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Show The Situation in France The French People Catholic in Name Only-What a Correspondent Cor-respondent Learned of their Religious Indifference in Touring the Country. (Cor. London Catholic Times.) Catholics everywhere, but more especially es-pecially in English-speaking countries, will have followed with painful sympathetic sym-pathetic interest the sad events which have been happening in France during the last few weeks. In a country that has so long enjoyed the proud title of "the Eldest Daughter of the Church." in a land they were accustomed to regard re-gard as eminently Catholic, so fruitful of missionaries, so abounding in works j of piety and charity, they see a vio-lent vio-lent campaign of persecution inaugurated, inaugur-ated, hundreds of Catholic schools peremptorily pe-remptorily closed, thousands of devoted de-voted nuns expelled from their homes, in pursuance of a policy which aims at the de-Christianization of the masses of the French people. They see invested in-vested with supreme authority a government gov-ernment the most anti-Catholic, nay, the most anti-Christian in Europe a ' government that is the worst, the most inimical to religion, of the many bad governments that have held sway in France since more than a century. And yet the political party from Which this government emanates was returned to the chambers a few months ago with a sweeping majority by the Catholics, or so-called Catholics, of France. Last year the ministry of Waldeck-Rousseau Dassed The Iniquitous Associations Law. The measure was intended, so its authors au-thors alleged, as an instrument of republican re-publican defense as if the republic were worth defending against the machinations of Assumptionists, Jesuits, Jesu-its, Benedictines and other covert enemies ene-mies of the existing regime. No harm was meant to the church; on the contrary," con-trary," it was urged,, need I say, hypocritically, hypo-critically, that the proposed restrictions restric-tions ooi. the religious orders would, in the- result,. but foster and promote the interests of the secular clergy. A most strenuous- opposition was offered at every stage of the bill, the Comte de Mun, M. Jaques Piou, M. Cassagnac, and other Catholic deputies exposing the real purposes of the government and its supporters, and clearly pointing out that an era of, persecution was opening for the church, that freedom of education was menaced ,that the most vital interests of religion were being assiduously attacked, and that a deadly blow was being aimed not merely mere-ly at religious, but civil liberty likewise. like-wise. In face of a bold and unscrupulous unscrupu-lous majority resolutely determined to carry out its programme, all opposition opposi-tion was vain. The associations bill became law-, and when, in April last, the electorate was apepaled to, the policy of persecution was tacitly approved ap-proved by the great bulk of the nation. The Combes ministry has succeeded to that of Waldeck-Rousseau, and now the provisions of the associations law are being turned and twisted in a fashion never contemplated, even by I its framers, and the orders of men be ing crushed and dispersed, the congregations congre-gations of women are now being made the victims of the -Ferocious Anti-Religious Hate. of the Masonic sect that rules the ie-public. ie-public. It is the turn of female education educa-tion to be laicised. English-speaking Catholics may ask in amazement how has it come about that a party so hostile hos-tile to religion should have been elected elect-ed to nower. or wny is it that the pub lic opinion of the country does not sweep from office the cabinet that so grossly outrages the most elementary principles of liberty and justice? The answer is exceedingly simple: France is no longer Catholic, in the strict sense of the word. It is painful to have to make such a statement more painful still that the statement should be true. Frenchmen are born into the church by baptism, in their last moments mo-ments most of them are willing to accept ac-cept her ministrations, . but the immense im-mense majority live lives hostile or indifferent to her authority as a church. The interests of the church are to the multitude of so-called Catholic Cath-olic matters of absolutely no concern. Herein lies the explanation of the existing politico-religious situation. Though already tolerably familiar with the general condition of religion in France, I recently traveled through a not Inconsiderable portion of the northeastern north-eastern part of the country with a view of making myself more intimately acquainted ac-quainted with the Catholic life of the people. During my stay I journeyed through three dioceses, visiting six of the nrincinal cities and towns in the region and a. couple of the more important im-portant villages. Two of the cities are the seats of archiepiacopal sees. I have discussed the various aspects of the question with more than a score of ecclesiastics and members of religious re-ligious orders, and have talked on the same topic with nearly as many more lay Catholics, amongst them the editors ed-itors of three Influential provincial papers, pa-pers, all persons possesing exceptional