The Catholic World

New Zealand Tablet, 7 April 1910, Page 551

The Catholic World

BELGIUMThe Congo Free State Lieutenant Learmonth, R.N., in a letter to the Times, corroborates every word of Mr. Dugald Campbell’s statement about Katanga, and says that in his opinion Mr. Morel has always been needlessly aggressive towards the Government of the Congo Free State, which he is convinced, by his own observation in Katanga, is honestly and successfully civilising that province at least, treats the natives with more leniency than Britain does in Rhodesia, and enforces severe penalties on white men for infringing the laws for their protection. CANADA—The Eucharistic Congress The programme for the International Eucharistic Congress to be held at Montreal, Canada, on September 7-11 next, is now being drawn up, and will probably exceed in interest and spectacular effect any that have gone before (says the Universe). The Papal Legate will make his entry into Montreal on Monday, September 5, and will be solemnly received by the ecclesiastical dignitaries on the Tuesday. On Wednesday, September 7, there will be a grand reception by the civil authorities, and at midnight OBrthat date Solemn High Mass at the Cathedral of Notre Dame, which will accommodate 10,000 persons, will usher in . the Congress. Holy 'Communion will be given, but to men only. On Thursday, Friday, and Saturday the ordinary sessions of the Congress will take place; but on Friday there" will be Pontifical High Mass in the Manse Park, in the open air, when sermons will be preached in French and English. Sunday, the concluding day of the Congress, will be noteworthy by reason of the vast procession which will take place through the streets of Montreal, embracing lay delegates from all countries, the clergy, and the numerous Bishops and Archbishops who are expected to be present, among whom will be the Archbishop of Westminster and several of the English Bishops. The Blessed Sacrament will, of course, occupy the most prominent place in this great procession, being carried by the Papal Legate, who will be conveyed in a chariot drawn by six white horses. A large number of English Catholics are expected to attend the Congress, and accommodation upon the great liners has already been secured by the Catholic Association, who are making all necessary arrangements In addition to several excursions in the neighborhood of Montreal, the programme proposed by that association includes an optional visit to Niagara, returning by way of New York, in which city two or three days may be spent. ENGLAND—A Catholic Congress. The Catholics of England (says the Catholic Herald) seem at last on the point of realising an idea which has long been promulgated of holding an annual general Congress of English Catholics. The Catholic Truth Society holding its annual Conference at or about the same time as the Society of St. Vincent de Paul in England, and frequently in the same place, suggested the idea that the two gatherings should be combined. In order to include other organisations likely to extend support and influence to the Congress, invitations were sent to representatives of other societies, such as the Y.M.S., the Guild of Ransom, the Catholic Union, Catholic Women’s League, and the Catholic Guardians’ Association, and it is anticipated that these and others will join in promoting a great English Catholic Congress to be held in Leeds at the end of July, so as to avail of the leisure provided by the August Bank Holiday. ' FRANCE—The Free Schools \. M. Doumergue, Minister of Education, has introduced a Bill to suppress the Catholic schools of France (says the Paris correspondent of the Edinburgh Catholic Herald). During the recent debate in the Parliament M. Briand, the Prime Minister, threatened the Catholics that if they persisted in their opposition to the infidel schools of France the Government would take measures to strengthen their position in educational matters. They have done so by the introduction of the new Bill. The Bishops have called on the people to open Catholic schools everywhere. There has been a generous and faithful response to the call; in many places Catholic schools are opened side by side of the State schools. Where there are no Catholic schools parents are insisting on the teachers withdrawing the condemned books, and they have been largely successful. But the new Bill will suppress the Catholic schools, and leave ,4 the Catholic children at the mercy of an atheistic GovV ernment, who are determined to extinguish entirely the ' Catholic Faith in France. At the suppression of the convents and the institutions of religious Fathers and Brothers who had the care of the majority of the children in France, many members of the religious Communities ‘ laicised ’ and entered on a new role as lay teachers in Catholic schools. • The new Bill aims at them. The provisions are such that they will no longer be recognised as teachers in any schools, and thus the major part of Catholic schools will have to be closed for want of teachers. First of all, the former teaching certificates will be nullified. It will be necessary to take a new certificate, and the conditions are of such

