The Catholic World

New Zealand Tablet, Volume XXXV, Issue 6, 7 February 1907, Page 31

The Catholic World

FRANCE— English Journals on the Crisis In a leading article on ' Christianity in France"' the ' Saturday Review .' denounces the British journals -- for their attitude during the crisis, and says the belief is widespread -that in their comments on French ecclesiastical matters they are tuned by the Jewish financial rings on the Continent. '_ It is,' remarks the' same paper, ' an unpleasant fact " that .their representatives in Paris are gene. ally Jews ; at any - rate, ■ very seldom Christians.' Vacating Ecclesiastical Establishments Twenty-nine archiepiscopal and episcopal residences and thirty-one large and twenty-three small seminaries, making in all eighty-three ecclesiastical establishments, were evacuated in France by the middle ■of December. . The Raid on the Nunciature Two serious aspects of the treatment meted out to the Nunciature at Paris- are (writes a Rome Corres- • pondent) :— (1), that which the action of the French^ Government bears in international l*w ; and (2), its „. significance for the Catholic Church in. France. Though the status of the Holy See in international law may be something disputable, still, to give a practical ex- - ample, Germany must ask itself if after a declaration of war the same might not happen to the archives of its embassy at Paris. And the question once asked is too grave to rest there. JVs to the Holy- See, the four thousand documents seized do not, so far as / I have been able to gather, include the cypher. Here is a new conundrum. Will the spy office be able to understand them. A letter from the ArcMAshop of Westminster is something very intelligible compared with one in the hopeless Vatican cypher. However the riddle end, the Holy See, though it did not have the remotest indication beforehand either about the affront or the wronig, is indignant rather as a matter'of principle than otherwise. The French Government has accused for many years~ the Holy See" of .abetting treason, and Pius X. had to repudiate the' charge in i a recent utterance. Having now become possessed of a Papal documents, what will they do with them ? Canonical Rights The Rome correspondent of the ' Daily Chronicle ' points out that the Pope's refusal " to permit the French Catholics to take their stand on the law of 1881 and to make the declaration for public worship which the law requires, • arises out of two important facts : first, that M. Briands circular, while most liberal on most points, infringes the canonical rights of bishops and priests, and imposes regulations regarding clerical seminaries which the Vatican judges to be altogether incompatible with their continued existence. Secondly, ' the nine or ten bishops who • .originally supported the episcopal majority in Paris which voted contrary to the attitude subsequently imposed upon, them by Pius X., have recently written to Rome in strong terms against the acceptance of -M. Briands circular.' The correspondent adds that the Pope is determined that ' either France will proclaim a truce or that' Catholics will be under the immediate necessity of abandoning all their historic temples for purely private worship.' GERMANY— The Result of the Elections. The elections which took place on January 25 resulted- In a heavy defeat of the SooiaHs'ts, and it is expected that the second ballot, which was to take place on Tuesday, would bring the Centre or Catholic party up to its usual strength. The ' Catholic Times' in its issue of DecemFer 14 said :— Last week ' we ■wrote : ' The members of the Centre Party are strengthening parliamentary power as it was strengthened during contests wrth the Crown in England, and are so helping the people td be ultimately masters.' The proceedings in the Reichstag on the occasion of its dissolution were a confirmation of our statement. The issue- rafised -is whether the Kaiser and his Chancellor may embark on any warlike and ambitious schemes of conquest or colonial enterprise and -practically, compel the Reichstag to vote the sinews of war. The Centre decisively said No, bearing especially in mind the shocking, colonial : maladministratdon, the ugly features of which have been revealed to the German public within the past few months. The Social Democrats, ■next to the Centre in parliamentary stirerig'tfo, likewise replied in the negative, and now the question

