The Catholic World

New Zealand Tablet, Volume XXXVII, Issue 8, 25 February 1909, Page 311

The Catholic World

ENGLAND— The Bishop of Auckland

The Bishop of Auckland (says the Catholic Times) left London on the last day of the old year, for.Jiis return _ .to New Zealand.' Dr. Lenihan arrived in this country in : May, and during his seven months' sojourn here had a crowded and busy life. . He attended the Eucharistic Congress ; paid three visits to Ireland ; went to' -Rome for the celebration, of Pope's "Jubilee, and transacted, besides, an enormous -amount of work in connection with his diocese at the. -Antipodes, a diocese which — as.ha said, in the course of an interesting address_ he delivered at the* Redemptorist • Church^' 'Clapham, shortly .before ' his - clepar- • tuie, is as large as the whole of. Ireland., Those who' had the good fortune of meeting Bishop Lenihan will always liaTe pleasant , recollection's of an exceptionally attractive personality — genial and .warm-hearted, with .an interise* love for the ' Church ancL'for Irelandr- Among* the'rela- ' tives and friends who saw him off at Charing Cross and bade him God speed on his long journey wore his sisters, Mrs. Waller, Mrs. Nixon, and Miss Redmond, of Clapham, Father Norbert Birt, Benedictine, and Father Hilary, Passionist. FRANCE— A Candid Critic In the course of a letter to the Daily Dispatch on the present condition of affairs in France, Mr. Thomas Pinkerton, of Clonard, Bangor, says : ' What has the Third * Republic done for the peasant but foil and thwart him. I am a Protestant, but I do not know of anything more iniquitous or more worthy of the methods of the darkest times of the Middle Ages than the treatment the Third " Republic has meted to the Catholic Church in France.' GERMANY— The Government and the Centre Party Though the Centre Party have been more or less at war with the Government since the last elections -they are not _ dissatisfied with the present condition of affairs, nor are they discouraged in looking towards, the- future. Th ; s is the substance .of an interview which has been accorded to a representative of the Corriere d* Italia by Dr. Pieper, priest, deputy to the Reichstag, member of the Prussian Landtag, and head of that powerful Catholic organisation the Volksverein. The members- of the Centre, it appears, rejoice in being in opposition. Formerly when they held a position -of/ greater responsibility, they had to be. chary of criticism -on some occasions when they would • otherwise haTe commented-" sharply - on. Government projects. ■ N^ow they exercise their freedom to the largest extent.^ /The result is that their popularity is increasing, whereas "the parties who form the Bloc and are under the dictatorship of Prince Bulow are losing ground amongst the electorate. The necessity of supporting the Government's schemes sometimes compels them to do .violence to their own prin-. ciples. Dr. Pieper is of opinion that Prince Bulow, for whom the situation has become much more, difficult "since" the famous interview withjvthe Kaiser, will retire from public life as soon as he has carried out his programme of financial reform, and that at the next elections ilie Bloc 'politicians will be badly" beaten. With the Catholic electoral organisation so strong and complete, it may be' predicted pretty confidently that the Centre will come out of_jilie fray successfully. ITALY— Victims of the Earthquake A considerable number of the priests, monks, and nuns who lived in the earthquake zone havo lost their lives. Of twenty nuns in one convent at Reggio seven are dead. The priests, monks, and nuns in- Southern Calabria and Sicily who had escaped death devoted themselves from the first in the most self-sacrificing spirit to relief work. In this -'work Cardinal Lualdi, Archbishop of Palermo, and Cardinal di Bontif c, Archbishop -of Catania, have conspicuously distinguished themselves. "* His Eminence 1 Cardinal Lualdi, Archbishop of Palermo, in a' letter _to the Cardinal-Secre-tary of State which the Osservatore Romano publishes, describes the arrangements he "has made for ministering , to and succoring the injurod and dying in Sicily. He pays a tribute to the mombers of the Society of St. Yin- - cent de Paul, who— are_ engaged day and night in relief work. The clorgy, he says, are going round- everywhere, and are cordially welcomed. Great numbers receive the Sacraments. ROME — Received in Private Audience The Holy Father on January 5 received ill private audience the Right Rev. Dr. Chisholm, Bishop- of- Aberdeen. His Holiness evinced the greatest interest in the progress of Catholicism in Scotland, on which he congratulated the Bishop. ' ' -"