opportunities for accurately understanding under-standing the situation. My inquiries were directed into the state of religion relig-ion in both town and country. Wherever Wher-ever occasion offered I observed for myself. And I must say that from all I heard and all I saw, I could draw Only One Conclusion: A Melancholy One that as far as living, practical Christianity Chris-tianity is concerned. France could hardly be in a more deplorable or hopeless hope-less condition. I found a. consensus of opinion that throughout the country generally Faith has almost totally disappeared dis-appeared among the male population. Britany. Savoy, and a few districts in the northwest must, of course, be excepted. ex-cepted. Here and there in other parts earnest, devoted, and practical Catholics Cath-olics are to be found, but speaking of the overwhelming bulk of the men, it is no exaggeration to say that th Faith is dead amongst them. They have not, it is true, formally abandoned aban-doned Catholicism; they have simply lapsed into uttr indifference rsard-ing rsard-ing religion and its observances. In the cities and large towns we meet with a considerable number who are actively hostile to the church; with ex- ; ceptions easily counted, the rest are ; simply nominal Catholics, whilst in the smaller towns, the villages, and i the rural districts it is complete apathy ; and indifference which prevails rather than open antagonism. This attitude of the peasantry was well illustrated in a conversation I had with a respectable re-spectable man of the farming class. , j After we had talked upon various topics I took the liberty of asking him whether he went to church on Sundays. "Oh. no," he replifnl, "I nvr go, except ex-cept occasionally for a marriage or burial. But," he added, "you must not think, on that account, I am opposed to religion." And in proof he told me j that he looked upon the action of the j government in expelling the nuns as j the height of stupidity. He considered ( himself a Catholic, but saw no obliga- I tion to live up to his profession. One of the saddest features of religious life in France is the ', Widespread Neglect of Holy Ma3s on Sundays and feasts of obligation. Talk with ecclesiastic or layman on ! J. this subject, ami their invariable tes- f timony is that the men do not come to I the church. In an episcopal city. , ! around whose cathedral cluster th 1 tenderest Catholic memories, I was informed in-formed by a priest, Ihe editor of one of the numerous "Croix," that speaking speak-ing generally the men In the archdiocese arch-diocese do not attend mass, and as for the working men. hardly any of them acquit themselves of this duty. ( u Sunday I was in the cathedral during almost the whole morning and saw j the attendance at the several masses. I As far as I was able to judge, not ! more than 100 men were present at the ! services, and this in a parish which counts some 12,500 souls. I had been ' told by a Jesuit father, one of those ! then being prosecuted for having exercised exer-cised his priestly function, that about thirty years ago two men only assisted at mass in tbis same church, and the two never saw each other, as both used ! to conceal themselves behind pillars. This may be an exaggeration, though I must say the story was subsequently repeated by a clergyman resident in j the city. The Sunday following in a I large town of about 27,000 inhabitants, : where there are but three parish churches. I remarked that the men were again conspicuous by their ab- j sence. In the principal church there ' were about thirty men at one of the later masses, in the second church there were not so many, whilst at an ' early mass in the third church, though, I noticed only a few weli-to-do per- ; sons, to my surprise there were some fifty men, evidently of the working class. Seeing in one of the churches a. group of about fifty or seventy women, , unaer tne supervision 01 iwo vi- ; 1 fcaires," I Asked Tor An Explanation, and was informed that "bons," or tickets, exchangeable for bread, were distributed to them by the clergy for attendance at the Sunday mass. And ; the practice, I was told, exists in the j three parishes of the town. The men also are, I presume, similarly encour- ' 1 aged to discharge the Sunday obliga- tion. In the largest parish of another f town which before the revolution was , J the seat of a bishopric, the average ' ! attendance of men at the Sunday ; masses does not exceed sixty. I vis- j ited two towns, one of 7,500 inhabit- , I ants, the other with a population of j 6.200; in the former the adult male at- tendance at holy mass on Sunday i J reaches about forty, in the latter not ; j more than twenty. Distressing as is the situation which these figures dis- , j close, the state of things is far more I unsatisfactory in the smaller towns and villages. Religiou3 indifference i3 still more intense. Faith is far more j feeble, and the consequent neglect of holy mass widespread in the rural dis- ; trlcts. We should expect just the con- i trary. Here Is the testimony of a r brother of the Christian schools, who ! has been for many years residing In one of the great towns. He told me j that one of his pupils had been on a J visit to a village in the neighborhood