The Catholic World.

New Zealand Tablet, Volume 51, Issue 51, 22 April 1898, Page 28

The Catholic World.

ENGLAND.— Anglicanism Losing Ground.—Angiican controversialists occasionally have the hardihood to declare that the stream of converts from Anglicanism to Catholicism has ceased and that the tide has now rather turned the other way. Even the most imaginative of Anglican apologists will hardly dare to maintain this now in view of the melancholy and damaging admissions as to the decline of Anglicanism made by one of their own leading organs Two recent atteropta at creating new bishoprics— one at Birmingham and one at Sheffield have failed. The ordinations have stood a steady decline m the numbers ordained during the last ten years In 1888 there were 1479 ordained ;in 1897 there were only 1296 The Confirmation statistics are still worse :"In a large number' of parishes the candidates were little more than a quarter of what they should have been." We quote from the Church Times, which further complains that the number of communicants is far below the mark And yet that high authority considers ten per cent, of the congregation the lowest number of regular communicants to be expected which is certainly allowing a very wide margin. The Church Tinus tries to console itself by saying " Roman leakage is as certainly going on as any other leakage," and " that religion is losing «roTlnd in most of the large centres of population." " Roman leakage " however, as a contemporary points out, does not in any way affect Anglican defection. It is due in the main to lack of means to provide for destitute children, but of fuuds and machinery for this purpose the Anglican Church possesses an abundance and her losses include a large number amongst the people of intellect and culture.

A Bigoted Bequest.'— The London Bally Chronicle gives the following particulars of the will of &r William Cayley Worßley,

Bart., who died on September 10 last, at the age of 68 years : " The testator directs that any tenant for life of the settled estates who may join the Roman Catholic Church, or who may fail to take the name and quarter the Arms of Worsley, is to forfeit his life interest in the settled estate." It will be noticed (says the Southern Cross), that the testator doeß not disinherit " Turk, Jew, or Atheist." It is the Catholic that gave him anxiety. The proviso in the will of this " poor critter " is at once a standing testimony to Protestant alarm at Catholic progress. We hold, however, that in a free country such a proviso should be, ipso facto, null and void.

An Important Project— An important project, the object of which i.B to carry on the active work of the evangelisation of England, has just received the Pope's blessing. During a recent audience with the Holy Father, the Bishop of Nottingham unfolded his plan of founding at Nottingham a Society of Missionary Brothers under the Tertiary Order of St. Francis of Assisi. The project had been devised, his Lordship explained, in order to carry out a long-felt desire of utilising lay help for bringing the Catholic religion to the notice of the English people, especially in villages. The primary object is to evangelise the villages by supplementing the work of the parochial clergy. The brethren will make a promise of obedience to the Bishop of Nottingham, and renew the promise yearly at option. As they will require special training for their work, they will live in community, wearing the habit and following the rule of the Franciscan Tertiary Institute. In conformity with what is being done in the unified Franciscan body, the habit will probably be brown. A beginning of the work was made six months ago, and will be carried on in a specially provided house, called St. Anthony's House, Nottingham, Father Beale acting as director under the Bishop of Nottingham, who is Superior-General. A Franciscan Tertiary Sisterhood, founded on parallel lines by Cardinal Manning, and transferred to the diocese of Nottingham, is working most successfully at Nottingham and Oakham, under the direction of Father Beale. While the primary object of the allied association of Missionary Brothers will be the evangelising of villages, a secondary object will be the visiting the poor and sick in the place where the Communities are established. A third and special work will be the training of converts, and in connection with this duty, it is intended to open a temporary home for newly-received converts at the headquarters of the Tertiary Brethren. The Missionary Brethren will also be enabled to give lectures, and to second such work as that of the Catholic Truth Society. The Holy Father cordially blessed the project and wished it all possible success as a scheme in which he himself as a Tertiary felt special sympathy. We have no doubt that the new Society will be very fruitful in results, and we venture to think the day is not very far distant when the time will be considered ripe for the establishment of a similar Society in the colonies.

ROME.— The Holy Father.— Those visitors to the Vatican who have had the honour of an interview with the Pope are amazed at his versatility and the extraordinary range of his knowledge. He can converse in several languages, and is very fond of chemistry and mathematics. He won distinction in those sciences when a student in Rome, and eagerly follows those developments of science in which chemistry and mathematics play a leading part.

The Close Of the Century.— Full particulars app?aro.l in our columns last year regarding the special cercnonicn aud devotions with which it is proposed to clo3e the old an I consecrate the new century to the glory of G-od. The following English-speaking prelates are mentioned at Rome as having adhered to the solemn homage to the Redeemer for the close of the century :— Tbe Archbishop of Westminster, the Bishops of South wark and Nottingham, the Archbishops of Armagh and Dublin, the Bishops of Ardagh, Cork, Rapture, and Trapezopolis. the Archbishop of St. Andrew's and Edinburgh, the Archbishops of Baltimore, New York, Philadelphia, and San Franci&co, and the Bishop 3of Brooklyn, Davenport, Denver, Grand Rapids. Hartford, Helena, Little Rook, Mobile Monterey, and Los Angeles, Nashville, Natchez, Ogdun&burg, Portland, Sioux Falls, Trenton, and Wilmington.

The Pope's Eighty-Eighth Birthday.— Woinc*lay being the Pope's eighty-eighth birthday and the twentieth anniversary of his Pontificate, the Cardinals presented their homage and good wishes, in reply to which the Holy Father made an interesting and touching address. His Holiness (says the Vatican correspondent of the London Time*) spoke of the frequent demonstrations of religious respect shown to him lately. Ho said that by honouring the Pope they honoured the superhuman institutions which he represented — an institution which was unique because of its elevation and the greatness of its attributes. He disclaimed all honour rendered to himself. He spoke of the enthusiasm of the crowds in St. Peter's at the Mass celebrated by him ; liow they had come to salute their Sovereign Pastor, and thus acknowledge the prerogative bequeathed by Jesus Christ to the episcopal See of Rome. "As they thus knelt," said his Holiness, '• before our humble person, so they bowed with their minds to the Divine idea which makes the world venerate the Pontifical garment. Millions of Italian consciences were in harmony with these acts of homage, and the respectful acclamations and enthusiasm vere inspired by ideas and sentiments Shich were not only honouralle and undeservirg of censure, but (Uy and dutiful. Such sentiments should not have been outrffced, yet this was done and permitted to be done. It was not by chance, but by the desigi of Heaven, that the fervour of these sentiments was renewel, and it would seem that in the present unhappy condition of affairs God wished to show how jealously He guarded the A.postolic See and its present occupant, and that, in proportion to the off. noes buffered, the love of the people would bceone greater and thuir sympathy inure lively. Love and sympathy we;e not confined to the ooumU of the Alps and the sea, but wore spreading day by day throughout the civilised world. How sad it wis to see calumniated or misuivlcr-

stood by so many the aspirations of hearts towards Borne, the metropolitan depository of the Divine oracles, the dispenser of salvation I In the midst of the storms of a forgetful and unbelieving age," c ntinued his Holiness, " it is the renewed care for their own safety that directs minds to the Holy City, the polar star of souls, and the hope of possessing Christ that leads people to the throne of His Vicar. Every upright soul, every heart desirous of private or general prosperity, should bless the present movement of Christian spirits as a forecast and promise of future safety. God does not, as man does, leave His work unfinished, and sooner or later He will complete what he has begun, though we shall not see it, being at the end of our day. But we rejoice to foresee it and salute it from afar." The Pope, who appeared to be in excellent health, then gave the Apostolic Benediction.