THE CATHOLIC WORLD

New Zealand Tablet, 19 June 1919, Page 37

THE CATHOLIC WORLD

' ' ‘;. :< f GENERAL.-; : -;||||||| gff \ The New York police estimated that at one time 3000 persons waited to enter St. Patrick’s Cathedral on Easter morning. Archbishop Hayes sang the Solemn Pontifical Mass. At Vespers he also pontificated. The 200 seminarists from Dunwoodie were present. In the congregation were Mrs. Vanderbilt, Mrs. Taft, the family of Justice Dowling, Mrs. Hanna, the tenor Mr. John McCormack, Mr. Thomas Hughes, and other notables. In the front seats ere hundreds of officers and uniformed men. The Cardinals, archbishops, and bishops of Spain have addressed to the archbishops and bishops of Mexico a letter of sympathy, voicing their grief at the wrongs which the Church has suffered in Mexico under the Carranza regime. They also point out how all international right, personal liberty, and established justice have been outraged by the de facto Government enthroned in Mexico with the co-operation of the United States.

£ Father Hoey, a Paulist and chaplain of the 107th U.S. Infantry, 27th Division, told the other day that 17,000 men of his division knelt at the Holy Sacrifice and received Holy Communion just before the great attack on the Hindenburg line. "Heretofore," the chaplain said, "we always spoke of the heritage our fathers gave to us, but now we speak of the heritage which our sons have given to us." The Catholic school system of the country had a great deal to do with the religion of the American soldier. During the war, the anti-Jesuit laws were repealed in Germany, and thus for two years the Jesuits . have been free to carry on the work of their Order. Father Kempf, Rector of the Jesuit establishment in Valkenberg, Holland, who was formerly in the United States, conveyed the following information v in a communication dated February 13, 1919 :' —"We now have residences in the following cities : Aix la Chapelle, Cologne, Bonn, Coblenz, Frankfort, Essen, Munster, Berlin, Munich, and Aschaffenburg., The house of exercises in Andernach is to be abandoned again, as it does not adequately serve the purpose. In place thereof "houses of exercises are being planned for various other cities. Our province lost 30 members in the war; 19 were seriously wounded ; seven fell into captivity. Engaged in the war were 76 Fathers as chaplains, about 60 as hospital chaplains in home hospitals, 123 Brother members as voluntary nurses, and the rest as soldiers —in all about 400." ll I ;V' ;

USING PUBLIC BUNDS TO PROSELYTISE.,. Rev. Elias Tanbe, of the Syrian Archbishop’s House at Aleppo, Syria, has just written a letter to the National Office of the Society , for the .Propagation;.of the Faith from which the following Is quoted by an exchange: “The people of the United States are generous, but, unfortunately, their generosity does not materially aid the Catholics here. The money reaching Syria is invariably portioned out to those of other religions, to general works, and so forth. Under one pretext or another, it is diverted from the Catholics and they remain destitute. Strict justice demands that they receive a share of all charitable offerings. “Neutrality in this country is a- name only. All the works which are not Catholic are distinctly anti-. Catholic; all the missionaries and the local clergy agree on this point. There is talk of raising 60,000,000 dollars in the United States yfor : relief works in the Near East. If we are to>benefit by this noble generosity, Catholics should send their money separately, ,as otherwise we shall be discriminated against. : g “I beg to be excused -for speaking so plainly, but lily heart is saddened by the spectacle of so much desolation. Aside from the fact that f they are ,of,- my own Faith, the abject misery of these people makes demands on my . mane,-feelings a and force .meto present their cause to friends afar.” ;

Such is Father Tanbe’s letter, and it may be added,' that what he says of the. distribution of alms among Syrians applies ' equally well to Catholics -of other- nationalities, Armenians, . Maronites, Greeks, etc. .’ Catholics are invariably discriminated against when alms are distributed by non-Catholic - hands and It is not infrequent for our non-Catholic brethren to use those • alms as a means. of proselytism. Pastors have often to deplore the loss of some of their flocks, who, harassed by hunger, have given up, if not their Christian faith, ; at least . their , allegiance to the Church in order to obtain a share in alms which may have been contri- . buted by American Catholics and non-Catholics alike.

IJ PROGRESS OF THE FAITH IN AFRICA. } / A brief account of the progress of tire Faith in Africa is given in some notes by two prelates,: both,of whom are of Irish birth. Mgr. J. Shanahan, Apostolic Prefect of the Lower Nigeria, says; “On account of the length of its course the Niger is the third longest river of Africa; the countries of its watershed are. today divided between France and Great Britain. The Apostolic Prefecture of Southern or Lower Nigeria, which was constituted in 1889, stretches from the left bank of the Niger to the Cameruns and French Benin. It is a very rich country, very densely populated and carrying on an extensive commerce. Settlements of 10,000, 15,000, and 20,000 souls are frequent. There is here a splendid mission field, lacking only in sufficient missionaries. Catholic propaganda is carried on in particular in the schools, which are everywhere in demand. These • schools are ’ supported by the Government in proportion to the number of scholars and the successes obtained. According to the latest statitics there are 21,000 pupils, of whom quite 10,829 are Catholics. There are in the field 16 mission priests, seven Brothers, four nuns of the Order of St. Joseph of Cluny, 509 catechist teachers, and 5368 catechumens. There are nine principal stations from which religious and educational work is carried oh. ,- : Of■ the Apostolic Vicariate of Sierra Leone, Mgr. J. O’Gorman, Bishop of Amastri and Vicar-Apostolic writes:—“The - name of Sierra Leone (Lion’s Moun- ; tain) was r given to this . part of the country by tire Portuguese navigators. It was exploited for a long time by English slave dealers, and in 1809 it passed to the Crown. Mother Javouhey - passed through .the territory in 1823, but it was not until 1858 that the Vicariate was detached from that of the two Guineas, and handed oyer to the Fathers of the African Missions, an Order which had just been founded at Lyons by. Mgr.’ de ■Marion-Bresilhac; Accompanied by three missionaries, the latter arrived there but to die. In 1864 the mission was entrusted to the Fathers of the Holy Ghost. It is a difficult mission the English call it the White Man’s Grave. Although many Protestant sects have settled in this territory, the Catholic -Church .is: the only religious. body that has attained a position of ever increasing importance. There are about 4000 Catholics, 19 missionary priests, six Brothers, and 20 nuns of the Order of St.: Joseph of Cluny.”