The Catholic World

New Zealand Tablet, 27 December 1906, Page 31

The Catholic World

CANADA— The School Question "In a letter to the 'Sun' of Baltimore, the Rev. Robert P. Kerr, a Prqtestant minister, Who has been' travelling in Canada, writes :— • The Roman Catholic Church is very powerful in the Province of Quebec, ' and nearly all -of the French are found - within its' pale. The Church "possesses great • wealth and ' a magnificent system of- educational institutions. In the Pro--vince of Quebec the public school funds are divided per capita between the - Protestants and . Catholics, ' there being two distinct sets, of school boards and" schools. In the Catholic schools the Catholic -faith is inculcated and in the Protestant schools the Bible is as thoroughly taught as geography or arithmetic. I find a great reverence for law and for the Sabbath Day, -and .there are tweniy-six times as -many -horni r cities per million of .inhabitants in the United States as in Canada. There is a similar ratio between the two countries in other criminal statistics. . . I find the churches filled .at both services on Sunday, the evening service being as. well attended as -that of the morning.' ENGLAND— The « Red Mass '

In accordance ■with what has become an annual custom, the Catholic " members -of the legal,, profession in London assembled in Westminster Cathedral on Octo- " ber 23 for the Votive Mass of the" , Holy J Ghost, or, as it is more generally termed, the • Red Mass, celebrated in order to invoke the Divine blessing on -the ensuing session of the Royal Courts of Justice A Church Opened -

Costing £10,000, and planned to accommodate a con-gregation-of GOT),- a handsome Catholic church was formally opened at East Hill,. Wandsworth, , recently - Dy Bishop Amigo, of Southwark, and Father " Bernard Vaughan preached the dedication sermon. Papal Distinction j At the request of the • Bishop of Birmingham his Holiness the Pope has__graeiously conferred tlie dignity of Knight -of St. Gregory on Mr. E. A. Olivieri, J.P., of Selly Park, for his distinguished in thtT Catholic cause. A Presentation

A Presentation ~v ■ '■ Mr. Jolih Sfc. Laurence, K.S.G., has "been presented with an illuminated -. address and testimonial ..on the occasion of his . ret'iremeut from the post of secretary to the Catholic Voluntary Schools Association. The Archbishop of" Westminster made the presentation. Death of a Catholic Nobleman Lord Arundell - of Wardour died in the Royal Palace Hotel," Kensington/ London, on October 26. He., had gone up on - the previous Tuesday to ' be present at a meeting of the Catholic : Peers,' and to - take his place in the House of Lords during discussion on" the Education &111. On" the day previous to his death-Jhe 'received the last rites of the Church. - There "was wide-, "spread sorrow when the news of his death reached Wardour and Tisbury and the surrounding villages. The late Lord Arundcll had endeared himself to all. He was regarded with feelings of the utmost respect and esteem. The body was taken to Wardour. An ' immense concourse of people assembled at Tisbury to accompany the tody to the church * at Wardour Castle. His remains were interred, after Mass and burial service, in the vault under ,the church, where rest many of his noble ancestors. Religious Profession On November 13 (writes an esteemed Dublin correspondent under date November 5) will take place at Roeh-ampton, the Reception and Profession of several New Zeaiandyoung ladies—Misses Mechtildes and Cecilia Kennedy, daughters of Mr. ami Mrs. Martin Kennedy, Wellington ; Miss D. Loughnan, -daughter of Mr. Henry Loughnan, of Christchurch ; and Miss Smith, daughter of Mr. William Smith, of Kaikoura. The Very Rev. Dr. Watters, S.M., of Dublin,- is to preside, receive the vows, and preach on the occasion. FRANCE— Mayors Suspended Nine French Mayors have been for having- replaced crucifixes in the schools. • «- War Against Religion The Mayors of not less than three- hundred, and eighty-six French towns (says the r Catholic Times '),