The Holy Father's Sympathy The grandeur and profound, depths, of .the sympathy .that tte -human heart ordinarily.- conceals have-been--mag-hificiently displayed during the awful crisis of suffering and sorrow in Calabria and Sicily (says the Catholic T-ijnes). The Father of the Faithful at the Vatican has shown that- he cherishes" for his afflicted children a love and tonderness truly paternal. Of all who have been suffering, even in the anguish of racking pain, scarcely one has felt the bitterness of the catastrophe more acutely than the aged Pontiff. Whatever zealous; care, prompted by the noblest charity, can do, he is doing for the relief of the. injured and the homeless. On the receipt of the first news, lie teleg'rapred to different prelates in the south for - ample particulars. He devoted himself ' much to. prayer "and ordered, public. prayers. Audiences were s\ispended and measures were at once taken to use in the work of - rescue and succor the services of members of the grand army of priests and monks and nuns who are ever -ready ' to make sacrifices for the sake of their brethren stricken down "by accident or disease. His Holiness provided a hospital for the injured who are brought -to the Eternal City, and he has gone amongst' them,"" soothing ,them and pouring into their, ears words of consolation which' -are as balm to their . wounded., spirits. " His generous- contribution of one hundred thousand lire headed the first*" list of relief offerings, and , now- he is taxing the* resources at "his mand for the same humaniWraa'n. ,pu,rg'oseV - '- .„-- SCOTLAN D— Catholic. Progress -"■/--' • ' In the far northern the east,- in the south,, in the "west, and in the ."western- Highlands the "progress -of. the./ Catholic Church, during the past year' has been phenomenal- (writes a - Glasgow correspondent). quarter of a century ago; the Catholic population in 'Scotland was „ a 'trifle.' -• To-day "it is 520j000, and in the crowded r industrial' area governed by his Grace the Archbishop of Glasgow- alone it is well-nigh 400,000. A quarter of a century ago Catholics were almost scorned north of the Tweed. If they aimed high popular opinion gloAvered disapproval. To-day Catholics are honored all over Scotland, and popular opinion is at least more tolerant. A quarter of .a .century ago Catholics, were little known in the . higher professions.. • To-day they fill the Universities and adorn the higher professions: Some interesting statistics are given in- the ' Scottish. Catholic Directory ' for 1909. There are 555 priests in Scotland, - 459 seculars, and 96 regulars. The missions number 236, and the churches, oaapels, stations, etc., 394. There are 69 Religious Houses, 13 for men and 56 for women, and there are 38. charitable institutions.- : Catholic schools num-' -" ber 212, and departments 262. In the archdiocese of St. Andrews and Edinburgh there were during 1907, 2834 baptisms, 1531 confirmations, and 444 marriages. Aberdeen diocese had 401 baptisms, 334 confirmations, and 61 marriages. In Argyll and the Isles there were 246 ' baptisms, 189 confirmations, and 41 marriages. Dunkeld diocese had 1323 baptisms, 694 confirmations, and 241 marriages. In Galloway -there were „.705 baptisms, 861 confirmations, and 99 marriages. Glasgow- archdiocese's statistics are particularly interesting. "There were 14,630 baptisms, 7425 confirmations, and~2555 marriages.- Totals are — 2Q,139- baptisms, 11,034 confirmations, ..and" 3441. marriages. JLJNITED STATES^-The Church in the Philippines Some idea of the task. which faces the Catholic Church of providing priests for "a many-languaged population (icmaTks the New York Catholic News) may be obtained from a notice in the Philippine Catholic concerning the Church 'of St. Dominic, Manila :"' Confessions in Spanish, "English, German^ French, Italian, Chinese, -Japanese, Pangasinan, Cagayan, Ilocano, and Batanes will "be heard at any time during or preceding -the time .of services.' iPrompt Assistance - > . - The promptness with which the Catholic' Church 'n. the United -States went about securing -aid for the Italian earthquake sufferers "(says: the New "York CatholtQ -News) testifies ■ not alone .to ■ the -b* oad , charity of the "-Catholic - people, but demonstrates as well how splendidly .-the. Church is organised to secure -aid -in suclTcontingencies. All' the Archbishops and Bishops acted at., once, with the result that on the Sunday after the disaster in every Catholic churcli throughout the land appeals wore • made for assistance for the stricken Italians. The Catholic' people have responded nobly. Hore in the -archdiocese of New York the collection taken up in the churches last Sunday (Jan.vary 3) will amount to about 30,000 dollars. On Thursday morning (January 7) -27,000 "dollars had been received. at the chancery office, and there were many more churches, ' in -coxmtry districts principally, to be heard from. The collection from the Brooklyn diocese will amount to about 15,000 dollars.

The Diocese of Peoria

The Bishops of the Province of Chicago, ,with Archbishop Quigley in the chair, held a meeting on December 22 to select the names of j>riests whom -they should recommend for the succession to Bishop John Lancaster Spalding, of Peoria,. who has resigned on account of ill-health. The priests of the Peoria diocese " have recommended as most worthy of the promotion (1) Rev. Francis J.. O'Reilly, Chancellor of Peoria," and rector of St. Mary's Cathedral; (2) Rev. John P. Quinn, of St. John's Church, Peoria; (3) Rev. Henry A. O'Kelly, of the Church of the Immaculate Conception, Peoria. I The Catholic University

In a report on the Catholic University, „ Washington, U.S.A., Bishop^ O'Connell says the institution has at its command 627,627.20 dollars. Before the Waggaman failure the University funds amounted, to 876,168.96 dollars, wiUh an indebtedness of 227,473.60 dollars. This, says Bishop O'Connell, shows that the result of the Waggaman failure practically has been repaired, for the University has no debts at the present time. . „},