CATHOLICITY ABROAD,

New Zealand Tablet, Volume XXVII, Issue 8, 23 February 1899, Page 18

CATHOLICITY ABROAD,

A NEW ZEALAND TOURIST'S IMPRESSIONS. INTERVIEW WITH MR. J. A. SCOTT, Many of our readers will remember that some months ago Mr. Scott, M.A., LL.B. (solicitor), formerly editor of the N.Z. Tablet, took a trip to Europe for the benefit of his health. He returned to Dunedin last week. In answer to our representative's invitation to give the readers of the Tablet some information on the jaointa o|. interest noted in his travels. Mr. Scott replied :—: — ".- , ,'- '; ' I'm afraid it would take a good deal more space than you,, can. well afford to attempt to cover all the points of interest which one notices on such a journey. For it is a tolerably comprehensive as well as a delightful trip. Starting from Sydney I passed through. Melbourne, Adelaide, Fremantle and Perth, Colombo (in Ceylon), Aden, Suez, Port Paid, Naples, Genoa, Southampton and London, then over to Paris, on to Antwerp and Brussels, and down to Berlin. , You will easily see that it would take a great deal of both time and. space to describe all that is to be seen on such a route, and I will not at present attempt it. It may interest Tablet readers, however, to hear a little of the state of Catholicity in some of these places, so far as a merely casual visitor like myself could form. ■an opinion. THE CHURCH IN GERMANY. Beginning with the last first, I -was agreeably surprised at the flourishing condition of the Church in Germany — the supposed stronghold of Protestantism. It is true that a very large area of Germany is still nominally Protestant, but it is admitted on all hands that Protestantism aa a vital force is growing steadily weaker while the Catholic Churoh is every day increasing in power and influence. Politically, the Cnitrum or Catholic party is by far the strongest party in the Reichstag, and this in spite of the fact that they have not the pressure of a great crushing grievance (such as we hatfe here) to keep them welded together. There is now no ' education question ' to be settled there, and the only marked injustice which Catholics suffer from is the expulsion of the Jesuit Order from the borders of the Empire. Three times— l was informed — have the Catholic party succeeded in carrying throueh the Reichstag a proposal to re-admit the Jesuits, but eich time the veto of the liuudesrath, or Federal Council, ha» prevented the proposal from being carried into effect. Apart from this one Church question, the Catholic party have adopted a thoroughly liberal and democatic policy, and they are now, as I have said, by far the strongest party in the Reichstag. The Church is also a great and growing power spiritually and socially as well as politically. I attended Mass a number of times at St. Iledwige's Cathedral, in Berlin, and on every occasion the Cathedral was crowded, a large number having to be content with standing room. There was a considerable sprinkling of soldiers and military officers at the later Masses. I was btruok with the extent to which the services are made congregational in the German Catholic Churches-. At the evening service a large number of prayers and devotions are introduced in which the whole congregation takes part, and at both Mass and Vespers a great many hymns (reverent and devotional hymns of course, not of the go-as-you-please ranting type) are sung by the congregation. The change — if it be a change —struck me as being certainly in a desirable direction. The strength of Catholicity is all the more .noteworthy when compared \uth the way in which definite religious belief has deciiyed and crumbled away among the Protestants of Germany. I conversed with a large number of educated Germans and only one — and she was a lady — made any pretence of retaining belief in even the few ' fundamentals ' recognised by Evangelical Protestantism, and even she confessed thatishe no longer read the Old Testament because she ' could not believe it to be the inspired Word of God.' The o-erwhelming majority of the male population go no further than to profess a most vague and general belief in a God and a great many do not even get so far as that. 'We can get along very well without Jesus Christ in Germany,' said one young 1 student to me . 'it is nonsense to believe in Him.' I said, ' Are you taught that bort of thing in the colleges .' ' ' Certainly,' was the answer. 'My professor told me : " Believe in a God, that is enough. The story of Jesus Christ and His wonderful birth are fit only for children.'" It would be impossible to get a stronger argument for the Catholic principle of authority in religious belief, and for the absolute necessity of some restraint on poor, foolish, human reason than is to be found in the state of Protestant Germany of to-day. ITALY ANP RELGfUM. Italy arid Belgium are such well-known Catholic countries that I need not delay to say anything about them. Everybody who knows anything about Italy knows that it should be and would be one of the most prosperous countries under the sun, but for the wretched way in which it is misgoverned, ani for the crushing burden of taxation which is the necessary consequence of such misgovernmtnt. It was in Italy that I had my lirst view of a Continental church, and it was a bight that I will never forget. The dazzling beauty of the Church of the Annunciata at Genoa, and the