have sent in their resignations rather than consent to the taking. down of- -the crucifixes in the Communal -schools,- and several prefects -have followed their "example.- In many places the inhabitants, have~ carried the -crucifixes back to the schools in, procession, and nailed them to the* walls. Instances of children" being punished for -having rosaries or prayer-books in their possession" are increasing,- and the French papers of the Oppositioji are full of particulars of this sort of petty persecution. Throughout, the country from end- to <6nd the names -of God, Jesus Chilis t, and the Virgin; Mary, and even of the saints, have been effaced from' all the school books, and a teacher who recently- opened, school hours -with the Lord's Prayer was Immediately denounced by the Fieemasons of the town,- and lost his position - within twenty-four hours for this awful crime (!) : -but a teacher who held the crucifix in his hands for ' the children to sprfc upon as ,they went out of the school was immediately promoted to another place — rather fortunately, sinccs some of the people of the town had announced their intention of lynching hhn in the public streets if they could catch him ! There can be ,rio~question whafceveT that -before very long> a frightful revolution, which will exceed in horror • the Commune- of 1870, -wjil^ break oufc in France ;, they will use dynamite this time instead of -petroleum. GERMANY— The Emperor's Predilections ; The well-known Catholic proclivities of the Emperor William appear to be exciting the alarm of the Evangelical party in Germany. The.BerSn correspondent of" i~Lc Temps ' telegraphs as "follows • to his paper:— '-The National Liberals* and also the Evangelical' Union compared with bitterness the reply " of William 11. to the note --of felicitation sent by their Congress w*iUi the telegram addressed" by the Emperor to the Catholic Congress of Essen: To the latter William H. himself despatched his warm thanks, - to the National Liberals and the Evangelicals he sim-ply-I transmitted his thanks through his Chief dv Cabinet, M. de Lucanus. This has , -irritated the ■" Leipziger Tageblatt " profoundly. It says :—^ There is nothing more distressing or significant to - Evangelicals than the hope entertained by the " members -of the Catholic Church that they will one day count the Emperor William amongst the faithful,. We profess our- . selves ignorant of private religious sentiments of s -the Emperor, but nobody _can deny that the imperial attitude denotes a strong "bias towards Catholicism. : We do not forget the warm protestations of" adherence to the Evangelical faiih "proclaimed on the heights of Wart>burg, but we cannot fail to see that- the Catholic clergy are treated with more consideration by the Emperor than the Protestant clergy. His' predilections are. for monasteikcs,- and those who occupy them. The imperial desire' is Lo revive the ideal of the Middle "Ages, and we see in this mental- at bitude a strong approach to Catholicism. The Emperor perhaps " aims at- -a practical end,^ and hopes that the Catholic and mediaeval ideal will aid him in realising his own romantic ideal ; but this personal ideal' of the Emperor has .-much of analogy with" the Catholic cause." ' ITALY— The Holy Father and Venice ~ The Pope intends to benefit Venice , by dona-ting a ■ L number of standard meteorological instruments J to the Observatory of the Patiflarchal Seminary. The instruments have been specially made by the manufacturer, Mr. J. J. Hicks, of LouHon, who had inquired before of .the pleasure of his- Holiness. , The Pope chose these for the Observatory of- "Venice, -in particular-an anenometer, with the- thought that by it the sailors - would know when it was dangerous to go out '-of port. It will be set on' the top of the Observatory, 'visible to all. On October 27, Mr. Hicks drove to the Vatican with Canon Pyke; of St. John's, Islington ; Miss Hicks, and Miss, Sperati'. Dr. Lapponi, at whose- villa they called, drove in another carriage. The instruments had' been arranged in a hall adjoining, the Papal apartment by Mr. Hicks two days previously, and when his Holiness came to see them he was provided with pictures and explanations in. Italian of -the gifts. Each of the instruments had been verified at the British Physical Laboratory, and almost all are without; errors, 'so that,'-, to use the words of the donator, • they become standard for ever.' E.yery one has - ingrained on the glass :-. ( Made by' J. J. Sicks, London, and presented to .his Holiness, '-Hue' X., 1906.' . ' ■ -"' SPAIN— The Queen - ■ .- The ' Diario Universal,' in' an article on the Queen of. Spain's birthday anniversary, says that all - Spain readers homage, to her • Majesty's beauty', and warmly praises her discreetness and her sympathetic -bearing.

