The Catholic World

New Zealand Tablet, 11 May 1911, Page 879

The Catholic World

I CANADA : r A VERY USEFUL INSTITUTION. , The Catholics of Toronto, have formed a society called the Rosary Hall Association, for the purpose of securing and maintaining a club or residence for girls and women earning their own living, to assist them in obtaining employment, and also to establish a day nursery for the children of working women. The board of provisional directors is composed of men and women prominent in the Catholic life of the city, and the work is progressing with the approval and practical sympathy of the Archbishop. ENGLAND - . ' A GENEROUS PRESENTATION. The Catholics of England, and a-number of prominent public men, non-Catholics as well as Catholics, have presented Monsignor Brown, Protonotary-Apostolic and VicarGeneral of the diocese of Southwark, with a cheque for £3lO and an illuminated address in celebration of his silver jubilee in the priesthood. CATHOLICS AND THE PEACE MOVEMENT Not the least interesting development about the Peace Movement (says the Catholic Weekly) -is the plebiscite of Catholic opinion collected by the Westminster Gazette. The views of such leading Catholic ecclesiastics as his Eminence Cardinal Logue, Bishop Bnndle, the Bishop of Salford, and Father Bernard Vaughan, S.J., are specially valuable at the present time. One is particularly glad to notice the tribute paid by Bishop Casartelli to the work done, but so often unrecognised by historians, by the Popes of the Middle Ages for peace and arbitration. It is a fact too often forgotten by Protestant historians. It should remind people that the Catholic Church has been all through the centuries the best witness for peace in a warring world. How wed those traditions have been preserved by latterday Pontiffs, it is needless to recall to those who remember the weighty words on the subject -of the late Pontiff Pope Leo XIII. and the present Holy Father. THE MOTOR-CHAPEL. The advent of the motor-chapel is heralded in the current monthly issue of the Missionary Gazette, the official record of the Catholic Missionary Society, an association destined to play a big share in the conversion of England and Wales to the ancient faith (says the Catholic News). After dwelling on the fact that in America the idea of a travelling church has already long been utilised and that the chapel car has been the harbinger of untold blessings, but it is a railway car, the Missionary Gazette remarks that the motor-chapel can follow the ordinary road and stop at the village green whenever desired. This apparently so novel idea has the thorough approval of his Grace the Archbishop of Westminster, and is heartily welcomed by the Bishop of Northampton, whose extended diocese offers so much scope for the work. During the coming months of July and August the motor-chapel will travel through Norfolk and Suffolk, giving missions in the outlying districts and in the larger country towns. The Catholic Missionary Society has already secured the services of many distinguished preachers, among others being the Rev. Fathers Bernard Vaughan, S.J., Robert Hugh Benson, M.A., and 0. R. Vassel-Phillips, C.SS.R., who have each promised their _services for- a week. It is hoped to institute a certain circuit, so that a missionary priest can travel from place to place where the faith has gained a footing, and maintain the good that has been worked. Were it not for the admirable generosity of an American lady, the work could not have been begun. Thanks to ' her generosity, the motor-chapel is a reality. The chassis is already bought, and the chapel is being erected. This English motor-chapel will be a complete little church in itself, in which several Masses will be said each day. Six people can kneel comfortably inside the car. A raised platform will be constructed at the front end of the chapel, on which the altar will be erected. The entrance doors will each contain a concealed folding bed for use if necessary. From these doors a detachable fan-shaped canvas awning can be extendedj, which will be capable of affording shelter to some eighty people. Underneath the whole of the floor there will be six inches of spare space for Catholic Truth Society pamphlets and other literature. A dynamo will be carried, and thus it will be possible,, in the dusk of the evening, to light up the whole of the, interior with electric light. . FRANCE, . ' y - ' CATHOLIC CHARITIES IN PARIS. ■ At the Diocesan Congress held, as we learn from the Irish Catholic, in Paris towards the middle of March, some very interesting and edifying reports were read of the work

done .in # Paris by Catholic charity. Monsignor Odelin read , a y general report of the work of the diocesan committee during the'year 1910, which dealt with work? of, education, - the patronages, charitable and social works, the 7 press, propaganda, etc. He drew particular attention to the. work ,of the evangelisation of the ‘ Midinettes,,’ (the work girls) created in the rich commercial quarters of Paris, ; where the dressmakers, etc., employ so many young women. - Mademoiselle de Lasteyrie’s report on the work done by The ‘ Association des Dames de la Charite de Saint Vincent de Paul,’ called ‘the Work of Poor Sick People,’ was particularly interesting. It showed that a section of the association exists in 80 Paris parishes. The association comprises 3587 ladies, of whom 959_ are visiting members. During 1910 no fewer than 81,792 persons sick at home were visited by those ladies or by Sisters of Charity assisting them; 467,922 tickets for bread, milk, meat, wood, and coal were distributed; no less a sum than 373,596 francs was given to needy sick persons. It is, therefore, not astonishing that the Diocesan Congress should have 1 unanimously adopted resolutions in favor lof the Paris clergy continuing their hearty support to the work of the association, of branches of the association being created in those. parishes; where none exist. PORTUGAL THE LISBON MOB. • ' | The situation in Portugal (remarks the Sacred Heart Review) is one which cannot be viewed ;with .Complacency even by the most firm 'believers ;in a republican form of government. The Churchman j (Protestant Episcopalian) said in an editorial that the ‘ educated 'classes who conducted the revolution have apparently lost their control, and the direction of affairs is largely in the hands of the Lisbon mob.’ Unrecognised by the Great Powers, the provisional government tries to impress the world with its austere morality while indulging in illegal acts to suppress all criticism of the revolution-v-y The relations of Germany and Portugal are not .so.; satisfactory as the revolutionists would like to have them. Germany has asked explanations as to the confiscation of private property and the expulsion of German nuns, without result," and "the question. as to what further means should be taken to obtain satisfaction is now under consideration by the German Government. ROME THE HOLY FATHER’S NAME DAY. On Sunday, March 19, the feast of St. Joseph and the Pope’s name day, many telegrams and addresses of congratulation were received by his Holiness. He rose at his accustomed hour, and celebrated Mass in the presence of several specially-invited guests, including his sisters and his niece, who afterwards were the first to be admitted to present their greetings. _ Later, the Pontiff received his household, and a delegation of the club of St. Peter, composed of members of families who, in accordance with custom, presented him with ; the usual basket of fruit and flowers.. The band of the Gendarmes played in the court, and in the evening the inside of the apostolic palace as illuminated. There was also a display of fireworks. Many of the telegrams received by the Pope came from foreign countries, including England and Ireland. SPAIN IN CONFORMITY WITH JUDICIAL REQUIREMENTS. ( It seems that the Republican group in the Spanish Cortes, as a preliminary measure to reopening the Ferrer case in Parliament, authorised an. eminent Spanish jurist, Melquiades Alvarez, to make a study of the judicial proceedings in the trial at Barcelona. He reported that everything done there was entirely in conformity with the judicial requirements. In giving this opinion Senor Alvarez confirms what Prime Minister Canalejas has already said regarding the justice of the Ferrer verdict. UNITED STATES CATHOLIC STATISTICS. . _ The Catholics of the United States own upwards of 125,000,000 dollars’ worth of school property (says the Catholic News). With 4972 parochial schools, there are 1,237,250 Catholic children in our schools. Counting in the orphans and other dependents, there are 1,482,699 children who are being educated from the private funds of Catholic citizens. ■ ; ,