ROMAN CATHOLIC CHURCH.

Dominion, Volume 5, Issue 1533, 31 August 1912, Page 9

ROMAN CATHOLIC CHURCH.

STATISTICS AS TO CONVERTS. The "Tablet" (London) states i-Accord-ing to a statement made by tho Missionary" of New York, based on figures obtained by tho Apostolic Mission House from reports supplied by . tlio diocesan chanceries throughout tho country, there were 33,247 converts received into the Church in the United States .during the vcar .1911. It is stated tlmt-this high, 'figure, if it en's a 1 all, errs in tho direction of: understatement. • "There might l>e added to the actual reports , of the chancery offices," says tho "Missionary, ••some thousands that have never been reported, the numbers dying in hospitals, received on their death-beds, the number received in eonyents, tho whole- families that are bi'ought back. An observant prelate savs that the aggregate, of these might bo *10,0(10. . '. The, Apostolic Mission House has gathered these figures at. the end of three-year periods. In lflOK, in preparation for the Missionary .Congress of that year, the number of converts received into .the Church during .the previous year was-•23,055. • In-1909,' for t lie previous vear, the number rose to 28,<89; and now,'after three years more of missionary work, the annual harvest is 33,2-47. Another interesting feature., of. these statistics is that convert-making is bearing fruit in'the dioceses where the diocesan mission'work has been well established, and it takes little thinking to appreciate what 33,000 converts in a year means. It means nearly 10.0 converts a day tor every day in the year.".' UNIVERSITY HONOURS. Principal Griffith-Jones, of Bradford, retcived his degree of D.I), at Edinburgh University recently. I'rofcssor Kennedy, Deal, ol' tlio Theological Faculty, introduced' Dr. Griffith-Jones, referred to the closo a-sociatiou between Yorkshire College and Edinburgh University, and spoke of tlio greatlv increased efficiency of the college since Dr. Griffith-Jones bocamc principal. Notwithstanding :his. multifarious .duties as pastor, teacher, and administrator, Dr. Griffith-Jones had, he said, been a voluminous contributor to the theological literature of the day, and the University was lii-oud to lie able to enrol so distinguished a theologian and so popular a writer among her honorary Doctors of Divinity. Several Englishmen received honorary degrees at tho loading American IJnhcisitv commencements in My. Yale iconferred its LL.D. upon Sir Alfred East, President of tho Boyal Society of British Artists, and Harvard has made Rev; L. \\ Jacks a Doctor of Divinity. Dr. George A. Gordon, of Boston, who is a Scot bv birth, though ho has com© to bo regarded as a typical American, has been granted the LI,.D. by tho State Uiiiycrsi!.y at Cleveland, Ohio. In introducing Dr. Gordon to tho University Senate, President T-hwing said that by. interpreting the intellectual problems of to-day in the terms of a virile Christianity he lias made the pulpit a never-failing source ol inspiration, and with tho spirit ot tho constructive philosopher, not ol the <iestructive critic, ho has become a recognised leader of contemporary thought. In admitting Professor Jacks, the President of Harvard, Dr. I.awrfnce Lowell, described him as "philosopher and tlieo-. logian. alchemist. of thought, under hands' The Hibbcrt Journal' has achieved among religious harbingers tho foremost place,' 1 "•