Catholic World

New Zealand Tablet, Volume XLVIII, Issue 45, 15 November 1923, Page 47

Catholic Wo rld

V ; ; THE CATHOLIC PRESS IN ALSACE. The League of the Catholics of Alsace has been holding its annual meeting, and reports of its condition were - presented to the meeting. The reporter on the Catholic prass, says a French Catholic journal, presented a most satisfactory ; report. The daily Catholic journals have a circulation of a hundred thousand copies; the weekly journals a circulation of twenty-five thousand; the parochial bulletins sixty thousand;- the publications for the young thirty thousand ; and the missionary journals sixty thousand. It is to be noted that eighty per cent. \>f these different publications are brought out ,in German. Evidently the German regime, was not unfavorable to the Catholic press in Alsace, i aaaaaaaaaa KING OF SPAIN TO VISIT ROME. It is now definitely fixed (says Catholic News Service, London) that the King of Spain will visit Rome during November; a visit made possible since the famous Encyclical Paccm Dei which Benedict XV. published in 1920. The protocol governing the Spanish Sovereign’s visit will be identical with that of the Belgian Sovereigns. King Alfonso will make the journey by sea, landing at Casta. On entering the Tyrrhenian Sea the Spanish vessel will be met and escorted by an Italian squadron, and on landing his Majesty will be greeted by representatives of the Italian Government. At the Vatican „the same ceremonial will prevail as at the Belgian Royal visit; but by the special wish of King Alfonso arrangements will be made so that he will be at the Vatican for a longer period than were the Belgian Sovereigns, RELIGIOUS ORDERS IN GREAT BRITAIN. Although among the non-Catholic bodies the greatest religious unrest seems to prevail, it appears, from all reliable records, that never at '"any time within the past 400 years have vocations to the religious life amongst the Catholics been so numerous as at present. „ This increase is more pronounced, in the Orders of women, and a writer has recently said that there are more nuns and sisters now in England than there were at the time of the Reformation. And, as a sharp contrast to secular frivolity, it is the strictest enclosed Orders .that are attracting so many postulants. Two of the most austere Orders for women have just opened new convents in Oxford, and all over the country foundation after foundation is being made by such rigorous Orders as the Carmelites and the Claresses. The increase . of vocations amongst men is not so marked and , there is a long way to go before the number of •monastic houses listed by Cardinal Gasquet in his Henry VIII and the Religious Houses will be reached. But although the number of houses is fewer, the individual communities are much larger than, those of the Reformation epoch. . The regular clergy, excluding the lay brethren, number some 1500. There are no available statistics of the religious women in England and Wales. But in the three ecclesiastical provinces there are more than 860 convents, sheltering more nuns than Henry VIII. turned adrift. . .. . / , ... - ■ ' > PAPAL NUNCIO ARRIVES IN PRAGUE. His Excellency Mgr. Marmaggi;. successor to the former Nuncio Mgr. Micara, has arrived in the Czechoslovak capital to enter upon his official, duties. The new Nuncio, who bears the title of Archbishop of ' Adrianopolis, is well known not only as a skilled diplomat, but as an exemplary churchman who is specially interested in all . social and charitable organisations. Early in his ecclesiastical career he was called to the Secretariate for Ecclesiastical Affairs Extraordinary In 1920 the Holy Father appointed, him Nuncio .in Bucarest, where by his

tact and prudence, as well as diplomatic skill, he succeeded in rendering, highly successful an office that was hedged about with the most complex difficulties. ; " ||p The Nuncio ; was welcomed at the Station 1 in :. Prague by the Archbishop of Prague attended by members of his Metropolitan Chapter. Among the many ecclesiastics were professors of the Faculty of Theology in the University ’ 1 of Prague, and the President of the Czecho-Slovak Catholic Council. On the official and secular side there were Ministers from the Foreign Office, and in addition 1 the' Catholic Bishop for the Army, high army officers, and the representatives of all the national Catholic associations. Mgr. Arata, who during the vacancy has been incharge of the Nunciature,,, made the presentations to his Excellency. The : Archbishop of Prague, Mgr. Kordac/, ’after being presented to the new Nuncio, made a warm speech of welcome, in which he greeted Mgr. Marmaggi in the name of the Czecho-Slovak episcopate. To this address his Excellency made a. reply in suitable terms; Archbishop Kordac and the Nuncio then entered a waiting motor, and drove off to the official residence. Mgr. Marmaggi will not enter officially upon his duties as Nuncio until after he has been received by the- President and presented his credentials. So that for the first few days in the Republic he will go as the guestv of the Archbishop of Prague to the archiepiscopal summer residence. <X*> German Prelate and Morality in Business Although the Allied High Commission had made it impossible to hold the annual general Catholic Assembly in Cologne, there was an important meeting of the Catholic merchants of Germany at Munster, in Westphalia, in September (says an exchange). Catholic merchants ; from all parts of Germany attended, and the Bishop of Munster, Dr. Johannes Poggenburg, celebrated High Mass in the Cathedral and preached a powerful sermon.l “There is no one who will deny the necessity of the organisation of Catholic societies,” said Dr. Poggenburg. “We do not disavow the organisations of others, but at the same time we maintain the right to organise our own. For the Catholic merchant there is no better organisation than a Catholic merchants’ organisation, because in this society the ideal and the material interests are best guarded and conserved. This union; is the authorised.- society of Catholic merchants. Religious, spiritual, economic and social aims are promoted by it. Our Catholic people are proud of so powerful ah organisation. ... “Our Proud Confession.” , , “We have, indeed, in these days, become poor and " helpless, but we have saved a rich treasure of our ancestors .in the. Catholic Faith. Our S watchword is . 1 Faithful to God and faithful to the Church.’ In times when Christian morality is practically banished from trade, when dishonesty is rampant, when profiteers reign, we are proud to confess that we represent and defend Christian and Catholic economic morality in public life and private. V “Those who are engaged in business to-day are standing, so to speak, on the breakers of life. Those who seek gain and acquisition, who trade to become wealthy, are, more than others, in danger of being lost to the supernatural. But all of us must live and work respecting the principles of our Holy Church. The Catholic Merchants’ Union has labored with great energy to save the Faith of its members, to (promote the ends of its calling, to care for the economic and social needs of those identified with it. May God help them to defend such proud principles. Then the organisation will be beneficial to Church and country.” Messages ere sent to the Holy Father and to Cardinals Schulte, Faulhaber, Bertram, and Mgr. Pacelli. Resolutions were adopted saying that the members were willing to work in a Christian spirit for the reconciliation of nations and the economic restoration ■of Europe. •: . ?

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