Catholic World

New Zealand Tablet, Volume L, Issue 21, 31 May 1923, Page 47

Catholic World

BISHOPS -AT WESTMINSTER. On the Tuesday after Low Sunday (says Catholic- y'ews Service, London, for April 14), the archbishops and bishops of England and Wales met at Archbishop’s House, Westminster, for the annual episcopal conference, with Cardinal Bourne in the chair.

The opening day was a busy one for their Lordships. Some of the prelates were present in the Cathedral in the morning at the Bernhardt Requiem, and all of them were in the Throne Room during the evening, when the annual levee in honor of the Hierarchy took place.

By now this annual reception is one of the most brilliant social functions of the London season. The dazzling diplomatic uniforms of the ambassadors and diplomats, prelatial purple and the old-world full dress of officials of the Papal Court and equestrian orders, together with the many decorations worn by members of knightly orders of the Empire, all help to make the moving scene up the greatstaircase and past the Cardinal's throne one of great animation and brilliant coloring.

But for all the gay uniforms and Hashing decorations, the function is democratic in the extreme. High personages are there, it is true, hut no special invitations are issued, and the doors are open to all who wish to pass before the members of the Hierarchy; so that Catholics of the working classes, with an utter lack of self-conscious-ness, rub shoulders with peers and ambassadors. The Cardinal’s levee is. indeed, the most Christian and democratic function of the year. CATHOLICS AND POLITICS. Archbishop Keating of Liverpool, like his episcopal colleagues, is not in favor of Catholics, as Catholics, organising themselves into political groups. The Archbishop is strongly against the Catholic societies allowing party politics to enter into the sphere of their activities. Party politics— Grace told the Catholic Young Men’s* Societiesbreak up families, not to speak of societies. Their place is not in the Catholic Church nor at Catholic meetings. The Archbishop warned the Catholic young men that .should they apply for the hire of Catholic parish rooms for political meetings they must not be surprised if they meet with a refusal. SPANISH STUDENTS IN ROME. On Easter Monday the Holy Father gave a private audience to a delegation of Spanish students, representing the National Confederation of Catholic Students. His Holiness spoke with the liveliest interest about the life of students, and before dismissing the delegation said; “I have the greatest pleasure in knowing, greeting, and blessing you, and I should like this blessing to include all the Spanish students. Cardinal Benlloch has told me about your organisation and its aims, which I should like to be made better known to the Cardinal students of Italy.” The following day about 700 Spanish pilgrims were admitted to the presence of his Holiness, when the Pofpe addressed them in very cordial terms. The Holy Father’s allusion to King Alfonso was not without its significance, for the wildest rumors have flashed between Rome and Madrid that the Holy See contemplates a rupture in its diplomatic relations with Spain. All this arose, so it appears, out of the contemplated modification of the Spanish Constitution. That scheme seems to have been nipped in the bud; but press writers unfavorable to the Vatican have tried to make an incident out of the affair. Something of the same kind was current last year; only that time it was supposed to be the Spanish Government that was to break relations, the alleged cause being that the Holy

See had favored French and Italian claims in Palestine to the detriment of Spanish claims. It was a press canard, however.

REQUIEM FOR BERNHARDT. King George sent Inc- own special representative to O O- VI. u OpVUlttl ICpLCOCilbdllVt} IU the Solemn Requiem in Westminster Cathedral for the repose of the soul of Madame Sarah Bernhardt, at which the Cardinal Archbishop, with several other bishops, assisted. Prominent among the ambassadors and diplomatic officers was the French Ambassador, while every section of official, social, and civil life sent its delegatoin. But the theatrical and dramatic societies were mostly in evidence. Societies of Great Britain and France, both. Catholic and non-Catholic, were represented, while some of the best-known actors in the country acted as ushers. The memory of the famous French actress attracted to the Cathedral a congregation of high personages, that gave to the function almost as official a character as the Solemn Requiem for Benedict XV., when nearly half the floor of the nave was occupied by Ambassadors and Ministers and their suites. RHINELAND BISHOPS PROTEST. r l he city of Paderhorn, which during the war was the centre of a great German movement for prisoners of war, which relieved thousands of Belgian and French prisoners, was the meeting-place for the Rhineland bishops, whence they have issued an appeal to the world in which once more they insist that Germany was not responsible for the world war. \ The bishops call attention to Germany’s sufferings following the Armistice during the Revolution, and the Versailles Treaty, which they declare falls heavily on the noncombatants. Their pastoral work, the bishops say, has had to be directed towards material relief, caring for the sick and disabled, more than to purely spiritual matters. Monasteries and convents are in a distressing condition; nevertheless there is a spirit of charity and reconciliation. •‘We think it our duty.” the bishops said, “to declare that our people, obedient to the Government, worked earnestly and honorably to fulfil the demands of the victors, lo them it is due that almost a milliard gold marks have been handed over; and then we ask where has any people, in order to obtain peace, accomplished anything approaching this? “How can the Belgian and French conquerors, in face of this enormous contribution, seize upon a slight defect in our monthly supply of reparation coal to occupy our land and incite its inhabitants to disobedience and treason; to treat our most respected functionaries as common criminals; to exile them in chains? In the midst of peace we have exorbitant fines, public floggings, evictions, and brutal ill-treatment of the innocent and defenceless. “We, the bishops, declare sorrowfully that these events will make a still deeper breach between the nations. We shall continue to teach our flock not to return evil for evil. But, on the other hand, nobody ought to expect ns to remain silent in face of the sufferings of our flock; for that would suggest complicity, and responsibility for the terrible consequences that we, fear—consequences that, in spite of the earnest dissuasion of England, will be made inevitable by the Franco-Belgian conquerors. “It must be clear to everyone (save the French and Belgians) that the revision of the Versailles Treaty is imperative. As the pastors of seven million Catholics, twothirds of whom are in the occupied area, we are familiar with all the circumstances, and seize this " occasion to spread throughout the Catholic world some aspects of the needs and sufferings of our flocks, and turn, as becomes his true children, in the first place to our Holy Father, Rope Pius XL . .” The lengthy protest is signed by the Cardinal Archbishop of Cologne, as well as by the Bishops of Munster and Paderborn. The Bishop of Trier was to have taken part in the episcopal conference that issued the manifesto, but as the railway communication was cut off the Bishop had to be content with giving his general adherence to the protest, without being able to be present at the conference.