Catholic World

New Zealand Tablet, Volume LII, Issue 23, 24 June 1925, Page 55

Catholic World

f CATHOLIC MISSIONS IN THE DUTCH EAST INDIES. Father Aernsberger, a Jesuit missionary in Java, sends us an interesting account of thepresent condition of the Dutch Catholic missions in the Far East (says the London Catholic Times). Few of us realise the immense extent of the Dutch East Indies, the island empire of Holland in those far-off seas, stretching over a tract of some 3000 miles in length, with a land surface greater than the united areas of France, Germany, Spain and Italy, and a population of some fifty millions. In the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries efforts were made, with some local success, to establish missions in this island region, but the coming of the Dutch pewer put an end to these, and the Catholic missions may be said to date only from the grant of toleration in the last century. At first the number of missionaries was small and their resources very limited. But there has been good progress, and in recent years the work has been extended and well-organ-ised, and the Catholics now number, besides some 40,000 of European descent, about 100,000 native converts, mostly of the Malay race. A beginning has been made with the formation of a native clergy. The missions have an excellent school system, and their social work includes the care of an important leper station. JAPANESE IN BRAZIL. That there is mission work among the Japanese in Brazil is probably unknown to many Catholics outside that territory. For some years the Japanese have emigrated to South America and particularly to Sao Paulo, in Brazil. A short time ago Bishop Combaz of Nagasaki, complying with a request from Rome, sent Father Nakamura, native Japanese priest, to Brazil. He arrived after 76 days of travel. This priest, nearly 60 years old, at once began the study of the Portuguese language. "I reside," he writes, "in the seminary, where one of the professors is my teacher. I was most hapoy to find two Japanese young men who are preparing for the holy ministry. There are 43 aspirants here, with 90 in the Preparatory seminary, and five very zealous professors. The climate is not so bad, the hottest season being in December and January—which is vacation time. The Province of Sao' Paulo comprises six dioceses. The diocese of Botucatu has 20,000 Japanese, and in all Sao Paulo there are double that number. I I have discovered 350 Catholics in Botucatu, land am searching for others, while catechu(jfcmens spring up like mushrooms after a rain. I find it much easier to convert the Japanese here than. at home! Those who have been ten years or longer in Brazil are in good circumstances; the houses of the newly arrived immigrants, however, are quite poor. The Japanese are arriving in Brazil at 4 the * rate of 3000 to 4000 a year." , v^,^ , ~..,..

SALZBURG UNIVERSITY REGAINING ITS GLORY. The ancient University of Salzburg, established by the Benedictines and a flourishing seat of Catholic learning until it was practically abolished by the "secularisation" programme of the Napoleonic era, now seems destined to regain some of its former glories. The faculty of theology which for & many years was the only vestige of the ancient university has recently been acknowledged by the government and its right to award the doctor's degree confirmed. During the present school year a faculty of philosophy has been established and some of the best known professors in the country make up this department. It now appears certain that faculties of law and medicine will be established within the next few years and thus a complete university constituted. Much of the recent progress of the university is attributed to the University union, formed about 50 years ago for the purpose of collecting funds with which the university could be restored. These funds were needed to replace the income from lands and other properties of the university seized during the '"secularisation" period. MAJORITY IX ALSACE FOR RELIGIOUS SCHOOLS. The great majority of the electors of Alsace have affirmed publicly, in documents which cannot be refuted, their attachment to denominational education. The figures sent in to the Catholic executive committee leave no doubt on this subject. These figures show a great increase over the number of votes cast in the last election for those candidates who included the maintenance of religious schools in their platforms. In the department of lower Rhine, the candidates of the national bloc, that is to say of the party which had formally pledged respect for all of the religious liberties of Alsace-Lorraine, obtained a total of 65,132 votes. The number of voters who recently signed a petition favorable to the maintenance of the religious schools was 81,919. In the department of upper Rhine, where the candidates of the national bloc won 58,960 votes, the number of signatures of, those in favor of the religious schools was 83,502. These figures represent much more than an absolute majority of the men of that province. It must be added that while these petitions were presented to the Alsatians for their signatures, they were presented exclusively tothe Catholics. Nevertheless several Protestants voluntarily appended their names to the document. The total would have .been greater still had an appeal been made to the ! non-Catholics and Jews. •-,•■>;. A petition circulated by the women obtained results more : remarkable still. In the lower Rhine 99,993 women over 21 years of

age signed, and in the upper Rhine 108,200 women i joined the .83,500. H men. , This represents practically the entire populatflion of Alsace, and there can be, therefore no , doubt as to the feeling of /the people of theprovince towards a school system which provides Catholic schools for the Catholics, Protestant schools for the Protestants, and Jewish schools for the Jews, all supported equally by the state.