RETURNING TO THE FOLD

New Zealand Tablet, 14 August 1919, Page 35

RETURNING TO THE FOLD

Rev. John. F, Sargent, 2 an Anglican minister, became a Catholic recently, - during his last illness. He was prominent in the High Church /movement in England:

Forty negro converts, the largest class in the history of Kansas City, ‘ U.S.A., were baptised on ;. Sunday afternoon. May 4, at St. Monica’s; parish church, in Kansas City, Mo:, by the pastor, Father Cyprian, O.F.M. • ■ ■ 4 ; : ' ‘ ■ •

Signor Enrico Caruso, the famous singer, was recently united in marriage in the Lady Chapel of St. Patrick’s Cathedral, New York, to Mrs. Dorothy Parker Benjamin, by Rev. William B. Martin, assistant rector. The bride, Mrs. Caruso, was baptised and received into the Church a few days preceding the marriage.

Another notable convert to the Catholic Church is Mrs. Romanes, the widow of the eminent Oxford scholar who founded the Romanes lectureship. Mrs. Romanes (says an Independent correspondent) is a Liverpool woman, inherited great wealth, has lectured on theology, is specially interested in women’s work, and has always had a fondness for High Church views. The annual mission to non-Catholics in the Paulist Church of New York, held during the past Lent, was a great success. The number of converts received or placed under instruction was 64. Nearly as many more are expected to com© in during the rest of the year. The exercises were conducted by Fathers Conway and Gillis. An immense amount of missionary literature was given to non-Catholics.

Judge Nicholas Fessenden, of Fort Fairfield, Maine, was baptised and received into the Church on last Easter Sunday. Judge Fessenden’s entrance into the Church is the result of his study of Church history. Possessing a keen logical mind, he came to the conclusion that the so-called “Reformation” was only a “revolution” and produced only spiritual and intellectual confusion, and that the only place where one can find Christ’s true doctrine is in the Catholic Church.

A complaint that members of his congregation were in the habit of frequenting the Catholic Cathedral of St. Barnabas, Nottingham, for the purpose of attending Benediction, was made in a recent sermon by the Anglican vicar of St. George’s, the Rev. T. W. Davison, SS.M. “Father” Davison was recently prohibited by the Bishop of Southwell from using this devotion in his own church. A former curate of St. George’s, the Rev. William Denny, announced his submission to Holy Church some months ago. He is at present studying at Oscott College, and after a couple of years at college in Rome hopes to take up work in the Catholic diocese of Nottingham.

A class of over 800 converts, probably the largest to be confirmed at one time in Boston, U.S.A., received the Sacrament of Confirmation at the hands of his Eminence the Cardinal in the Cathedral on Tuesday morning, June 19 (says the Pilot)., The scene was on© never to be forgotten by all who saw it or participated in it. The converts were of various races, including negroes, Chinese, and one Indian. The confirmation of a class of converts is now an annual custom at the. Cathedral. The great church was well filled with relatives and friends of those to be confirmed. The recent world war was evidenced, for among both men and women could be seen ox-ms denoting, sex-vice. The soldier and the sailor and the marine were present, and so also were the army nurse and the Red Cross worker.