a nature for the securing this new power to teach that the Government will be able to refuse all whom they desire to exclude. One of the questions they will have to answer on oath is whether the candidate is now or has ever been a member of a religious Order. If the answer is in the affirmative then the certificate will be refused, and but few Catholic schools will be left with teachers, and therefore must be closed. Another provision of the new law is that all school books must be submitted for the approbation of the Government, and that means the end of religious instruction in books. Moreover, power is given to the Mayor of every locality to close schools where in his opinion the manners of the children, or the sanitary condition of the schools, or the security of the children are defective. Now, as the Mayor is the creature of the Government, he can close the school practically at his own sweet will. The management, the time-table, and the subjects taught wiU all have to be approved. The trap is complete: Catholic schools must close, ’ ROME—The Pope and the Victims of the Earthquake The booklet, printed by the Vatican press, in which a e - D s . forth the details of the receipts and expenditure of Pius X. on the occasion of the earthquake of 1908 in Calabria and Sicily, has just been given to the public in Italian, and is being sold at a couple of francs for the £ Sr the orphans who have been taken under the care of the Pope (writes a Rome correspondent). The idea of preparing such a publication originated . with the Right Rev. Abbot Gasquet, 0.5.8., whose suggestion met with ready acceptance from the Holy Father. His Holiness at once showed the distinguished Benedictine a ledger in which every penny received and disbursed had been entered in his own exquisitely neat hand. The most minute details are - given in the booklet. The number of orphans placed in different institutes throughout, Italy, the churches, schools, convents, monasteries, and places of refuge erected by the Pope in Sicily and Calabria; what the fugitives, the wounded, and orphans cost before any charitable offerings reached Italy; the sums disbursed by the Pontifical delegates in South Italy as well as those sent from the Pope to Sicily in the first hour of distressall is given with the utmost exactitude. It is well known, though such information cannot be gathered from the publication, that the receipts, 6,849,988 lire, have not been sufficient to cover the expenditure of the Pope. According to some, Pius X. finds himself over a million lire on the wrong side of the ledger. But that is the side his Holiness persists in calling the right one. Within a week or so the booklet will be published in English and French. The publication, which makes interesting reading and is profusely illustrated with photographs of the stricken regions, will be read in many countries; for it forms a memorial of one of the most terrible catastrophies in all history, and attached to it is a great amount of historical importance, the value of which can scarcely be appreciated in our day. j'V The Holy Father and the Lenten Preachers" For many generations (says a Rome correspondent) it has been the custom for the Pope to receive in a body those ecclesiastics who, prominent for their theological and oratorical gifts, are chosen to preach in the more important churches in Rome during the Lenten season. On such occasions the wishes of the Pontiff are signified to them regarding the style of their sermons as well as the dominant note that must run through them from the first to the last discourse. On February 8, when the body of preachers, accompanied by the parish priests of Rome, stood around the Papal _ Throne, Pius X. gave them only one idea towards which all their efforts should tend, viz.,. ‘ Docete ’ — ‘ teach.’ ‘I exhort you particularly,’ said his Holiness with energy, to teach the truths of Faith, because, sad to say, frequently a knowledge of religious matters is found wanting in great congregations. Do not waste time in phrases. Remember your office is mainly that mentioned by Jesus when He said; “Docete.” Only in this way will your preaching produce that fruit which is expected/ Then turning to the parish priests of the city who stood at his left, the Pontiff spoke of the necessity of teaching youth. My dear co-operators,’ he said, consider the grave: need of religious instruction that is to be found among the faithful. I leave this to your efforts because neither you nor I have a day to lose to prepare ourselves to answer the Eternal Judge on this duty of our ministry. I understand that it is a difficult thing to gather a good number of children for religious instruction but this does not dispense you from trying every means to overcome so great an evil. You must spare no pains to bring them together and prepare them to receive worthily the Holy Sacraments. No parish priest can be too zealous in forming Catechism classes, in watching over them, and in getting others to help.in the holy work. Tell other priests in my name that although they are not officially engaged in missionary labors, they are bound to assist in preparing the youth of the city for the Sacraments.’ , SPAlNPolitical Parties and the Schools There are several parties in the Spanish Cortes, or Parliament, to wit—Conservatives, Liberals of diverse shades, Republicans, Socialists, and Anarchists (writes a correspondent of the Catholic Herald). At the time.of the Socialistic and Anarchist commotion on account of the Ferrer inci-

dents throughout Europe, the Conservatives, led by Senor •Maura, field the portfolios of Government; but in a moment or weakness the Conservative Cabinet, to allay popular commotion in Spain, which, moreover, was fanned by an unfavorable feeling to the African war, resigned last October. Moret, the Radical leader, undertook the government of the country. He did so only on sufferance, since the Conservatives have a majority in the Cortes. Now Moret has made his position untenable by two acts that have raised the opposition of two powerful parties in the Parliament. He alienated the Conservatives by issuing a decree signed by the King, permitting the reopening of the ‘lay’ schools, and then raised the opposition of the Liberal Right and the Radical Liberals under Count de Romanones and Canalejos, by favoring the extreme Republicans. He had been dismissed from office to give place to Canalejos, who has formed a Cabinet to carry on the government of the country until arrangements are made for a general election. Senor Maura is again in evidence rallying his party, who expect to win at the polls, and put Spain under a Conservative Government. UNITED STATES—Church Progress According to the Official Catholic Directory, published by the M. H. Wiltzius Company, of New York, there are 14,347,027 Catholics in the continental United States, showing a gain of 111,576 over" the figures of a year ago. Adding to the number of Catholics in the United States proper those* of the Philippines, Porto Rico, and tho Hawaiian Islands, the total number of Catholics under the United States flag is 22,587,079. The Catholic population under the British flag, according to the same directory, is 12,053,418, and under the German flag 20,327,913. The hierarchy of the United States consists of one Apostolic Delegate, one Cardinal, thirteen Archbishops, and eightyeight Bishops. ° J GENERAL A New Vicariate Apostolic On account of the increase of the number of Latin Catholics in Egypt, the Sacred Congregation of the Propaganda has found imperative the erection of a second Vicariate Apostolic in Egypt. Up to the present the country possessed only one Vicar Apostolic, whose episcopal residence is situated in Alexandria, with jurisdiction over the vast territory. According to the latest arrangements, a new Vicariate is formed in Cairo, taking its title from the Delta of the Nile, and having for its first Apostolic Vicar the Right Rev. Mgr. Duret, who made his ecclesiastical studies in the Seminary for the African Missions of Lyons, France, to which country he is now travelling for the" purpose of receiving episcopal consecration.