RETURNING TO THE FOLD

New Zealand Tablet, 8 April 1915, Page 11

RETURNING TO THE FOLD

Mr. Samuel F. Darwin-Fox, M.A., Pembroke Col- , lege, Oxford, who has been received at Erdington - Abbey, Birmingham, was a well known Anglican controversialist, i The Rev. Alfred Colling wood Southern, 8.A., Leeds University, and Mirfield College, and late curate of Kidderminster Parish Church, has been received into the Church by Father Vincent Calvert at Bridlington., The Rev. William Alfred Spence, M.A., vicar since 1905 of the important Church of St. Frideswide, Oxford, and formerly curate of Ail Saints', Notting Hill, W., has been received into the Catholic Church at Westminster Cathedral. Sister Edith Crowther, of the Anglican community of Deaconesses at East London, was received into the Catholic Church atTWestminster Cathedral on January 15, and was confirmed by the Bishop of Cambysopolis on the following Sunday. The Rev. Righdale Arthur King, 8.A., Keble College, Oxford (3rd Class Modern History), of St. Stephen's House, Oxford, and curate of St. Peter's, Acton Green, W., has been received into the Catholic Church at the Redemptorist Church, Clapham. A notable conversion took place at St. Joseph's Church, Grand Junction, Colo., recently, when Miss Harriet L. Weir, only daughter of Rev. O. J. Weir, an active member of the Presbyterian clergy of that city, was received into the Catholic Church. Brother Chad (Mr. J. Edwards), one of the members of the ' Society of the Divine Compassion ' at Plaistow, which practises the rule of St. Francis of Assisi, has followed the example set by the Rev. W. Tate (now Brother "William, 0.5.8., at Downside Abbey) and Brother Francis (Mr. Tester), and made his submission at Manresa, Roehampton, S.W. Lieut. Ralph Hamilton Fane Gladwin, Scots Guards, who is reported severely wounded, was born 29 years ago, the son of the late Hamilton Fane Gladwin, of Seven Springs, Gloucestershire. He was educated at Radley, and joined the Scots Guards in 1905. He married, three years ago, Isabelle Mary, second daughter of Col. A. Douglas Dick, C. 8., of Pikerro, N. 8., and has one son. Lieut. Gladwin was received into the Church during the present year. The Rev. Alfred Piccinni, an Italian Baptist minister connected with the Italian colony of Winsted, Conn., and with the Colgate Seminary of Brooklyn, N.Y., recently made his solemn abjuration of heresy to Rev. John T. McNicholas, 0.P., in the chapel of the Dominican Fathers, New York City. Mr. Piccinni's defection from the faith of his forefathers was not malicious, but was due to the contagion of indifference contracted from irreligious companions during his college days. Mr. Kimball, ex-judge of Texarkana, Texas, was . received into the Church recently. Judge Kimball wan preceded into the Church by two of his daughters, one of whom has become a religious. The family was of the Baptist faith, and their conversion resulted from am examination of the teaching of the Church. The . daughters were led to examine Catholic doctrine by listening to the calumnies about the Church. The result was that both entered the Church, one embracing the religious state. Mrs. Kimball, wife of the judge, is now under, instruction. ™ The conversion to Catholicity of another Protestant minister is reported from Kansas City (says the Sacred Heart Review). The Rev. C. L. Harbord, pastor of the Christian Church, Rich Hill, Mo., but a resident of Kansas City, Mo., has severed his connection with that church. A letter to his congregation stated that, dissatisfied with his non-Catholic belief, he began the study of Catholic doctrine. 'Within six months after I began studying Catholicism,' Mr. Harbord wrote, ' I knew I had found something that was —something with peace, harmony, unity.'

