The morning star and Catholic messenger., 1876-06-11
TIE LABORs or 4 pRIEsT:
MHAf Is NECESSARY FoR THE roRNArfos,
~ OF A DIOCESAN CLERGY. :.

MHAf Is NECESSARY FoR THE roRMArfoi
OF A DIOCESAN CLERGY.
4 From = recent Pastoral Letter of tb
ldistinguished DR.. Vaughan, Bishop o
Stafford, England,s we take the follovin,
Iexsracts
Priest who daily spends some time
Il % ne should do, not only in PRAYER anf
meditation, but also in reading and stnd :
gonnected with bic sacred calling, canpo,
snoIouga,y attend to more than q thousand
souls. To do even this much efficiently he
must be blessed with hysical etren 9TH nd
endurance, and much zeal withal in order
10 ensure his perseverance, under the wear
mess and discouragement, which like
murky clouds, will descend from time to
time upon his path. On the one hand, the
devone and fervent portion of the flock re
qulre considerable share Of the Priest's
time-for their confessions, for spiritual di
1 rectlon, and often for other charitable as
instance and advice. On the other hand
tne sl0thful. and negligent portion-tbe
| alnners who stay away from Mass; who
rarely, perhaps never approach the Sacra
ments who neglect their children: fall
into evil company enter upon dangerous
ways; dissipate their substance in drink
and lntemperance; are lost In Indifferent
Ism, or live on the verge of apostacy-ail Of
these, though they were but two or three
hundred out of the thousand, are enough to
absorb the whole of the Priests care and
atsention. Ten exhortations, ten
visits scarcely suffice now where formerly
one would have brought a soul to the Sac
raments. They cannot estimate the labor
who have not experience of the labor
hundreds and thousands of souls perish
from want OF the minute personal care and
Watchfulness of the physician.
On the cause of the email number of
clergy the Bishop writes as follows:
The cause of the inadeqaaey of the
number of our clergy is easily accounted
for. The diocese is but twenty five years
old-toO brief period to have created out
OF limited resources the needfnl normal or
ganization. Many demands pressed upon
the Bishop on the erection of this part of
Lancashire into diocese. The most ur- |
gent OF these was education for the masses |
Of the people, and to this the bishop turned
bis first attention. 1t has been computed |
that the number of children in our schools
twenty five years ago did not exceed sic
thousand fUe hundred. They have now been
raised to an actual attendance of over 25
DOO while the n num Der on the books Ia not far
short of &c, 900. This has been the noble
work achieved chiefly during the fruitful
'piscopate of our predecessor of happy
And to day official returns prove
hat no schools in the country are more
Mcient than those of this diocese.
The normal condition of q diocese re-
luires that it should provide and educate
ts own clergy when it should recruit year
y year from the ranks of all the respect-
BILE classes in the diocese. But how far
7e have fallen short of this, you judge by
he bare statement of the following fact.
lut of l69 priests holding diocesan facul .
les t'oenty three (of these twenty two arc
ocular priests and one religious) only are
atives of the diocese. We are dependent
pom external aid as the missions in India.
'hina, or Tonquin. We are served by
riests born in other parts of England, by
,issioners from Ireland, and strangers
rom various countries of the Continent. Z,
When you look round and behold the work
hey have mplished-the missions, q
hurches, and schools that have sprung M
nder their hand-you may indeed be l
empted to say, 'Wby may we not coptin-
Q as we have beenf Why may not the
ractice which has prevailed in the past {
Q erected into system and pursued in the (
lturef Let us trust to the advent of ex- !
'sneous help, as our fathers did before us 9
le Bishop will be spared labor and anx- q
ty, and ourselves an additional tax upon q
1r sufficiently taxed resources.' But it :,
lnnot be so; and this for three reasons. =
irst, because the constitution and law of =
Ie Church require that each Bishop should y
lucate and form his own clergy. Atten- q
on to this duty has been urged upon us of
te years, again and again, by the Holy ~
30. There is no escape from it's fulflment. u
'condly, because it is not fitting that a q
ocese should voluntary adopt normal q q
ndition of dependency upon the bounty = =
ID good will of strangers, or that it should
elk to evade its own obligations because .,
her diOceses discharge theirs to the full .. 3
ID with overflow. And, lastly, because the y y
reign source of supply may fail at the ", "
Oment when most needed. OF this, as =.
n will see, we have now actual exper- " "
nce." ~
In order to the formation of a diocesan A
orgy two things, the Bishop says, are ne T
ssary: o.
90 The diocesan clergy shOnld be recruited NJ "
t from one class exclusively bnt from a,
cry respectable class in the diocese ~
'm the humble abodes of honest thrift, ~
lere virtue and talent are combined, and A.
I'm the homes where easier circumstances al
eld the advantage of leisure for a greater of
re- and watchfnlness over the growth of -
'ty and learning, and where q somewhat w
yher standard has become a second ma
70 through the surroundings or tradition
Q somewhat higher culture. From the