The sun. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1833-1916, 1870-05-21

this complaint Of the falling of Of church
attendance. Catholic churches are usually
crowded, not once, but many times on
Sunday, and no now building erected
for Catholic worship has any difficulty
In securing an ample congregation. This
difference of practical results has led some
liberal minded Protestants to inquire TO what
difference in the Catholic method of manage
mont IL Is owing and their conclusion, 30 far,
has been that 1t Is the democratic element
the absence Of all distinction between the
rich and the poor, and the consequent free
dom which the masses feel in availing them.
selves of the privileges of worship-which
swells the throng of Catholic worshippers
They say, and with truth, that poor people
who cannot afford to dress fashionably will
not go TO churches where their poverty Is
made conspicuous by the contrast between
their plain clothing and the gay attire Of
their richer brethren. Hence, they advocate
the multiplication of free churches, devoted
to the poor exclusively, which they fancy
would be as literally attended as Catholic
churches are
That there is some groundf for this opinion
Is not TO be denied but IL is more likely that
the reason why the less wealthy class Of
Professionals 80 largely neglect TO attend
church is to be sought in the unattractive
and unsatisfactory nature of the entertain
ment they get when they do go. At a
Catholic church, the worshipper is not
wcaried with tedious sermons or philo-
sophical harangues. He joins In a service
which he understands and enjoys, and which
is not protracted to wearsomc length. On
the other hand, to be sure, those Catholics
who arc not devotional in character are re.
PEELED by mere ceremonial but, being few
in comparison with tho rest, their absence is
not 80 much remarked. But if Protestant
minister does not happen to be an eloquent
man in the pulpit he has little or no hold
upon the public, and nothing but senss of
duty gets him hearers. In proportion, there
fore, as this sense of duty Is weakened by
time and the progress of modern ideas, Prot
estant congregations dwindle away, until
they threaten TO exist only as crowds
drawn together by fashion or by the per.
sonal magnetism of certain gifted orators.
In the Ritualistic movement among GER
tain class of Professionals in England and in this
country, there is an evident recognition Of
the principle we speak of. The Rituslists are
borrowing, and with much success, from the
Catholics, the attractions OF beautiful ser.
vice, sweet music, and symbolic ceremonies
which address themselves to the simplest
imagination. The effect of their example
is seen in London in the movement made to
initiate ii by the old aristocratic aud fash
onable parish of st. Georges, Hanover
square. The peers md wealthy gentlemen
and ladies of that parish have recently signed
a paper. in which they virtually confess the
failure Of the old system, and beg for the
adoption of that of the Rtualists as the only
means of filing the church and keeping W
its revenues. What they have done other
will probably do likewise aud thus Chris
tianity may once moro revert to somethin,
like the condition in which LUTHER found IL