THE FUTURE OF CATHOLICITY IN FRANCE.

New Zealand Tablet, Volume XXVII, Issue 14, 6 April 1899, Page 10

THE FUTURE OF CATHOLICITY IN FRANCE.

In the current issue of the Catholic Quarterly there is an interesting article on the present condition of the Church and Religion in France by the Very Rev. Dr. Hogan, who speut thirty yearß in Paris ba Director of the Grand Seminaire de S. Sulpice. After dealing with the present Father Hogan goes on to treat of the future. On all sides he sees evidence of recovery and progress. He says :—: — . 'Besides the parochial schools — a recent and heavy drain on Catholic charities— there are the " patronages" where boys and girlß after their First Communion are taken away from the contamination of the streets and given every acceptable means of enjoying themselves, especially on Sundays, and thus continue to grow under the blessed influence of religion. Besides the regular Bermons, there are conferences and lectures for men only, to which they are, if necessary, invited by letter, a courtesy which hardly ever fails to draw them. Once brought together it is easy enough to handle them. Subjects of various kinds are treated, religious, of course, it they meet in the Church ; but any interesting subject becomes easily a bond of union and sympathy between the speaker and his audience, leading the latter to listen more readily to questions of religion when the time has come to introduce them. A sight long familiar to us in America is thus gradually introducing itself to French eyes : priests speaking outside church precincts and on subjects of general interest. Several have thus addressed popular meetings through the country ; some have already been elected to the Legislature by Catholic constituencies, and thus are in a position to reach the whole nation.' In no direction, however, are the talents and material resources of the faithful clergy and laity of France more usefully or more generously employed than in the support of a TRULY CATHOLIC PRESS, having for its object the lifting of the people from out the bondage of deceit in which scheming- and auti-Catholic journalists and politicians would fain enslave them. On this subject Father Hogan remarks that •— ' Preaching at its beat reaches comparatively few ; the printed page goes everywhere. In France it has been a great power for evil, and too long the clergy fought it only by the favourite method of warning and denunciation, good enough, perhaps, to preserve from contamination those who were still undefiled, but utterly powerless to protect or to cure the others. Only through the Press can the harm wrought by an irreligious and unscrupulous Press be combated, and to this the clergy of France are becoming more and more alive. As a consequence, a considerable amount of printed matter is put forth and actively circulated by them — newspapers, magazines, booklets, leaflets, short treatises, popular presentations of religious truth, are following closely on the heels of the infidel propaganda. Sold at cost price or distributed ■Tatuitously. they penetrate everywhere, and are effecting the happiest change. Pastors of large parishes avail themselves of similar means to keep in touch with those of their people who are never even s-een in church. Once a year, or it may be much more frequently, the latter receive irom their pastor a neat, attractive pamphlet or paper dealing with some religious truth or practice, and which is sure to be read.' So throughout the whole of France, the good work is b ing carried on. aud gradually, but surely, the uiastes of the people won back to God aud Faith.