A Tribute to Catholic Charity

New Zealand Tablet, 31 July 1913, Page 49

A Tribute to Catholic Charity

Writing in the Western Christian Advocate of June 4, the Rev. T. Gilford Dickinson, a Methodist minister of West Pittston, Fa-, scores his own denomination for its inactivity in charitable work. In the course of the article Dr. Dickinson takes occasion to commend the philanthropic activity of the Catholic Church. He mentions several incidents which are of special interest to Catholics in this vicinity (says the Catholic Columbian). other sin of omission against the humanities that our church is guilty of. Dr. Hawkes was a prominentphysic!an in Columbus, Ohio. In the evening of his life he planned the disposition of some property and decided to give a hospital, monumental to his, name. He offered valuable property for this purpose to the Methodist church, that the hospital to his memory might be under Methodist auspices. A meeting was held and the offer discussed and declined on the ground that the church could not conduct a hospital. To bind broken limbs and soothe fevered brows were beyond the bounds of Methodist power. Florence Nightingale and her disciples must take our place. The doctor then offered it to United Protestantism in Columbus; after several meetings it was declined on the ground of inability to minister to suffering bodies. It was then offered to the Catholic Church and accepted with thanks, and to-day the stately Mt. Carmel with its superb equipment is monumental to the generosity of the good physician and the stupidity of the Methodist Church, and the cowardice of Protestantism in Columbus.’ Again he said ‘ I have seen the growth of one orphanage. I was appointed pastor of our Church in Pomeroy, Ohio, where 'lived Father Jessing, the rector of the Catholic Church. Here he founded the Ohio Waisenfreund, a weekly paper for the support of orphan boys. This little orphanage soon outgrew its limited quarters in that parish, and he moved his whole plant to Columbus, Ohio, and opened St. Joseph’s Orphan Asylum. He had no money, only largeness of heart and faith in God and human-kind. The little Waisenfreund had a limited circulation, but it found its way to generous hearts. His little family grew, the people learned of it, loved it, gave largely to it. To-day the Josephinum on East, Main street is the monument to his labor. A few years later my parish in Columbus touched the walls of this institution. One day, while passing, I saw a woman taking leave of a little boy at the entrance of the yard. Her face wore a smile of comfort, while a few tears added radiance to her countenance. Father Jessing, a stately figure in cassock, stood on the lawn, a little boy by his side, with his hand on his head, a picture for an artist, another St. Vincent de Paul. That boy would be generously fed, clothed, always comfortable. He would be educated, he would be taught to do useful things. He would know God, Christ, His Church. He would learn obedience, reverence, devotion, charity, holiness. The logical mental query was, Why can’t we do this? My answer to-day is, We can. We must. ‘ Our sins of omission have cost us numbers and influence. Some years ago there lived in Cincinnati a widow with two little boys. She was a Methodist (the Rev. Dr. Weakley, of the West Ohio Conference, is my authority for this). She was poor and went out for a day’s work. Her problem was how to secure the safety of the boys while away from them. Near her lived a priest who one day offered her his yard as a place where the boys could play and have protection from the street. She accepted his hospitality and the boys were cared for. Time passed, the boys grew. William Rosecrans became a general in the United States Array, and Sylvester became the Bishop of Columbus diocese. When one muses over such history, he asks where was the Methodist Church in Cincinnati ? She evidently was not alive to her opportunities in that city. She is not alive yet; for the West Ohio Conference has no orphanage.’