PROGRESS OF THE CHURCH IN SAN FRANCISCO.

New Zealand Tablet, Volume II, Issue 59, 13 June 1874, Page 13

PROGRESS OF THE CHURCH IN SAN FRANCISCO.

(San Francisco • Monitor.') Ox many occasions it has been pointed out in these pages that to illustrate the rapid strides with which the Catholic Church is advancing in America we need not travel any great distance from our own doors. If we give a moment's consideration to what is going on around us, we shall be deeply impressed by the fact that the onward march of Catholicism has been more rapid and better assured thaa in most sanguine propagandists would some years ago have ventured to predict. Taking «yen the low standards of materialism, or judging the progress of the Church by the measure of reel estate, the result •^nust be satisfactory and gratifying. The Catholic buildings which have risen among the sand-hills of San Francisco during the last few years tell a very plain story. Every year, too, adds to their number. Last year saw the last touches given to the pile of buildings in South San Francisco, which the Sisters of Charity have devoted to the use of the orphans. This year has left its mark in the erection and completion of Sacred Heart College, a magnificent testimonial to the generosity of our citizens, to their love of learning, and to their confidence in the zeal, ability, and experience of the Christian Brothers. In other places also something of the same kind, though different of course in degree, has been going on. Crossing the ferry to Oakland, fre find that twenty years ago it was considered an important step to put up there a littJe church building, forty feet by twenty. In the couree of time this area was quadrupled by additions, and still the increase in the congregation demanded more room. As one of the results of this increase we have that cathedral-like ohurch on which, through the indefatigable zeal and energy of Father King, 40,000 doll, have already been expended without at all completing it. Its towers are conspicuous points of sight from every side of Oakland, and induce many a query as to what the people of any denomination could want witt such a Gothic pile, and where they raise the money to build it. Tbe old church is now used as a day school, which is conducted by Sisters of the Convent of the Sacred Heart. To mention that fact is equivalent to saying that it is admirably managed, and that the hundred children attending it receive an excellent education. In San Antotiio, or East Oakland, the improvements observable in the church building, and the large increase in the number of church-goers, speak well for both pastor and people.