SYVITZERLAND^Church Progress The'" Cantonal" Council of Basle, wliilst rejecting the proposed law for the separation of ■ Church and State in Switzerland, has agreed to accept a clause pla&ng the Catholic Ch,urch on the same footing.- that it enjoyed- before 1870, when il^w,as deprived of Its churches and the priests of their salaries. Such is the progress, of Catholicism in Switzerland . that in the city of Zurich no less than five fine churches are in course of erection, and the foundation of a sixth, 'dedicated' to St. Michael, t were _ laid recently. It will- be remembered that .in 1870 Zurich "was, after Geneva, the chief stronghold- of the '_Old .Catholic ' movement. ' .The l Old Catholics ' still retain two churches, one of ' wMieh dates from pre- Reformation ' times, but the congregation has dwindled down %o only twelve persons ; " whereas the huge Catholic Basilica of •S.S. Peter and Paul is crowded every morning by immense congregations. Two-thirds of the population of Zurich is now Catholic. They number 4.5,000, and are increasing yearly, not only by 4he influx of emigrants and—vtsitors from- other 'parts of Switzerland andjfciurope, but through the return' of many of the ' Old Catholics ' to the original Fold. UNITED STATES— A Large Parish

The largest parish in the .world in point of number of members, -according to a corresjpondentT of the 1 Catholic Union and Times,' is a Polish parish in the nor I h western part of Chicago. It is under * the patronage of St. Stanislaus Kostica and comprises ' about 5000 families, or 35,000 communicants. Father Vincent, the pastor, is a great believer in organisation and more than fifty societies of various names and purposes/were founded to stimulate the zeal of the flock. The total membership of these societies exceeds 30,0 '0, There are temperance clubs, - singing societies, military companies, turners, and other societies for physical culture, dramatic and -literary clubs, social unions, charitable guilds ' and every conceivable organisation that will interest young or old. Eight or more circulating libraries arc maintained by the parish. The dramatic club gives frequent performances in the Polish* tongue, and its members are very proud of the fact that Mine. Modjeska once appeared with them upon the stage in one of their performances. A Heroic Priest

The Rev. J. F. Kger, pastor of St. Joseph's Church, New Castle, , Pa., proved his heroic qualities recently in^»* assisting to save Louis Bartberger from death by suffocation when a sand bank caved in on him. The priest was one of the first to reach the scene, and, springing inlo the- hole, began to shovel the sand from the man's body. Directly above was a huge block of sand which was momentarily expected to fall upon the rescuers. Unmindful of the peril Father Eger and his companions worked until they rescued the unfortunate man. Built from proceeds of Wireless Telegraphy^

The large , new" Slav Catholic church, Wilfcesbarre, Pa., built largely by the money which.. Father \|oseph Murgas has made out" of his wireless telegraph inventions, was dedicated recently by Bishop Hoban of Scranton diocese. Father Murgas, two years ago, perfected a wireless telegraph system, by which, it x is^ claimed, messages may be sent ten times as far ' as ' by any system of telegraphy now in use, each letter or code word being represented by a- musical note. His invention is now being installed' by a company and he has been pai* a^large-sum for it. His sole ambition is to use this money .for the advancement of his Church and for providing facilities for other inventions. • Pittsburgh New Cathedral The new St. Paul's Catholic Cathedral, of Pittsburg, said t<o T>e the most beautiful edifice in the State, was dedicated- recently by- Monsfignor Diomede Falconio, Papal Delegate to America, assisted "by Cardinal Gibbons of Baltimore, Archbishops Farley- of New York and Ryan of Philadelphia, and a score of other high dignitaries 61 tho Church.