glory and grandeur of the great cathedrals at intwerp and Brussels will live in my memory for many a day. ENGLAND AND FRANCE. When I was in London the theological atmosphere was thick with the dust of conflict and controversy. In a very pleasant chat Ihadwithjthe secretary of the Catholic Truth Society that gentleman mentioned that he waa in the very middle of a long controversy with the Congregationalist champion, the Rev. Dr. Horton. At the same time the anti- Ritualistic crusade was beginning to take definite shape, and the Non-Conformist bodic were commencing an organised agitation in the direction of Disestablishment. I have not time to tell you all about that now. I must reserve it for another time — but as the result of all I heard and saw, I can safely predict that at no very distant day the Church of England ' as by law established' will have ceased to be. I may add that the position and prestige of the Catholic Church in England have wonderfully improved of late years. When I was there Protestants were complaining bitterly that Catholic conversions and Catholic doings were fully and prominently reported in almost all the papers while Protestant affairs were either entirely overlooked or kept very muoh in the background. This is a significant sign of the times and a very refreshing change from the state of things that prevailed even bo late as 20 or 30 years ago. The Catholic outlook in France is also hopeful. As you know, the French people, being of a logical turn of mind, are either Catholics or out-and-out infidels, and, after all, this latter attitude is easier to combat than the self-satisfied Rationalism of Germany or the dry rot of Indifferentisin which has infected such a large section of the English-speaking peoples. French Catholicity ia full of vitality. The number of sodalities and orgauisatious of various kinds which the Church has in active operation for the spiritual regeneration of France ia almost countless, while the immense sums given yearly for mission work and the erection of such structures as the church at Montmartre (now nearing completion) show that the light of faith and practical piety .burns as brightly as ever in the hearts of the people. In various conspicuous places in Notre Dame there is posted up a very beautiful indulgenced prayer for the return of France to the unity of the faith, and there are abundant signs that the prayers of the faithful are being heard, and that the country is surely, though slowly, returning to its honoured place as the ' eldest daughter of the Church.' I had a little experience in Paris, by the way, which may be interesting to the Irish readers of the Tablet. Not having been recommended to any special place to stay at I had to fall back on 'Cook's' guide, and I fixed on a place advertised in that useful publication. The name of the proprietress was given as Madame Cdilloue, and I of course expected that she would be some hopelessly French Madame, who couldn't speak a word of English, and with whom I would have to have a daily struggle at conversation in French. You can imagine how pleased I was to find that Madame Cailloue — in spite of the name — was a warm-hearted Irishwoman. She had left Ireland to marry a French officer who was now dead many years. Though she had lived in Paris for a great many years her heart was still in the Old Land and was full of that quenchless spirit of patriotism which burns in the breast of every true son and daughter ot Erin. When I told her I was a Catholic and a convert she was delighted, and when I went on to describe our I( JS celebration and mentioned that I had had the happiness of taking a modest part in it she almost hugged n.e. I told her we had some real good Irishneu where I came f roil, and almost her last words to me were, ' Remember me to the b >ys in Dunedin. Many a long talk we had about Ireland and Ireland's wrongs, and before I left I came to the conclusion, that there was only one thing better tlian a good Irishman, and that \vas--j, good Irishwoman, CE\LOX. While at Colombo I paid a visit to St Benedict's College (conducted by prie&te of the Obi ite Order) and was delighted to hear from the Fathers of the flourishing condition of Catholicity throughout Ceylon. In this little island there are no lesi than five bishops, a numerous and active bedy of clergy, a great number of couvents. colleges, and schools, and a Catholic population, of over 200,000. In Colombo alone the Catholi -s number 10,000, and there are several very fine Catholic colleges and schools, besides an orphanage and a hospital the latter two institutions being entirely in the charge of the Catholic sisters. The Ceylon Government, I was glad to hear, had admitted the justice of the Catholic claims, and State aid was given to all Catholic schools and colleges throughout the island, the result being that these inbtitutions are now selfsupporting. Our co-religionists had a hard struggle before this ' happy state of affairs was brought about. The bishops took the matter in hand, made free use of the Press to voice and defend their claims, and fought such a good fight that in the end Parliament was forced to yield and the day was won. The Governor of the island, Sir Joseph Ridgeway, is very friendly to the Church, and the Catholic clergy are everywhere treated with the greatest respect. PROGRESS IN WESTERN AUSTRALIA. The state of affairs in the Australian colonies is so well know here that I can probably tell you nothing which you do not already know, but I might perhaps say just a word about the remarkable strides which the Church has made and ia making in Western Australia. That colony is at the be=t a very difficult aud trying field to labour in, and it has been made doubly so in the past owing to the number of priests available being altogether insuilicient to overtake the work. The pioneer diflk-ulties in working up the diocese were such as might have reduce! even a brave man to despair, but thanks to the untiring zeal and indomitable spirit of the Bishop — the Most Rev. Dr. Gibney, a prelate who combines commanding ability and great decision of character with the most genuine and unaffected goodness — the more serious difficulties have now been surmounted, and in a very short time the diocese will be at least approximately well manned and the work of the Church

established on a thoroughly solid and satisfactory footing, In the S ?i « «f ai ? ed from Eur °P c tQ ere were four priests, Wo 1 " Plants accompanying Dr. Gibney, and this was the second or third of such contingents which had recently left Ireland to take up work m th« diocese of Perth. The priests were rh«K*v Fathers Briody, O'Donnell, Phelan, and Morris* had iSZ privilege of being admitted to close friendship with the Rev. FatKrs and then : genial companionship made the long days of shi P Hfe'pass lightly and gaily away. 1 may add that they were all All lial W men and as proud ot their college as their college will, I am sul-e have one day reason to be proud of them. I understand thatDr' Cribney intends to bring out yet another instalment of prioTts and 53££Sl t &£ a time at leMt thot wIU • * THE NET RESULT. Anybody, like myself, making such a tour for the first lime cannot help being struck with the wonderful proof it affords of the SJ&ErSr^H °l thG Ch T Urch - Wberever l want I fonS Se rt^rhul t r *'» v whe . r « ve f * aßsißted at Mass > whether with the Cingalese at Colombo, with the Asiatics and Africans at Port Said, with the Italians at Genoa, with the French at Notre Dame, or with the Germans at Berlin, it was everywhere the same service the same tongue, the same sacrifice, the same Faith. The 5 Sto Ifr Z*\ V Q meamor « thoroughly convinced Catholic than 5 ?? nn i d j°, m J ake me more and more thankful for the 'kindly H"ht ' which had led me into the True Fold of the Redeemer