SCOTCH CATHOLICS

New Zealand Tablet, 17 January 1918, Page 36

SCOTCH CATHOLICS

/ “Many people feign surprise when they encounter a Scotsman or a person- of Scotch descent who is a Catholic,” observes the Catholic Union and Times. “Just why this should be is .one of the unaccountables. No doubt, it is due to ignorance, for there was a time when. Scotland was just as Catholic as is Ireland or Poland, and history records the fact.” * - ■ Persecution did its evil work, however, and compelled the defection of many. Many more kept the faith, in spite of cruel suffering and in the face of starvation. Descendants of these staunch Catholics are to be found in Canada (notes our contemporary): “In Glengarry about all the people are Scotch and almost all are Catholics. Farther east, on Christmas Island, Cape Breton, there is a colony of Catholics, the great majority of whom still speak the Gaelic language. Here a short time ago was celebrated the 100th anniversary of the coming of a Catholic Bishop to the shores of the Bras d’Or Lakes. It was a remarkable occasion. The Pontifical Mass was celebrated by Bishop Morrison, while the sermon was preached by the Rev. Daniel M. Mac Adam, P.P., of Sydney. The preacher spoke in Gaelic. “It was Bishop Plessis, a Frenchman, who went to the Gaelic-speaking families of the Bras d’Or Lakes a hundred years ago. But to these God-fearing Highlanders, language or nationality made little difference. Their visitor was a Bishop of the Church, and, poor and scattered though they were, his welcome was one filled with genuine Scotch hospitality. In his memorable

sermon Father , Mac Adam called , attention to the fact that many of the descendants of the Scotch may -be found from the Gulf of Mexico to the Arctic Ocean. ‘And,’ said the rev. speaker, ‘they kept the faith.’ Again,'said Father Mac Adam: ‘Go to Ottawa, the capital of Canada, and pay your respects to the Archbishop. He will give you a Highland welcome in sweet, melodious Gaelic, for although his father was French, his heart’s love' has gone out to the' language of his mother, a MacKinnon of the blood of Ganna. Go to Toronto, the largest English-speaking city in Canada; the Archbishop belongs to the MacNeills of Barra. Go to the extreme western diocese 5 of the dominion : the Bishop is a MacDonald'" who speaks gracefully and writes racily in the Gaelic of Lochaber. And now come back to the far east where you will find our own beloved Bishop, whose ancestors, if I mistake not, come from blythesome, jovial Uist.” ' s