CATHOLIC MISSIONS IN THE NEW HEBRIDES.

New Zealand Tablet, 8 May 1919, Page 42

CATHOLIC MISSIONS IN THE NEW HEBRIDES.

A correspondent (A. G. Clarke, Randwick) writes thus in the Catholic Press (Sydney) on the above subject:— In an article advocating the sole British control of the New -Hebrides, the Herald, under the date of the 4th inst., writes as follows: "The Presbyterian Churches of Australia, New Zealand, Canada, and Scotland have expended large sums of money in the evangelising of the people of the group." And again: "From a mission and moral point of view, the reason we have a right to the New Hebrides is because the natives have been Christianised and civilised, as far as has been done, by men and women of the British race." The Herald thus smugly ignores the real missionary work (as distinguished from the trade activity of the Protestant "missionaries") done by the French priests and nuns in the New Hebrides, and seeks to humbug its readers into thinking that the natives of this group "have been Christianised, as far as has been done," solely by the Protestant ministers and their wives ! Perhaps, however, the enlightened editor of the Herald does not consider Catholics to be "Christians" at all, and therefore, incapable of "Christianising" anyone! If this pious gentleman would soil his Protestant hands by touching the A nstralian Catholic Directory for the current year, he would find, on page 204, the following summary, concerning the Vicariate-Apostolic of the New Hebrides Archipelago (established 1901) : "The Society of Mary have charge of the New Hebrides missions. Stations, 17 residences and chapels, 23 : missionary priests, 25 : lay religious, 3 ; religious Sisters, 18: native catechists, 20. There are schools in every station. Number of neophytes and catechumens, about 2500. Schools, conducted by the Sisters of the Third Order of Mary: 19 Sisters; 60 pupils." I had the honor of making the acquaintance of the Vicar-Apostolic (the Right Rev. Mgr. Doucere), some 11 years ago, at Port Vila, and the impression which his charming personality left on my mind has never since faded away. He and his clergy live among the people, preaching the faith not by word only, but by the eloquent example of their holy and self-denying lives. Unlike the Protestant missionaries, they may not "have expended large sums of money," for they have not got it to expend—still less do they seek to enrich themselves by trading, for that is not the purpose for which they are there. They are there for the one purpose of following in the footsteps of Christ, and of preaching His Gospel.