The Catholic Truth Society of England

New Zealand Tablet, Volume XXX, Issue 47, 20 November 1902, Page 3

The Catholic Truth Society of England

At the annual meeting of the Catholic Truth Sooiety of England, which was held at Newport, the Rev. Father Cologan, hon. secretary, gave some interesting particulars regarding its work, He said : The publications of the Society are largely used in British Guiana, in the West Indies, in South Africa, and at Elmina, on the Gold Coast, there is a branoh which, with its* correspondent, consists, apparently of natives. In New Zealand, through the energy of the late Biehop Luck, not only were our publications largely used in the diocese of Auckland, but some of our devotional works were translated into Maori, and a recent visitor, describing a visit to a church used" entirely by natives, noted that they were using the Catholic Truth Society's prayer book, which had been translated into their own language. The societies and branches referred to are all, apparently, flourishing. It mußt, however, be observed that they were started because we were already in the field and had shown that success was possible ; they had the benefit of our experience, which, in many cases, was asked for and readily given. This geographical Catholicity of the Catholic Truth Sooiety has led up to the formation in the United Btat-.es of an organisation bearing the name of the International Catholic Truth Society, which purports to a^t as the connecting link between all the sooieties and branches just m» ntion^d, and to be a centre whenoe infor - mation on matters affecting Catholic Truth may be obtained, and which without such a centre could only be obtained with great difficulty. It has correspondence with all countries and a credited correspondent at the Vatican. Through these it will now be comparatively easy to refute those calumnies against the Church— suoh as the ill-treatment of Barbara Übrjck in Hungary and the walling up of nun? in Mexico, both of which have been exploded, but at considerable trouble and expense by the Catholic Truth Society— calumnies of which it may be said that distance lends enchantment to belief. It may also be stated that the Catholic Truth Society has been instrumental in the establishment of three other important Catholic organisations — the Catholic Guardians' Association. the Catholic Art Society, and the Catholic Needlework Guild. Now you will, no doubt, be asking yourselves how is thil widely-spread and many-branched organisation kept going ? How are the sinews of war provided ? The two principal regular means whence the Society obtains its resources are : the subscriptions from members and the Bales of the publications. We may take last year 1 * balance sheet as a fair Bam pie of what these items produoe. There is a membership of 1350, realising £475 from yearly subscriber*, and a capital of £150 from life members. By the sales of publications during the 12 months ending 31st December, 1901, the Society received £2,878. There are certain comparatively small items into which we need not enter, and a very small item of £6 10?, from the Associates' Fund — a fund started for the purpose of giving an opportunity to those who are unable to pay the ordinary subscription, 10s a year, and yet desire to help and to be oonneoted with the Society's work. The amount received from members suffices to pay working expenses : the staff, rent, rates, and taxes,

etc. The officers, it may be mentioned, are not salaried. The profits from the publications, which, as a rule, axe very small, together with such donations as may from time to time be received, form the capital by which the committee is enabled to bring out fresh publications — for which there is constant demand, and of which, fortunately, there is a constant supply. Now if I were to suggest that the Society is not on a sound financial footing I should not only be unnecessarily discouraging, but I should be stating what is far from the truth. The sooiety is perfectly sound, and, to all appearances, will be so at least for a very long time. But it is, nevertheless, true that its working oapital in exceedingly small, and the field for operations is very vast, and thus for want of sufficient funds it is greatly crippled in it* work. It is also true that the Society will be and mußt ne after the manner of the horse-leech, ever crying ' more, more ' — why ? Beoause the more work it does, the more there will be to do ; the greater its success, the more it will be invited to help in the great work of spreading Catholic truth. The moral is plain. A society like this has a distinct and legitimate claim upon the support of the Oathoiic body. If it is to extend, to wid^n its sphere of action, to do more good than it has already done, it must receive support, and more support than it has already received. And indeed the aim of the whole Catholic body should be to place the Catholic Truth Society on a position of equality, comparatively, with such societies as the Society for the Promotion of Christian Knowledge and the Religious Tract Society ; and this position it would attain were it supported as it should be — by members' subscriptions, by donations, and by the wide circulation of the Society's publications.