r nn Faster Sunday. Meeting the youna I man on his return, he made inquiries as to how the feast had been observed, and was informed that out of a population popu-lation of between 700 and 800 there were but two men and a few women at mass on that, the most solemn of all the ecclesiastical festivals of the year. I don't know that this astonishing fact . caused much surprise to the worthy brother, for he assured me that he had heard from several cures of the surrounding sur-rounding villages that they were glad when they could get anybody to serve their mass on Sunday. From this same religious I learned that so common ; was ; The Neglect of the Sacraments 1 j in many villages that the priests had : almost forgotten the formula of abso- J lution. and a young clergyman in the same town to whom I mentioned the circumstance remarked that it was by no means improbable. From a broth- er director in another town, of a 'uff-r- r ent diocese. I heard statements con- f firmatory of what his confrere had told me respecting the lamentable neglect of holy mass by the peasantry. Where- ; ! soever I passed and with whomsoever I spoke, there was but one reply to my f inquiries on the. subject: few. very few j men heed the obligation of assisting 1 (Continued on Fase J.) j I J S J j THE SITUATION IN FRANCE (Continued from Paee 1.) at the holy sacrifice on Sundays r.r festivals. fes-tivals. Do not imagine that the part of France which I visited is exceptionally excep-tionally backward on the score of le-ligion. le-ligion. The case is, in truth, otherwise. other-wise. There are many and extensive areas where religion is at a much lower low-er ebb. I was assured by priests that in the Midi, of south of France, the ; faith is completely lost. ;md Fere Forbes, the well known Jesuit, states that, from Christian point of view, the country districts of the center and other parts of France are dying, if not already dead. He adds: "After the first communion and what a communion! commu-nion! the child disappears, only to see the priest again at his marriage or nis death, if even then he calls for him. On Sundays the priest celebrates mas in presence of four women and ten children." May we not draw the same inference from the following facts which I had from two trustworthy informants? in-formants? An excellent Belgian Catholic Cath-olic with whom I traveled on my return re-turn journey told me he had been some years ago in the west of France, and passing through a village, he- went, according to his custom, to mass on a week day. Save the sacristan, he was The Only Male Person Present. Astonished to see a gentleman assist at the religious ceremony, the cure stnt his sacristan to him after the service to invite him to dinner. The gentle- man courteouslv declined, but next morning when he again attended mass I the request was renewed, and the visitor, thinking the good priest mi'iit be offended by a second refusal, accepted ac-cepted the invitation. Nothing, my fellow traveler said, could be sadder than the picture the ' pastor gave him of the state of religion in his parish. par-ish. Amongst other things, he told tis guest that he might leave the village on Monday morning, remain away t'M Saturday evening and, provided the bell was rung for mass every morning, none of his parishioners would even suspect that he was absent. But more surprising -still Is what I was told a few days ago by a Be'gian cure who lives on the frontier, not far from Sedan, Se-dan, and with whom I discussed the situation in France. Without my Having Hav-ing mentioned the circumstance just narrated, he said he had been informed by a French confrere that he might absent himself from his village on Sunday, and if the bell were rung as usual for the offices, his flock would have no suspicion that the mass and other religious functions of the day had been omitted! In neither case, per haps, is the statement to De taiten as literally true, but the mode of expression expres-sion indicates to what an extent the practice of one of the most imperative of religious duties is neglected by the peasantry. And what of the demeanor of the men, in town or country, who are present at the holy sacrifice? One cannot help thinking that for the most part they are mere spectators rather than worshippers. Where the obligation obliga-tion of assisting at mass is so universally univer-sally ignored we need not expect that The Sunday Rest will be observed. In all the places I visited there was the same reply to my inquiries on this head: The Sabbath is not respected, save by a very few. Amongst the peasantry there is no distinction dis-tinction of days; if there is work that can be performed on Sundays it is done just as if the Third Commandment Command-ment were no longer in vigor, and if in the towns and cities men suspend their ordinary occupations on the Lord's day it is not through respect for the divine law. but because they wish to enjoy a holiday. As French laxity on this matter is so well known, it is unnecessary for me to dwell further fur-ther upon it. There are other and still graver evils which afflict the Church of France, but as space does not permit me to enter upon them here . I must reserve for another article what I have to say regarding them. |