FRANCE AND THE CHURCH

Dominion, Volume 1, Issue 299, 11 September 1908, Page 7

FRANCE AND THE CHURCH

APLLICANTS FOR ORDINATION. (UT TELEGRAPH—PRESS ASSOCIATION—COPYRIGHT.) ' ; Paris, September 9. During tho past threo years thero has been a decrease of 70 per cent, in the number of applicants for Catholic ordination in France, owing; it is said, to tho precarious naturo of the voluntary contributions for tho support of tho clorgy. SEPARATION AND FINANCE. Writing on the separation of Church and State in France, the Itov. A. Galton states:— "One of the chief difficulties in tho new situation is finance; Under the Concordat, all the \Working clergy received a salary. from tho State, which in the towns was largely augmented by othor sources of revenue. In consequence, tho French Catholics were able to subscribe large sums for external purposes. They subscribed generously, in the form of Peter's Pence, to the rovenues of the Vatican ; and they gave even more generously to missionary enterprise in tho French colonies and among tho non-Christian peoples. "Under the new conditions they would have found it difficult to carry on tho work of the Church in France, even if the Separation Law had been accepted as tho Legislature intended and supposed. i> But .by' -the. Pope's . refusal to sanction the clauses' relating to' the Associations Cultuelles.ii.the',financial, difficulty j.was, in-creased-with-regards'to'churches,'l presbyteries, colleges, .'and other buildings. ' Indeed, the whole scheme of pensions and funds Was endangered Dy the Papal refusal. The bishops tried to solve the difficulty by proposals which might be accented both by the Vatican and by .the State. Hitherto, all their efforts havo boon fruitless. The Government has offored- compromises over tho use of churolies and the leasing of other buildines. It has altered the laws which rogulate public meetings. Short of giving up principles and acknowledging the Papal jurisdiction in France, it has made every possible concession. "The . Vatican hoped the nation would rally to' the Church and upset the Government, and in this matter it has been completely wrong. It did not want either an independent epis-, copate or an independent priesthood. It fears a rovival of Gallioanism. The consequences ore that the' French Churoh is_ disorganised, discouraged, _ wonkened, and impoverished. Every year will addto the'financial difficulty, as the scalp of pensions declines in value and application. So far, tho bishops have not been allowed to meet in a plenary or national assembly.. "During the last real 1 , the most Liberal Bishop, Monseienenr La Croix, of Tarentaise, has resigned his'. See. Tho Liberal Deputy. Abbe Lemire,. has been censured, and several organs of tho Christian Democracv have been suppressed. • The French Church has been seriously damaged by the policy of the Vatican. and tho'Vatican itself must bo profoundly discouraged by the' results of "its policy. Thq' situation is aggravated still further by the Modernist question, which has advanced so enormously during the past year."