Catholic Advance in England

New Zealand Tablet, Volume 08, 8 October 1908, Page 22

Catholic Advance in England

The growth of tolerant feeling towards Catholicism in England, the spread of Ritualism, and the advance made by the, Church in Great Britain recently formed the subject of melancholy reflections by an Orange brother (Mr. Albert Bruntnell) 4n the Rev. Dill-Macky's organ, the Sydney Watchman. Mr." Bruntnell recently visited England, and has come back to Australia with feelings turned black and blue -by the things that he has seen. The Melbourne Tribune quotes (among others) the following pained remarks of Brother Bruntnell in the Watchman : ' The growth of Ritualism in a large portion of the Church of England is very serious. The most serious part of all is that thousands of our own Protestant people are becoming inured to their surroundings, and it docs not now impress them as it once did. The visitor, of course, notices it. " A member of the Legislative Council of. Victoria, who returned i.n the same sWmer with me, informed me that he went to his little parish church in the town where he was born, and he did not recognise it as the same place. ' The burning of candles, the wearing of vestments, and the ritual made him feel .very uncomfortable and' much concerned. The townspeople seemed to regard it as quite the usual thing. When 1 visited the City of Lincoln the first time, a young man who belonged to the L.0.L., from Leichbardt, Sydney, told me that he had not been able to find an Orange Lodge to affiliate with in the whole of the city. The young man told me that he had been to the Church of England vicar and asked if there was such an institution, and he met with nothing but a scornful rebuke. I stayed in the South" of England, where a Bible Christian minister declared to me that he did not know what the L.6.L. was, and- asked me to explain.' Mr. Bruntnell concluded with this assurance: 'There can be no doubt but that Roman Catholicism is making a great advance in England.'