infonnation about temperance and the various temperance organizations that were in
existence.
The beginning of his series of missions seemed to indicate a trouble-free visit, but
this did not eventuate. Hennebery did not have any problems when he finished his mission
in Hokitika but it was at Kumara, an area known for its high Irish population, that a
campaign by the press stirred up tension. The contentious issue was Hennebery's preaching
on mixed marriages. It was the Evening Star of Hokitika that first claimed that Hennebery
was teaching that marriages between Catholics and Protestants were indeed not marriages
and marriage by the Registrar was definitely not a marriage at all. The Kumara Times
wrote an "editorial of the malignant kind" which soon roused the Catholics in Kumara. The
Tablet reported that the "Catholics of Kumara have in the meantime given a new proof of
their ever undying faith of the Irish people in the Catholic Church, and of their ever
36Paul Link, c.pP.S., A Time to Sow and a Time to Reap, Ohio, Messenger Press, 1990, p. 116.
3 7 NewZealandTablet, 19 October 1877.
38lbid., 21 December 1877.
39Jbid., 7 December 1877.