goes to the electors. It is not easy to see how the Government can meet the opposition of both parties: But .in any event the members of tne Centre have no reason to fear. They can do good work out of office, as they did it during their long tenure of power, but how the Kaiser and the Chancellor oan do without their support is not at' present, very apparent. The organs of the German Centre are not disguising the true nature of the "present struggle from_ the electors. Our Catholic contemporary, the ' Kolhische Volkszei-tiing,',;-boldly declares that the Reichstag could not. allow itself to be overruled in such a matter. It? was its duty to defend the rights of the people against absolutist schemes ; were it to assent to" payment for intended military expeditions it would become a mere machine for making money grants. In other/words, the Centre are insisting that there shall be no misunderstanding as to, who controls the, purse and therefore the" public policy. 'It is strange _ that ■ Liberals should set themselves against this course, but it is -evident that the party is hoping to profit by the discord between the Centre and the Kaiser^ So far as appearances go; their hopes will scarcely be realised: The Centre is a compact party which has maintained its ground without .sustaining any serious -losses ever since- it was first organised. It now holds" one hundred and four seats, and advices from the constituencies are to 'tfe-e effect that practically every single seat is safe. ITALY— Change of Duties The .Rev. G. O'Callaghan, P.S.M., formerly vicerector at San Silvestro in Capite, Rome, has now taken up -the position of rector of St. Joseph *s Church for English-speaking Catholics in Florence, in, success-ion to the Rev. M". Carmody, who goes to Lon- ' don. ; . ' ■ "" . .' , SlitflWTT ROME — Representatives of Many Nations It is only in the Eternal City * and in the Urban CoHege (writes the Rome correspondent ine*-*S,ydney ' Freeman's Journal, under- date November 30) that , a sight "of the kind seen last week . could be given. Rome is ;certainly , at . ail . times most -varied in tiifci kaleidoscope of its foreign life. 'Only last 'evening I•■(who come from Canada) formed part of a little "circle composed' for the rest of the Archbishop of Athens arid Delegate- Apostolic in Greece, an. authentic* Greek, born_ at Santorino ; his secretary, ate<fV" Greek ; ibe Afchibishop of Manila, a perfect American, born at Ft. -Louis, U.S.A. ; the Rector of the Cathedral at Manila, who is a . Spaniard. \A couple of hours earlier I had. been speaking with the Bishop of Chrisiiohtirch, New Zealand, a native of the • -archdiocese of Westminster. But what are little combinations like these to the group of four deacons^ carry ine; the body of St. Hyacinth in the Urban College ? One was an Australian, the second a- New Zealander, the third an Irishman, the fourth aChinese. - SCOTLAND— Caledonian Catholic Association The.' thirteenth annual re -union of the members and . friends of " the Caledonian Catholic Association was held in the* Grand Hall, Waterloo Rooms, Oban, on the evening of, November 30. The chair was occupied by Major A. AY. McDonald, D.5.0., and there was a large attendance, including Mr. D. A. Cameron, of Nokomai, New " Zealanid. In the course of his ad-dress the chairman said it was -with great diffidence he haid accepted the invitation of their secretary to preside at their annual gathering, but ho felt it was such an honor to preside over so great an assembly of Scotsmen and Catholics that- he found he could not resist the invitation. When he had looked at the programme, the, thought haid occurred to him what a happy choice ihe foun-

ders^of their Association- had made wlien, they hit on the term 'Caledonian.' What did not that word mean to them? They were -^air Scotch— a wonderful nation. He supposed there were no strangers there that night— no Englishmen or Welshon* -en. Irishmen— yes ; because' between Scotland and Ireland there had always been close; connection. An aricesitor of his own had gone to Ireland for a wife,,, .and when he brought her 'home 'there came with her— sent by her father -to

protect her no doubt from the wild Highlanders— a retinue of a hundred armed Irishmen. They were all Burkes and Boyles ; but they were not .long settled in the Highlands when they dropped their Irish and assumed Highland names— a course' of actibtr~which he had always regarded as an evidence of their extreme good sense. For Scotch people there was a wealth of mean r ing in the word ' Caledonia.' They "were a, womderf ui nation. Away up in the iiorth, from Cape Wrath, they could work down through the English-sneaking Highlands to the Gaelic-speaking Highlands on -the wonderful band of. hills they called the Grampians, 'then on through the cultivated lands down to the Borders

where lived the descendants of that hardy people who had for centuries kept the English at .bay— in every district they found a people who were stirred to the depths of their being at the mention of the magic name Caledonia. But there was another word in the name ©f their Association which had power to move them. They were Scotsmen and they were proud of it ; but they were Catholics also, and of that they were prouder still.