The Catholic World

New Zealand Tablet, 9 December 1915, Page 55

The Catholic World

BELGIUM PRESENTATION OF VILLAGE CHURCHES. A scheme which has the approval of his. Holiness and of Cardinal Bourne has been started with the object of presenting to Cardinal Mercier village churches for Belgian refugees (says the London correspondent of the Irish Catholic). The committee for La Maison de Dieu, which has the matter in hand, has issued an appeal for funds to enable them to have these temporary churches erected. In their appeal they say: ‘ The ruthless destruction of villages in Belgium has included the ruin and desecration of , many churches. It must necessarily be a long-time before any of them can be rebuilt in a permanent form.’ They appeal, therefore, for funds to present Cardinal Mercier and his desolated dioceses with one or more wooden churches. It is proposed that the buildings should be made by the people who have suffered so much from their country’s destruction—the Belgian refugees. The scheme is a novel one, as it is proposed to build the churches in such a manner so (hat they can be bolted together and easily transported from ■ one place to another. In this way the refugees can use them in their temporary homes until such time as they return to their native land, when the churches would be removed and re-erected in Belgium in more solid fashion. It is estimated that t lie average size of (lie temporary church would be sufficiently large to accommodate 600 people. Although only temporary structures, yet it is not intended that they should be composed of the cheapest materials, but so built as to stand for a number of years, supposing funds were not available to erect a permanent church when Belgium was freed from the invader. The committee has consulted Bishop de Wachter, Auxiliary to Cardinal Mercier ; M. Carton de Wiart, Minister of Justice, and M. George Helleputte, Minister for Public Works. ENGLAND FAITH AND SOCIAL PROBLEMS. The Bishop of Northampton, in his eloquent and stirring address at the meeting of the Catholic Social Guild in the Birmingham Town Hall, defined the root cause of the war as the insolent and aggressive repudiation of the religious factor. Men were so puffed up with intellectual pride that they left God out of all’ their plans and calculations for the betterment of the world. The Bishop pointed out how this mental attitude affected social thought and action. The social question was .declared to be everything but what it was—a legislative, an economic, an industrial, an educational, or a biological problem, whereas it was mainly religious. No assertion could be more accurate. The tendency was to thrust aside more and more the religious aspect of social duty and to bring into prominence theories which were a negation of religion and of responsibility to God. The war has taught men severe lessons. It has shown them the folly of Free Thought and the importance of the supernatural. They will resume their tasks after the war in a chastened spirit, but most probably, in the course of time, the Godless theories and systems will be pressed upon the attention of the people again. Catholics should be prepared to combat them more vigorously than ever. • By doing so they will perform a great work for the State as well as for the Church. THE CATHOLIC SOCIAL GUILD. An important conference was held by the Catholic Social Guild at Birmingham on October 9 and 10. (says the Universe). Notable addresses were given by prominent speakers, and the conference attracted considerable attention in the Midlands. The National Catholic Congress was abandoned this year owing to the war. The Catholic Social Guild, realising apparently that it is important in these days of crisis that social questions should be discussed with .a view to future action, seized the oportunity of organising a conference on the grand scale. The ©vent was completely success-

fill, -and at the meeting, held in the Town Hall, over three thousand people were present. Archbishop Ilsley presided at the meetings; and, in his brief speeches, showed his realisation of the need for action.; Bishop Keating's address on * The one thing necessary ’l'. was a masterly argument in favor of religion, and created a deep impression. Mr. Cecil Chesterton, in 1 his characteristic way, showed why Catholic effort in the direction of social reform does not blend with the effort of those outside the Church. The Catholic _ Social Guild was founded six years ago. • The guild aims at the creation of a strong civic spirit based upon • Catholic principles. This it does in three ways; (1) The publication of literature on social questions; (2) the organisation of systematic study, and (3) the encouragement of the retreat movement. ROME ■ THE CHURCH EXTENSION SOCIETY OF AMERICA. One of the most interesting audiences granted by the Holy Father during the first week in October (says the Rome correspondent of the Catholic Times) was that given to the Right Rev. Mgr. Clement Kelly, Chicago, President of the Church Extension Society of America, whose business in Rome has to do with matters far different from the ordinary affairs of the association to which he has devoted the best years of his life. Mgr. Kelly came to lay before the Pope a report on the con- - dition of the Church in Mexico, her sufferings, the execution of priests there, and the action of the United States in regard to the Mexican disturbances. Accompanying Mgr. Kelly, in the capacity of secretary, is a young Mexican priest who barely escaped with his life over the frontier ; and in Rome also is a Mexican Bishop upon whose head a price was put by the Mexican enemies of the Church—the Most Rev. Mgr. Orozco, Bishop of Guadalajara. In recognition of his great services to the Church in America, Benedict XV. appointed Father Kelly quite recently a Domestic Prelate and Proto-notary-Apostolic. When one reflects upon the wonderful work done in America by the Church Extension Society, which this distinguished Irish priest founded, any honor the Holy Sec may confer on him will not seem too high. Since its foundation the Extension Society has been instrumental in erecting no fewer than eleven hundred churches in the United States, all, or nearly all, in poor districts. It does not take upon its shoulders the whole of the expenses entailed in building a church ; but it contributes something like a third of the sum needed ; the remainder must be found by the priest who undertakes the work. GENERAL SWISS CATHOLICS AND THE POPE. A Rome journal publishes the following telegram sent to the Holy Father by the popular Swiss Union: The General Assembly of the Popular Catholic Union of Switzerland, gathered at Lucerne, sends to your Holiness the homage of the most sincere and profound devotion and filial fidelity. With great joy it salutes the universal acknowledgment of the moral power of the Apostolic See, which is confirmed in the sight of all the States and all the peoples, in this most dolorous epoch of the world-wide conflagration. We thank you, Holy Father, from the bottom of our hearts for all the efficacious initiatives taken in great part in agreement with our supreme Federal authorities and - our Episcopacy to lighten the fate of the victims of the war. We pray fervently that your constant efforts for peace, which, are watched with longing eyes and. hearts full of hope by all people, may be crowned with happy success, and our prayers are beseeching from God that at the termination of this horrible war the Holy Apostolic See may be confirmed in the fulness of liberty and independence as the citadel of peace and justice and -the source of every benediction for the Church and humanity.