IS FRANCE STILL CATHOLIC?

New Zealand Tablet, 30 January 1919, Page 10

IS FRANCE STILL CATHOLIC ?

(By Gabriel M. Menager, S.J., in America.) The legal . warfare which has for almost 40 years been waged against Catholic France, and especially against her numerous religious institutions, has been an indictment of the whole people. In outside nations an opinion is current that the French, if not downright irreligious, are at any rate too sceptical, indifferent, and pleasure-loving to think or care much about religion. Needless to say, German propaganda, in the form of more or less clever lies, was not altogether unsuccessful in bringing numbers of superficial and ignorant persons to form such an opinion. The French, it was asserted again and again, had become a people without stamina, physical, mental, or moral; frivolous and irresponsible to the point of positive folly, and consequently unworthy of the honored place they had won for their country among the sisterhood of nations. Thank God, these loathsome calumnies are not without an incontestable answer. This is found in the splendid and truly inspiring manner in which the sons of France, from near and far, have rallied around the flag of their country, and since August, 1914, have been pouring out their life blood in the struggle against her ruthless and unscrupulous foes. May a simple review of facts give at least a partial insight into the real state of affairs and teach the fair-minded not to judge France by her present Government, or by the slanderous statements of her enemies, or even by the countless books translated for exportation and sold under the title of French novels ? "By their fruits ye shall know them," is the great test given us by the Master. What must be said of the Catholic spirit of France in view of its splendid achievements ? This spirit it is that has produced so many thousands of vocations for the foreign missions and such generous financial help for the same grand cause, while at home the really marvellous things it has accomplished and is still accomplishing would fill pages upon pages. It has been well said: "Every individual soul is a sealed book." So in a lesser degree is the inner life of a nation. Why, then, judge without having broken the seal ? Open the book ; investigate. We concede you will find a few blotted pages, but do we not generally judge affairs by a majority, and not by a few isolated instances ? We do not doubt that some of the good people whom we have heard stigmatise the French as atheistic would think a person very stupid and unfair indeed were he to judge Ireland's Catholicism by her so-called "Orangemen," or measure her people in the light of her present ruling power. We grant that the French Government has persecuted our French Catholics in every possible way, but we deny that all its efforts have made of that great Catholic country' an atheistic people. After all, is not persecution as necessary to the spiritual life of a nation as cultivation of the soil to the seed that has been planted in its bosom Our Saviour tells us to rejoice when persecuted in His name, for "in the Cross is salvation." .The important thing is to stand steadfast and face the enemy courageously, and that France has done. What of all the guilds, "patronages," and associations founded and so splendidly kept up? What of the Association Catholique. de la Jeunesse Francaise, started 25 years ago, at the suggestion of the great Count Albert de Mun, and numbering in 1914 125,000 disciplined and active workers 1 It is a society governed by a central council and a president who have their headquarters in Paris, but its members are scattered ail over France and are kept closely in touch with the Paris centre. They belong chiefly to the intelligent, well-to-do bourgeoisie, or nobility, and to the student world. . Some are landed proprietors in the provinces; others engineers, artists, writers, lawyers, doctors, wealthy merchants, or agriculturists; all are cultured, energetic men, determined to extend the reign of God to the best of their ability. The Apostolic spirit is the. link that binds the young members of the A.C.J. F. to-

gether; they purpose to help Catholic France, and to be, wherever their lot is cast, the devoted helpers of the clergy, towards whom their attitude is one of filial deference. After the age of 30 members may continue to belong to the association, but its chief activities are, as its name implies, in the hands of the young. Another point which is often misunderstood by the partially enlightened critic relates • to France's actual educational status. On more than one occasion the writer has heard it remarked : "No wonder France is atheistic; it has no Catholic schools!" A mere glance at what Catholic France has been doing in this line will prove a revelation. The 'eldest daughter of the Church" has always made it a law to propagate the Faith, and the greatest means which she has ever used have been the schools. When in 1882 religious instruction was proscribed from the public schools by the laws of laicisation, French Catholics did not forget their role of educators. Faithful to the voice of Leo XIII., they said with the Belgians, "Wherever a public school is built, let us have, across from it, a Catholic school." Huge was the task indeed. Up to the year 1901 the cost of the undertaking amounted to 56,000,000: francs. But the result surpassed all hopes. In vain, to make things harder, did the Government impose the obligation of a degree before one could be allowed to teach. In 1897 53,502 persons fulfilled all the legal requirements and were admitted to teach in the Catholic schools. This relative triumph must needs bring retaliation, but also new victories. After the laws of 1901 and 1904, which refused all legal existence to teaching, religious Orders and all non-authorised congregations, free, schools i.e., Catholic schoolswere closed by the thousands. Thanks, however, to the charity of the men and women of France, and also to the daring initiative of the religious teachers, who gave up wearing the religious dress to be able to keep the Faith alive in the hearts of the young, these schools sprang up again and became more numerous than before. Strange to say, even since 1910, the number of pupils in the Catholic schools has steadily been increasing. Referring to the statistics of one of the late years, we find an increase of three schools per 1017 pupils for the public schools, whilst for the Catholic schools the number goes up to nine per 1028 pupils. Is not this result remarkable, especially in view of all the hardships that had to be encountered ? The schools are due to the deep religious vitality of France, which has manifested itself even in other ways. It may come as a surprise to readers to learn than on the -actual Front in Champagne, in the devastated villages, it is the German guns alone which succeed in taking the crucifix out of the public schools. Taken down by the Government authorities, the municipalities one after the other took pride in replacing and keeping there the precious sign of our salvation. It is also very consoling to see how little patronised, in certain regions,. are the public schools. Between 1909 and 1910, for instance, in Ile-et-Vilaine, Loire-Inferieure, and Mayenne the number of pupils lost by the public schools and gained by the Catholic schools was 1000 j 3000 in the departments of Cotes du Nord and Maine-et-Loire. La Vendee, the country of the Chouans, should be put in a separate place, with a record of nearly 9000 for six years. It is not a little amusing to note the statistics in some departments. For instance, in one of the regions of the west there are 24 public schools without a single pupil, and 23 having each three pupils, and 46 having only five. In certain towns of the same locality we find—--140 pupils in Catholic schools as against 20 in public schools. 160 „ „ , 8 140 2 „ „ or n QJ „ „ it ii ii M " >» " »• 105 I. „ .. .. .. 0 „ „.. - These reckonings are merely local, but they, nevertheless, prove how active the old spirit of practical "religious life still is in that great country whose glorious title of eldest daughter of the Church has ever been her proudest boast. We ask her critics to investigate and get familiar with things French and they will soon 6 . fl^W.

be persuaded that .France, although the Government is on the whole atheistic, as a people is still Catholic.