The New Zealand Tablet THURSDAY, JUNE 4, 1914. IS THERE A CATHOLIC REVIVAL IN FRANCE?

New Zealand Tablet, 4 June 1914, Page 33

The New Zealand Tablet THURSDAY, JUNE 4, 1914. IS THERE A CATHOLIC REVIVAL IN FRANCE?

———— ' . 7f HE fact . that this question is being asked «J and repeatedly asked—by such a paper, as jjgfjMl jL the London Times is itself significant. Such a question would not be even asked in such, a , quarter if there were . not already unmjst,akable evidence of increased religious ' Vr'* vitality in the country. And still more significant is the deliberate, well-considered answer of the great daily. It is no mere half-hearted, yes-no reply which it gives to its own query. It boldly declares that the fact of a revival of Catholicism seems to it ‘ unquestionable ’; and it concludes : ‘ Whether the present religious revival in France will expand and develop no prudent man will lightly undertake to foretell. All we desire to note is that it exists and that, in our belief, it is really “spiritual” —a genuine and wholesome recoil from the cold clod , of scepticism which threatened to kill one of the deepest, and the noblest instincts that have , made historic France.’ * What is the evidence for the statement that the sworn enemies of religion have failed in their effort to ‘ extinguish the lights ; of heaven,’ and for the belief that there are signs of a bright and hopeful future for the sorely harassed and persecuted Church in. France? Let us first take the statements of non-Catholic witnesses on the subject. We have already quoted the testimony of. the London Times, as given in the* article printed elsewhere in this issue. In a previous article— too long for reproduction,—the same paper had drawn attention! to the enormous attendances at the Holy Week -services in the principal city churches, and to the extraordinary demonstrations of. faith and devotion. * An Englishman,’ it said, ‘ passing by the Madeleine at 9 o’clock ; in the evening was overheard to express surprise at -the.

crowd of worshippers issuing , at that hour from the church, and his companion replied: “ Vans voyez hien, it y a encore-des devots en France It was the eve of-Palm Sunday, on which day the churches were thronged with men, women, and children carrying the boughs of green box which in France are the substitute for palms, as the willow catkins are in England.’ In the Constructive Quarterly for March, Prof. W. Sanday, D.D., of Oxford, a witness who certainly cannot be accused of over-friendly bias toward the Catholic Church, makes the following statement: ‘ Just one more remark before I leave the French Church. The secularising measures have had one result that was not exactly desired or expected. It was hoped that they would weaken the hold of the Papacy on the French people, but the opposite of this has happened. By the breaking of every tie which bound the Church to the State, the latter has lost its power of influencing events, of interposing to protect the local clergy from undue pressure on the part of their superiors or of Rome. The tearing up of the Concordat has served the cause of centralisation ; it has strengthened the hands of the hierarchy, . and it has made the hierarchy in its turn more and more dependent upon Rome. In other words, it has put an end to Gallicanism, and made the Church of France as Ultramontane as the rest.’ The same point—that the tearing up of the Concordat and the separation of Church and State in 1905 has brought a fresh access of strength and vitality to the Church in Francehas also been recently emphasised by Protestant writers of note in the Contemporary Review, and in other English publications.

But apart from the interesting and valuable testimony of non-Catholic witnesses, there are*certain facts and figures which speak eloquently for themselves as to the religious reawakening which is now such a visible phenomenon in present-day France. In 1907-8, after the expulsion of the teaching Orders had been fully carried out and its effects had begun to make themselves felt, the number of Catholic primary schools had dropped to 12,880, with an attendance of 996,268. Since that time there has been a steady and notable improvement. In 1908-9, according to the official statistics, there were in existence 12,907 free Catholic schools, with 1,007,674 on the rolls, and, in 1909-10, 13,091, attended by 1,031,538 pupils. During 1911 and 1912 both the number of schools and of pupils has gone up so rapidly that, according to statements made in the Chamber of Deputies, in some places the State schools are practically deserted. In many other directions a greater activity and vigor amongst French Catholics is to be chronicled. In Paris, for example, the harassing formalities that would'have impeded episcopal action when the Concordat was in force being swept away, the Archbishop has created between fifty and sixty new religious centres; and during the last seven years fiftysix new churches, of a plain but devotional character, have been erected in the -capital or in the suburbs. The far-reaching influence of these new centres in the, hitherto almost utterly -godless suburbs may be illustrated by a single example. At the Pre St. Gervaise, out of fifteen thousand inhabitants, one hundred and fifty only went to the tiny chapel that served as a place of worship. A new church, was built this year; a mission was preached a few months ago; and the one hundred and fifty Catholics are now a thousand. Associations like Action Francaise (Royalist in tendency), Le . Sillon (democratic), La Jeunesse Catholique (now numbering 120,000), and others, are doing admirable work by influencing public opinion in favor of religion, . by refuting the calumnies and rcaricatures of the Church’s teaching that have been so prevalent, and.by ’ bringing the young men to realise that the faith is something to be proud of and not something to be concealed. According to the Times article— elsewhere— the class in which the revival is • most unmistakable is that of the educated young men’; and in this connection it is pleasing to note that the move- - ment has shown itself in a remarkable increase of voca-

tions to the priesthood. Eager applicants are now knocking at the doors of the seminaries; and the seminaries themselves, though poorbecause of ’• the shameful spoliation of - the Government—are, perhaps, all the better and more efficient for that reason. Altogether, the following, summary by the Countess De Corn-son— particularly competent authority be considered as under-stating rather than over-stating the present position and* outlook : * The separation of the Church and State has . reduced the Church to beggary, but, in exchange;'-it has given her ministers : a greater share of independence and, in consequence, more widespreading influence. In Paris and in the large centres, there is an increase of activity in the Catholic world: Home missionaries are bravely grappling with the unbelieving spirit that the atheistical teaching of the Government schools has developed among the poor. Catholic laymen have learned, to band their forces together the more effectually to fight the men who have sworn to un-Christianise France; the pressing necessities of the day have taught them the value of union on the supreme standpoint of religion. If in small provincial towns and in country villages, the “reawakening” is less perceptible, it is not wholly absent, and hopeful symptoms are there to point to happy developments in the future. If we add to these valuable human agencies the supernatural assistance that never fails to men of “good will,” we may trust that slowly, but surely, a new Catholic France stronger, because more enlightened j will eventually win the day.’