After an apostasy that had lasted forty years, the Professor of International Law in the University of Naples, Senator Fiore, asked for a priest on his deathbed, and passed away with every sign of repentance. The Rev. John B. Pitcher, former rector of All Saints' Episcopal Church, Orange, N.J., and Mrs. Pitcher were received into the Church recently by the Bishop of Ogdensburg. Both Mr. and Mrs. Pitcher are the children of Methodist clergymen. Mr. Pitcher was first ordained as a preacher of that denomination, following his graduation from Drew Theological Seminary. ' English Catholic exchanges chronicle the conversion to the true faith of Lady Holmes, widow of Sir Richard Holmes, K.C.V.0., V.P.S.A., who. was for 35 years librarian to Queen Victoria and King Edward VII. at Windsor Castle. Lady Holmes is the eldest daughter of the late Rev. Canon Richard Gee, for many years Vicar of Windsor and Canon of St. George's. She was received into the Church on All Hallows' Eve by the Very Rev. Canon Drake at St. Bernard's Convent, Slough. Admiral Sir St. George Caulfield D'Arcy-Irvine, retired, of the British Navy, who was recently received into the Church in Rome, is now eighty years old, but is hale and hearty. . He joined the service at fourteen years of age and worked his way up to the important and honorable post of Admiral. He served at the Crimea, 1854-55, and got the Crimean and. Turkish Medals, the Sebastopol Clasp, and the Baltic Medal. He also served in the Russo-Turkish war of 1878 and at the bombardment of Alexandria in 1882, and received the Egyptian Medal and the Khedive's Bronze Star. In 1902 he was created a K.C.B. That intellectual France is returning to Catholicism no one who is acquainted with the facts can reasonably doubt. The France of Guy de Maupassant is disappearing, and a new literary spirit, inspired by Catholic ideals, is arising. French writers of genius and influence are moving towards the Church. Is a similar movement about to begin in this country? Some months ago a well-known English author, Mr. Compto Mackenzie, was received into the Church, but it was not until recently that his conversion became generally known. Mr. Mackenzie (says the Universe) is one of the most brilliant of our younger writers, and he has shown this quality in such books as Carnival, Youth's Encounter, and his latest novel, Sinister Street. An 'Oxford Convert' writes as follows in the Catholic Times: —ln your reference last week to the Cowley Fathers you mentioned that they gave the Catholic Church the late Father Luke Rivington. Another convert from them who is happily with us still is Father Maturin, one of the greatest of our preachers, and one, moreover, who has probably made more converts to the Church amongst the upper classes during the last twenty years than any other priest. Perhaps a list of converts from the Cowley Fathers would be of interest to your readers:Father Luke Rivington; Father Basil Maturin, at present working amongst the Oxford undergraduates; Father Ernest Grimes, rector of the Catholic church at Brigg; Father Randolph Traill, rector of the Catholic church at Thane; Father Cyprian Alston, 0.5.8., rector of the Catholic church at Dulwich. Besides these, who were all ' professed at Cowley, the noviciate has given us Father Charles Heurtley, of the Oratory, Birmingham; and Father William Gorman, C.SS.R., Bishop Eton. Father Grimes was precentor at Cowley, and soon after he became a Catholic the organist and three of the choir boys followed. The organist is now Father Wilfrid Shebbeare, 0.5.8., Downside. Several of the lay Brothers of Cowley, have also made their submission to the Holy See. And I have not heard of any convert from the ' Cowley Fathers * who has in any sense proved a failure. The tide of conversions (writes a r London correspondent) is not affected by the war, nay, if anything, the converts under instruction are more numerous than

ever, and-riot a few of them are wearing the universal khaki. But the .latest notable conversion is that of a well-known London clergyman and his wife, who were received into the Church together in Wales. The Rev. Bernard Berlyn is an Oxford man, the son of a journalist, and he took Orders in the Church of England in 1909. He was attached to St. Alban's, Fulham, where as senior curate he was very popular in the parish. The church is a very High one, and Mrs. Berlyn shared her husband's religious sentiments. When war broke out Mr. Berlyn was one of the first to volunteer as chaplain to the Forces, and has been for some time in charge of a big camp at Colchester. He had, however, also put himself under instruction during that interval and has now resigned the Church of England chaplaincy. lie and his wife met again in Wales and had the happiness of making their profession of faith together and being received into the Church at St. Bride's Abbey, "Milford Haven, Bishop Mostyn of Menevia conferring conditional baptism. Mr. and Mrs. Berlyn have made a great sacrifice to follow their consciences, as they are not wealthy people, and the fact of his marriage precludes Mr. Berlyn from studying for the priesthood. •