CATHOLIC HOLLAND.

New Zealand Tablet, 18 September 1919, Page 34

CATHOLIC HOLLAND.

We have been so absorbed of late in war matters and in the refutation of . senseless calumnies that we have lost sight of the strides the Church' is making in countries that were spared the ravages of war (says an exchange) . , One of these is 1 Hoi-, land. Time wasand that ; not so long agowhen a chapter on the Church in Holland would be as brief as the classic one on the snakes of Ireland. But this has all been changed in recent years;’ The provisional edifices erected shortly after the “Reformation have been succeeded by churches worthy of the best Catholic architectural traditions and a substantial parish school may be seen near almost every church. Catholic societies are flourishing, and it is worthy ,of note that Holland has many trade and labor associations under Catholic auspices. But it is particularly in the Catholic press of Holland that a remarkable advance is manitest. There are some 60 Oath-; olio weeklies, well edited and supported, and 20 Catholic dailies. These Catholic daily papers in Holland are not mere courtesy affairs. On the contrary, they are founded on solid business principles, and are prospering.- Two of them, Be Tyd of - Amsterdam and Be Maashode of Rotterdam, have been mentioned again and again in the Associated Press as authorities, showing that their international standing is an admitted fact. Be Maashode has worked its way to the very front rank of Dutch journalism ; not only is it the acknowledged leader of the Catholic press, but both as to size and general information the peer as well of any other secular paper. The land of dikes and windmills is energetic in other lines than the maintenance of “spotless towns.”