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Show RELIGIOUS CARE OF ITALIANS. Our bright contemporary, the Catholic Citizen, is doing splendid work in calling call-ing attention to the unfortunate condition, con-dition, in which, from a religious point of view, the Italians of the United States are living. The Italian peopla with rare exceptions, ex-ceptions, are. according to the facts and figures adduced by the Citizen, in a state little better than Paganism. A careful perusal of the Citizen's article carries conviction and the facts appear to be conclusive, in so far as the con- I union described are concerned. The Citizen proposes to have its presentation pre-sentation of the case brought so vividly before the Roman authorities that as a result the Propaganda will take direct di-rect action looking toward the spiritual betterment of the Italians in the United States. All who are cognizant of the facts presented by the Citizen, will hope and pray for the consummation of its object. That the Citizen has adopted a wise course is open to some question. For our own part we do not think it desirable that any body of Catholics living in the United States should be remotely or proximately under the I jurisdiction of the Propaganda to the exclusion of the American Episcopate. The Citizen's attitude is likely to give some consolation to those who favor a policy w hich the Bishops and Priests'of this country emphatically repudiated. If. however, it be the desire of the Citizen to better the spiritual status of the Italians through the jurisdiction of the American hierarchy, its course in appealing to Rome is obvious, but not universally necessary. In Utah and Colorado theire are several sev-eral colonies of Italians. In the former ctate they are under the direct ministration minis-tration of Bishop Scanlan, who acts as their pastor, fulfilling pastoral duties himself and giving them all the spiritual spir-itual care indeed, in our opinion far more than they could hope for from 1 native Italian priests, such as the Citizen Citi-zen would have sent to this country. In Colorado the Italians are well cared for by Bishop Matz, who takes an especial interest In providing priests capable of ministering to them in their own tongue. That the results obtained from the Italian missions in these parts may not be all desire, is clearly not due to lack J of efficient and intelligent administra- i tion, but rather to a want of spiritual. ' fervor among the Italians themselves. j In Denver, for Instance, a faction of Italians is in open rebellion against j ecclesiastical authority. These people, because they cannot direct and control the actions of the Bishop in their regard, re-gard, are building a church and propose pro-pose installing therein some suspended or degraded priest who will ignore the diocesan authoritr. ' The Intermountain Catholic, on the authority of Bishop Matz, prints the following: CARD FROM BISHOP MATZ. "Denver, Sept. 30. We hereby notify the. public that no one but Father Le-pore Le-pore is authorized to collect money for the building of the Italian church. The party calling itself the Italian Colony-Chapel Colony-Chapel association is in direct opposition opposi-tion to the. authority and we forbid anyone from giving them any subscription. subscrip-tion. Should they succeed in building a chanel thev will never have a Driest to say mass for them. "N. C. MATZ, Bishop of Denver." From our personal knowledge therefore, there-fore, we conclude that no better work for the spiritual advancement of the Italian people, can be done than that which is now in progress in Colorado and Utah. j |