The Irish standard., 1888-12-29
DEp0pUlAT!0N OF IRELAND.
Over One Half Million Leave the
Land Of Their Birth. is the
Record of Five Years.
GOOD AND EVIL CONSIDERED
Parishes Where the Marriage Rite is not
Celebrated Once for the Ten Tines
~ It Was Forty Years Ago.

Celebrated Once for the Ten Tines
~, It Was Forty Years Ago.
"A new church was dedicated Novem
ber a, at Crosserlongh, county Cavan
The pastor Of the parish is Rev. Johl
Boylan, =. F., who was aided in tn
erection of the church by the subscrip
lions OF Cavanmen in America. Rev
T. A. Tinlay, S, j., preached from tn
following text taken from the Firs
Book Of Esdras: ''And all the peop,,
shouted with a great shout, praisin}
the Lord, because the foundations o
the temples of the Lord Were laid. Bu
many OF the priests and the Levites
aud the chief Of the fathers and thu
ancleuts, that had seen the former tenn
pie, when they had seen the foundation
OF this temple before their eyes, wept
with 3 loud voice . so that one
could not distinguish The voice OF the
shout OF joy from the noise OF the
weeping Of the people, He said, in
pazt: Year cy year our churches are
rising out of their ruins, statelier and
richer than before their fall. But
where are the crowds Of worshippers
who gathered round the humber atars
OF forty years ago? Four millions OF
them out OF eight are gone, not ever to
worship here again, and their disap-
pearauce has robbed the irish church
Of half hex strength and half hsi glory.
The might Of the church and the maj
esty Of the church are not to be estima-
ted by the structure OF stone i'll which
her ministers serve; not by the pornp
and pageant Of her rituals; not bv the
place her princes hold in the councils
OF kings, Or the t,eference paid her doc .
trines by the learning or literature Of
the age. Her strength is to be reck-
ened in the number and in the devo-
tion of the souls that receive her teach
ing and her own authority. Her pow
eI, rs the kingdom of Christ, is meas
Ured by the souls over which she holds
spiritual sway; and measured by this
standard, the church OF Ireland has de
clined and is declining. Not--let us
add at once with thankfulcess To Cod
because OF any detection on the part Of
her members at home; not from any
waning Or Aickering of the Old fire of
love ia their unchanging hearts; but
simply because their hearts have been
crushed and broken altogether, OF they
have been driven forth to give their
allegiance to the churches of other
lands, or, saddest fate Of all, to lose
themselves amid the iniquities of other
nations. Lam not exaggeratinq 1 am
not adding anything for the sake of
rhetorical effect, -Four millions Of
souls cannot be taken out of eight mil
lions end not leave large emptiness
behind them. There are parishes
within this Irish church, have it
from the lips of the saddened pastors OF
these parishes--Where the marriage rite
is not Iow celebrated once for the ten
times it was celebrated forty years ago.
There are parishes where the Sunday
congregation is made up Of children
and old men-whoever has the full
yigor of life in him is flying as if the
land were not for him. Have You read
the statistics Of the public registrar
DO they not tell this tale as distinctly
if not as sadly as the pastors OF these
decimated parishes? Last year the
number of emigrants who quilted Ire
land~-the majority Of them Catholics,
it, is needless to say-was So 200, and of
these 5000 were under the age of IS
years; that is to say, of the masses who
quilted the parent church nearly all
were in the prime of life. Il was only
the very old and the very young who
were left behind. And last year, be it
remembered, was not an exceptional
year. Its register Of expatriation will
be exceeded by this years figures when
they come to be published. And there
have been years within recent memory
compared with which the figures Of
1887 are a cheering record; in 1883. 100, :
600 emigrants were driven from Ire
land; in 1878, 10000; IN 1863. III, 600,
and in 1858. 173,0O0. Look up or down
these melancholy lists, the story is the
same---whOlesale loss to the Irish
church--a continued outpouring of the
life which does not diminish in volume
even now that half her living members
are lost to her, as lost they are. What
can compensate her for the loss? Will
it make her forget her departed child
ren that her temples are rising fair and
spacious over the slandp It is a good
thing for her to have temples worthy
the God she worships, butSit is not to
be forgotten that the church IS made
Of human SOILS not of wood Of stone.