The Catholic World.

New Zealand Tablet, Volume XXV, Issue 41, 18 February 1898, Page 27

The Catholic World.

BELGlUM.— Catholic Activity.— So far from being in that moribund state which Mr. Price Hughes would have his Protestant friends believe, at no period in the world's history was the Catholic Church more active, more solicitous as to the necessities of the masses, or more abreast of the spirit of the times than she is at the present day. The very latest evidence of her activity is the work she is carrying on to-day to ameliorate the condition of the masses in Belgium and raise them from that tlough of despair they had fallen into through the non-fulfillment of the alluring prospects so speciously held out to them by socialistic agitators. A prominent writer states : " Within the past few years there has been a very remarkable increase in the number of mutual aid societies in Belgium. In the course of last Ootober no fewer than fifty-two such societies received legal recognition, and thus became entitled to the usual State subsidy. Catholics have been prompt to see the utility of those institutions for the working clasßes, and they have accordingly exerted themselves actively in their propagation."

. . . . A " Cercle de Propagande " was established in May 1896, under the patronage of the Catholic Association of the arrondisement. The " Cercle "is a group of lecturers who organise meetings in the rural districts, and deliver " conferences " or addresses on topics of Catholic interest. At the start eleven members joined— the number has since increased to 52 — and six months after its foundation the " Cercle " celebrated its 200 th conference. Leaflets and pamphlets bearing on political, social, and Catholic questions were distributed at every meeting. Since its establishment in May, 1896, about 400 addresses have been delivered by the members of the " Cercle," not a bad record of work for a year and a half. The speakers receive no remuneration for their services — theirs is a labour of love.

The Basis of Protestant Criticism.— Here then is a sample of the " facts " upon which Protestant champions base their diatribe against the Catholic Church. The Protestant alliance was recently inveighing against the Catholic Church as to the alleged practises said to obtain in convents of using instruments of torture for penitential purposes. The Society's lecturers were challenged to give the name of a single convent where such practises existed, but failed to do so. And here is the explanation of the lecturer as it appeared in the Rock (the well-known Protestant newspaper) " We do not profess to give or state the name of any single convent where the penitential articles are in use." No doubt (says a critic) for the obvious and sufficient reason that "we' couldn't and can't. Mr. Fowler says that what " we (of the Protestant Alliance) state is that they are for use in convents, and our authority is St. Liguori." The Protestant Alliance, therefore (1.) Exhibit a number of instruments of torture. (2.) Say they are for use in convents. (3.) Cannot name one convent where they are used, but (4.) Justify their action by citing, what St. Liguori said generally about discipline over a hundred years ago. There are in the Tower of London — and several other places — numerous articles of torture which were used by Protestants. Suppose Catholics hawked such things about the country, described them as used by Protestants, and when asked to name a present user referred the querist to the history of the Elizabethan period ! What happier illustration of the true nature of Protestant Alliance " argument " than this ? If desperate cases require desperate remedies Continental Socialism must be in a bad way indeed.

Throwing Off the Mask.— The good work that is being carried on amongst the working classes in Belguim by the Catholic clergy will be all the better appreciated after the little incident which oocurred at a socialistic gathering recently held at Flemalle, near Huy. Putting a question to the meeting a speaker said : " Let us suppose, that all of us here in this room decided to go on strike, and that all of us except five or six ' companions' left off work. If, seeing their obstinacy, I were to kill one or other of these five or six ' companions' who refused to join the strike, would I have done right I Answer : ' Yes.' or ' No.' " The answer was not long in coming, for immediately from every part of the hall there were loud cries of '• Yes, yes ; death to him !"

ENGLAND.— Proposed Peerage for Cardinal Vaughan. — A rumour has gained currency and is exciting- no little discussion at Home that the Duke of Norfolk has been bringing his influence on Lord Salisbury with the view of inducing him to admit his Eminence Cardinal Vaughan to the House of Lords. No more vivid testimony of the altered position of England towards the Catholic Church could be adduced than that such a proposition should be even seriously discussed. But the fact appears to be that the proposal is meeting with approval in some quarters, though as might naturally be expected the opinions expressed by the press and those uttered from the pulpit are widely divergent on the subject. The pressmen see no objection to such a step, but on the contrary much appropriateness, for, casting their glance back over England's past they recognise that princes of the Catholic Church, men like Cardinal Langton, helped most decisively in laying the foundations of English freedom, and that Cardinal Vaughan's presence in the House of Lords would at least mean the resumption of the chain of historic continuity. The Protestant preachers and prelates are apparently much less inclined to give their assent.