THE FUTURE BELONGS TO CATHOLICS

New Zealand Tablet, 15 June 1916, Page 19

THE FUTURE BELONGS TO CATHOLICS

THE BIRTH-RATE QUESTION. ' ‘ls England and the Christianised world likely to become Roman Catholic?’ asked the Rev. W. T< Evans, 8.A., in addressing a men’s service at Haslingden parish church on Sunday afternoon, April 16. Yes, for many reasons, he said. In the first place, religion has had throughout the ages a very remarkable effect upon the birth-rate. While Protestant England, Calvinistic Wales, and Presbyterian Scotland bewailed the fact of a decreasing birth-rate during the years, 1881 to 1901, Ireland rejoiced in an increased birthrate —3 per cent. And -Ireland, as you know, is Roman Catholic. Roman Catholicism is like the Jewish religion in that it places a great value upon child life. Look again at the birth-rate in the Lancashire cotton towns. Here the birth-rate has fallen off greatly during recent years, except in Preston. Why Preston ? It is the Roman Catholic stronghold in Lancashire. Look at our own town. Were the children of the Irish Catholics marshalled against the children of Protestant families they would probably outnumber them by at least two to one. There is something in the Roman Catholic religion that makes for a thriving child population, and that in fulfilment of the duty towards the nation and towards their religion, _ - . A Striking Comparison,

Examine the other side of the picture. When Queen Victoria came to the throne the aristocratic families in England had on an average seven children ; but in 1890 that average was just over three. That is a decline of over 50 per cent, during Queen Victoria’s reign. And these families, as you know, are mostly Protestant. How fared the Roman Catholics during the same period They maintained their average, almost seven children per marriage. Take again some facts from the Catholic Year Book for 1914. The child birth in ten Roman Catholic dioceses in England was 38 per thousand of the population. The general rate for England and Wales was 24 per thousand. That is, there were 14 per thousand more Roman Catholic births than Protestant births. The point of the figures is this. Providing that the Roman Catholic Church is able to hold its own number— the leakage is not large, for there are precious few converts from Roman Catholicism to Protestantism — an overwhelming difference in the birth-rate will give their religion first place in England, and we shall witness the state of religious life not unlike that of England before the Reformation. To put it bluntly, England as a whole will have to obey the Pope. A Glance Abroad. It is these figures that give rise to the haunting fear that I have for the future. Be it in religion, or in politics, or in war, the majority lords it over the minority. And the Pope still has a shrewd idea that some of his successors will rule the whole spiritual world. Look at the subject from the foreign point of view. In France the Roman Catholics are multiplying at a much faster rate than the Protestants. In Germany the same law holds good, and in Berlin alone there is an average of one child more in Roman Catholic households than in the Protestant. The United States is fast becoming a Roman Catholic stronghold. In the New England States, the original home of Puritanism as immortalised in the story , of the Pilgrim Fathers, are now important centres of Catholicism, one of the States alone, Massachusetts, showing 1,100,000 Catholics to 450,000 Protestants of all denominations combined. Again, in the New York State we find 2,300,000 Catholics and about 300,000 Methodists, while no other Protestant body can number more .than 200,000. My figures are trustworthy, for they are taken from the Hibbert Journal; the leading authoritative review of religion and philosophy. The sum and substance of the matter is this : Roman Catholicism is everywhere flourishing. Witness the crowds that

go to Mass down Bury road, every Sunday morning. Their numbers darken the road. So do the children as they play in the streets at the top end of the town. And in contrast notice how Protestantism is everywhere languishing. Look at their line of communicants in church and in chapel alike, and listen to the wail that our Sunday schools are not what they were thirty years ago. Protestantism is not a lost cause, certainly but at the rate we are going .on it soon will be. Digging the Grave of Protestantism. We are unconsciously making its coffin and digging it grave. Father Bernard Vaughan said a few days ago in a public meeting in London that we wanted men, munitions, and money if England was to survive and flourish, but most of all did we want fewer empty cradles. As long as we have only two children to show for the Roman Catholic four we are fighting a losing cause. Wherever the solution lies, this much is certain, and I say it not as criticism of Roman Catholicism, for that religion, too, like all other religions, has as its adherents thousands of,earnest, pious, goodliving souls ; I say it not in any spirit of jealousy or bitternessfor where can you expect to find charity of thought and work unless among Christian ministers ? I say that this much is certain ; that, unless a miracle happens, according to the law of population, which, like the law of the Medes and Persians, altereth not. England and the whole Christianised world will some time in the future- than some of us think-be overwhelmingly Roman Catholic owing to the simple but sufficient reason that the Catholic birthrate is 50 per cent, more virile, more aggressive, than that of Protestantism.