ECCLESIASTICAL SAVINGS BANKS.

New Zealand Herald, Volume XVI, Issue 5490, 21 June 1879, Page 7

ECCLESIASTICAL SAVINGS BANKS.

A LATE English paper says : — Monsi;>nor John B. Purcell, the Roman Catholic Archbishop of Cincinnati, is a most efficient prelate, but a very indifferent financier. For some years past he and his brother, Father Edward Purcell, have been at the head of an extensive ecclesiastical savings bink, in which the poor members of his diocese —chiefly Irish and Germans—used to deposit their spare cents, so that in the eud he became indebted to 3,592 of these for the aggregate amount of 3,651,343 90 dollars, or over £700,000 of our money ; when, lo ! it was found oue morniug that the archiopiseopal cash-box was nearly empty, and that the pastor of this large and credulouß flock had to take the bene lit of the Act in forma pauperis. This has been a heavy blow to the cause of the Church of Rome in the United States, which professes to overtower every other denomination taken individually. No criminal charge is preferred against Bishop Purcell, but his brother is accused of great ignorance in financial matters of great carelessness in dealing vith the property of the depositors. In other l'umuu Catholic dioceses of the United States similar Episcopal Savings Banks are in existence, and the faithful are now trying as hard as they can to withdraw their cards before the game is up.