Catholic Villages in Switzerland

New Zealand Tablet, Volume XXXII, Issue 45, 10 November 1904, Page 15

Catholic Villages in Switzerland

Rev. Dr. Lang, \icar of All Saints' 1 , SoMthcnd, England, gives in his paiisn magazine some lnupiessiuiis of ft wit// e>i land, whcic. he recently spent a holiday. Desenbine; how Sunday is passed at Bnsten, he says — 1 As I wont to "the church at H 30 am. I found the rustic path that docs duty for a village sfreet tihron^rd with groups- ot men a,nd boys, siome in coin ersation, others Kitting side by side on the ro'atKi'dc railings This i^i piobably their weokly club, where they get the chance once in se\c.n days of e\changmu; fanwly news — and smoking a pipe together. I wondered at lirst whether all these mombeis of the " nobler " sex were conung. to church, as whan I entered the sacred building there were only \vom,e,n and girls fl esent, filling up the entire left smlc of the church, kneeling down or sitting qiuetJy, lookmg neither to the right nw to the left — mosl of them with books of devotion Presently, however, the male par.t of the community l>eg«n to file m in- nihtary o-.cter— each nno nraking his gen'uflectinn and siftnins; himself with the holy water— tilling the rigjht-hancl seats from the lop to the bottom of tihe church, and then overflowing into the hipace m the centre. There is no need to ask where arc the men I m some parts of Christendom. As I sat there I could not help contrasting this Catholic ullage with Protestant Lausanne, in which it was my misfoiUme to ha\e to be last yoar, and where incest of the sho^s are open on Sunday, and no one seems to go to any place of worship, but to be bent on loafing about in Sunday attire. After giving an outline of the service, Dr. Lang concludes •— 1 The thought of " Roman ' J had vanished from my mmd — these people were Catholic Ohns'tians keening their Lord's- commandment on His day Many of them had made their Communion at one of I<hc Masses earlier in the day, and all had a long and toilsome journey to make before they. could pet home No wonder, tihen, if aftcy: service some stayed behind in the village for tefresiiment and conviviality, yet all was quiet and without anything of di&order, and soon the village returned to its normal state. One cannot help being impres,sed by such scenes as this, and it is impo c Mble not to see that instead of wanting to convert these peavsants and giving them Bibles and tracts, we might well take many a lcswon from them and try to imitate them in tiicir Christtian devotion and simple piety.'