The New Zealand Tablet THURSDAY, APRIL 11, 1912. MASS IN PRESBYTERIAN CHURCHES

New Zealand Tablet, 11 April 1912, Page 33

The New Zealand Tablet THURSDAY, APRIL 11, 1912. MASS IN PRESBYTERIAN CHURCHES

KITTLE over a year ago we -drew , attention. tJ/vhW to a somewhat serious charge which. was. then being made against Presbyterianism ln Canada, and in parts of - the United States, in connection with : the ’ operations of the P^byteriam^Uome. ..Missions Society The facts, fas we then remarked, -ir V ' were;sorsurprising; as to be at first blush „ v ; - almost incredible; : but>they erenow: practically beyond dispute. - The charge was : that ; with ' the ; connivance -of the Home Missions Board, and ' under then- direction,; missiones had : been -feigning the ? Mass and the Sacraments •of the Catholic - Church, with ; the view of proselytising Rutheniah Catholics. There are many.Ruthenians in Western Canada, , and a number also in Newark, Pittsburg, and New York, and other ’ cities , of- the United States; and ? the ’ Home Missions = Society, so the allegation ran, either employed its ~ own missionaries—where any could be found who-spoke the language— hired■ bogus priests Vto ’ say bogus Masses and to administer bogus Sacraments. The form of Mass which was the basis of their imitation is the Greek Liturgy, which is used both by the Greek Catholics and the Greek Orthodox, and which is, of course, unfamiliar to the ordinary Catholic of the Latin rite’ ' or the deception would have been discovered long - ago; * It appears to have been first detected by the Most Rev. Andrew Sheptytski, Archbishop of Lemberg, Axistria, and Primate of the ■ Galicians, - when: on a visit ;to .V his countrymen and . co-religionists ; in Western Canada. His Excellency had this to say of the . fraud ? which was being , perpetrated upon his people: ‘I L did not understand this sort of Protestantism. I find, their ’ mission societies paying anybody that can speak their language to celebrate a bogus Mass, hear confessions, administer - the sacraments, and, strangest of ,all, openly and publicly, so that ■ the deception might be - more . complete, pray fervently for our Holy Father the Pope. It ,is_v a great shame. Good, honest Protestants are more consistent than to do it. It may destroy religion< in our people where they have not their own priests- and .rite,-, but it will make them unbelievers in the end and. ruin; them as citizens.' Subsequently, Mr. Andrew- Shipman, a very reliable writer and in• this! casefrom his- .. special knowledge of the Greek ritea .particularly .well/! .qualified investigator, made . a • personal, examination of the facts in connection with the Presbyterian services-for ;, Ruthenians held in the city of. New York and also in' the : - city of J Newark • and he gave in ; the pages lof.! America a detailed account of what he saw, and. heard'.. He found in both ; churches. Presbyterian pastors, vested ; m. alb, stole, and golden r chasuble, celebrating ‘ High Mass’ with all pomp.and ceremony, incensing the..altar and the congregation,, ‘elevating the.Host,’ and. waited, on by an f altar-server ringing .the bell ! at; the J Sanctus> f

and/ * Consecration.’ Moreover, - the members of thisV ‘ Presbyterian ’ congregation frequently 'crossed them-. selves, kissed the cross and the Gospels, and knelt devoutly at the ‘ Consecration.’ The responsible Presbyterian officials either 'substantially \admitted or at best only half denied ' the : allegations. The Rev. Dr. McLaren, the Canadian /representative of the Presbyterian .Home Missions, in answer to Archbishop Sheptytski’s"strictures, admitted that a portion of the Mass . was: said, ‘ but ' not the entire Mass. A { letter addressed to the Board of Missions of New York elicited the admission that ‘ the work : is among a poorer class* of people” and that * the services are carried out with much of I the 'picturesqueness of the Greek .; ; liturgical serviced The Rev. William P. Shriver, the Superintendent of the Immigration Department of the Home Missions, when called upon by the secretary of the Home Board of Missions for an explanation, made no attempt to deny the specific statements regarding the vestments, candles, crucifix, Sign of the Cross, hymns to the Blessed Virgin, etc., used in the mission services in the New York and Newark chapels, but practically confirmed the assertions of America , "saying: The ; Ruthenian service as conducted-a year ago at Hope Chapel in New York was not satisfactory to us. In my personal observation things were done which seemed to me liable to misunderstanding and opening the work to -just such an attack as was made in the Catholic weekly.’ ■’ f * :/- :-v-. ■ /•- ' That was the situation as it existed over a year ago. . Writing about that time .we expressed the view that Presbyterians as ; a body are much too downright in ' their own beliefs to be willing to stoop to a policy of proselytism by deception; and that when the circumstances became widely known -there would be a strong and general repudiation of such unworthy tactics/ So far the,anticipation has not been realised; and at the present moment matters are apparently exactly as they were when the Catholic - representatives first formulated their complainti ” As late as last September and October,’ says Mr. Shipman in America of February 3, /‘the: same order of service was observed by the writer to be going on in Newark and in New York City, with the single exception that the ‘‘ priest used a black Geneva or college gown in which to preach.’ An official of the Presbyterian Church, who signs himself ‘ Monaghan,’ describes at length in the Presbyterian- (the official, organ of the .General Assembly of the Presbyterian Church of the United States of America) under date of January 17, 1912, the various acts of worship and ritual performed in both the Newark Ruthenian Chapel and Hope Chapel in New York City. He refers to the 'articles in America, and fully corroborates those articles at every point of description. So far, at least, as the New York . and Newark churches are concerned , the heads of the immediate missions have been aware of the facts for considerably over a year, but have taken no steps to alter them. Thanks, however, to the article by : ‘ Monaghan ’ above referred to, some knowledge of the practices that have been , . adopted is penetrating beyond the immediate official circle and the disclosures are arousing considerable feeling and astonishment. ■ In the Presbyterian of January 24, ‘ A New York City :Pastor ’ writes : ‘.I am just in possession of this week’s issue of the Presbyterian, and have read with keen surprise the article on Mass/in Presbyterian Churches.” ... . The facts, as stated, are,; so clear and overwhelming that nothing short of a severe shock must come to all readers of your valuable paper. It fills my heart with grief, and as a pastor of this city 1 desire to' thank you for bringing to my attention—through your paperthis seemingly incredible information concerning a condition of things which I feel very sure is unknown to' the pastors of the Presbyterian churches •of this city” ' Other Presbyterian papers are also beginning to take the matter up; and we. are still charit- , ' able enough to believe that when the Presbyterian body, as a whole, become thoroughly seized of the facts, they will /make' short work of the discreditable and utterly indefensible 1 tactics by which their good name has: been so gravely compromised; If they do not, the American . ' public will be no longer -under any delusion as to what

body vit is which: really believes and acts upon : the principle that the end justifies the means. ■;