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Show Mbot Gdsqmt on Church in Jtmericai 1 ; , The Catholics of the Uiilted States will be deeply' interested to learn of the impressions gained by the Rt. Rev. Albert Gasquet, the distinguished English Eng-lish Benedictine, during his recent visit to this country. Doni Gasquet landed in Liverpor', Nov. 24, and was promptly interviewed by the Catholic Times of London. "As to your impressions'," said the interviewer, "what do you think of the condition of the church in the United Unit-ed States?" ' . "It is simply wonderful 'to me." The abbot as he said this seemed to be animated by a feeling of the most hearty admiration, "l refer," he continued, con-tinued, "not only to the extent and vigor of the church, but to the enthusiasm enthu-siasm of the Catholics. A most notable nota-ble sign of their Catholic spirit is their readiness to sink all kinds of differences as long as they can look upon themselves them-selves as Catholcs. The churches were perfect revelations. They were crowded crowd-ed with people. Mass after Mass you saw the vast congregations pouring j in." j Struck by Large Proportion of Men. ''Were the men well represented "Quite as weir as the women. That is a point that struck me. The large proportion of men struck me a great deal more than the attendance of the women. What is at the. bottom of it? This that their pastors have got them to be proud of belonging to and being practical members of the Catholic church." , - "Are they, in your opinion, equal to the Catholics at. home in the observance observ-ance of religion?" "As far as one can judge from the outside, they are quite as good. Indeed, In-deed, in regard to the keeping of the Commandments, I should say that they are certainly ahead of us in many ways. Of course, some people say that there is not the same spirituality there. But if spirituality is to be estimated by what they do and surely t is they can bear comparson with Catholics anywhere. They are most practical Catholics, and speaking of them from the devotional side, I have seen ' them joining in the services in a way which was almost, you would say, enthusiastic. enthusi-astic. Personally, I was astonished at places I visited to see not only ihe crowds in the churches, but also the eager desire of the people to join in the Catholic, services. This was a common experience. I was in the west a great deal in the big citirs and in one and all the same earnest disposition disposi-tion was found. When I was going from Chicago to St. Taul on a Friday an official came up to me and said: 'I suppose you want a Friday dinner, father?' I was going to have merely some fish, but he told me he was not himself a Catholicthat the railway authorities had so many. Catholic passengers pas-sengers who wished to keep the Friday observance that they , had to be prepared pre-pared for it, and to provide regular 'maigre' dinners. That, to my mind, is a most remarkable indication of the practices of the people. They . are, every one told me, really practical Catholics. They go to the sacraments rcgularjy. The proportion of Catholics in a parish who do not -receive the sacraments at least once a year, is very small indeed." - V Praise For Knights of Columbus. "And their organizations. Are they doing good work?" , ; "Most admirable work. The Knights of Columbus, for instance, give splen- ! did support to the church. It is a benefit society, and one of the condi- j ttons of membership is that one must be a practical Catholic. They have an enormous number of members. All the ! ' , . , . . 1 best people, including lawyers of high Ftanding and professional men of all kinds, belong to them. The mere fact ' of their being obliged to be practical Catholics has a great influence. One j cf the arrangements in the constitution constitu-tion of the society is that if at any time I tile church should declare it unlawful I it should 'ipso facto' cease to exist." "The society is, no doubt, of great advantage to the bishops and clergy?' "Certainly. The bishops and priests find that they have In it the nucleus of ! J-n organization that may be used for j f-.ny useful purpose. On two or three j cccasions during my visit to the west. the bishop merely said I was there, and that it might be a good thing if I gave them a lecture. Thereupon the Knights took the whole arrangements into their hands and paid for every- thing. Toe majority of the bishops that 1 met think it a most excellent aid to the church. It is a Catholic organization, organi-zation, without distinction of party or nationality. If in France, say, there I existed such an organization, we should t'ot have the present state of affairs." "Are the people generous in giving for higher education?" "Exceedingly generous, both the : Catholics and non-Catholics. Archbishop Arch-bishop Ireland's seminary was practically practi-cally founded and established by a non- Catholic, James Hill, the well known railway man. He married a Catholic, and is reported to have said, when axked why he had contributed to the funds for a Catholic seminary, that any religion that produced a lady like Mrs. Hill was worthy of all the support he could give it." To supplement the excellent training afforded in the home seminaries, the Abbot said, the archbishops send young men abroad to perfect their education. edu-cation. "The fact is," he added, "we don't know here what education is." Questioned on the subject of university univer-sity education, Abbott Gasquet spoke i'i highly laudatory terms of the training train-ing given at the university of Notre Dame, Indiana, which is most compre-htnsive, compre-htnsive, including many faculties and practical science in various departments. depart-ments. He was also enthusiastic in praise of the educational work of the Sisters of St. Mary's college. At Washington Wash-ington his admiration was excited by the houses . of the religious orders grouped around the university and the Missionary college, at the head of which is Father Doyle, the Paulist. The labors of the priests, who are set apart to give missions to Protestants, are, he said, most fruitful. American assemblages as-semblages were ideal audiences, and a Catholic priest received a fair and most fcttcntive hearing. Augurs Well For Church in Fiance. Asked if, judging from what he saw and heard in America, he thought the church would'' become more powerful in France if separated from the state, he replied that it. certainly would be more powerful in a few years. The Catholics would, no doubt, have "a bad quarter of an hour," but the general gen-eral result would be to the advantage of the church. In America everybody recognized that the Catholic church was a tremendous power. "Did you deliver many lectures in I the states?" asked tbe interviewer. I "I calculated on the Oceanic," said the Abbot, "that T gave about fifty, the subjects being historical and religious. I regret much that time compelled me to confine myself to the Catholics, and that I could not accept the many invitations invi-tations from non-Catholics. But," he smilingly added. "I may go again." He undoubtedly appeared to be pleased at the prospect. . |