Obituaries Australia

The death is announced of Rt. Rev. Dr. John Barry, Bishop of Goulburn.

For the past month Dr. Barry has been an inmate of Lewisham Hospital, Sydney, and during the last few days, very little hope was entertained for his recovery.

Bishop Barry was in his 64th year, and was a native of Cork, Ireland. After a distinguished course at the famous Mayrooth College, he was ordained to the Priesthood in 1898, and proceeded immediately to the Archdiocese of Melbourne, where he was attached to several important parishes, later becoming Parish Priest of Mansfield, and finally Balaclava. From the latter Parish, he was appointed to the post of Chancellor of the Archdiocese of Melbourne and filled this office with conspicuous ability. During this period the late Bishop was the principal figure in the celebrated case which determined the right of the Catholic body in Melbourne to hold the St. Patrick's Day procession through the streets of the Victorian capital.

The See of Goulburn becoming vacant in 1923, Father John Barry was appointed to be the successor of the late Bishop Gallagher. His Episcopal Consecration at Goulburn on the Feast of S.S. Peter and Paul, in 1924, brought forth from the assembled Hierarchy expressions of confidence and optimistic hopes of success which were destined to be later realised. The late Bishop Barry excelled as an organiser, administrator and pastor of souls. During his great Episcopate the Diocese of Goulburn has advanced rapidly. New churches have sprung up in all quarters, Catholic schools of primary and secondary grade have been multiplied, hospitals have been erected, orphanages founded, and greater accommodation secured in homes for the aged poor. The late Prelate had chosen for his motto, "in fructum afferatis" (that ye may bring forth fruit). It is undeniable that the harvest gathered by the late Bishop Barry has been very great.

Always practical and with his skilled fingers for ever on the spiritual pulse of his Diocese, the deceased Bishop inaugurated in 1928 at Goulburn the Holy Name Sodality. Not only did the Sodality ultimately incorporate the majority of the Catholic men of the Diocese of Goulburn, but it was destined to spread throughout the whole of Australia. It is a magnificent monument to the zeal of a great Bishop.

The obsequies will take place at Goulburn tomorrow (Thursday) at 11 a.m.