The Hawaiian gazette. [volume] (Honolulu [Oahu, Hawaii]) 1865-1918, 1898-11-11
THE PHILIPPINES AND The
CHU kCHES.

The dutios Of the many missionary
societlcs. on the Mainland, 20 The Fiji
pinos are now under discussion u Is
already evident that they will not 90
operate. They viii In the Philippine
present, AZ usual. q divided front, and
pcrplex rather than instruct. The
strained relations Of the churches In
Japan and in India will appear IN This
new acquisition.
Father Doyle, one OF the Paulists Of
New York City. recommends In the
Catholic Review, that the Romanist
church in America send some Of its
hest men TO the Philippines to reorgan-
ize .ne work Of the priests residing
there, just as the Protestant societies
are recognizing the work Of the
Christian but ignorant negro preach
ers Of the Southern States. With adj
vanced thought he recommends that
only the most thorough American
priests" be sent. This suggestion in
dictates that the Romanist church In
America already breathes the progress
sive air OF the western continent.
Father Doyle claims that the ritual
and oeremonials of the Roman church
are admirably adapted TO the improve
ment and conversion OF the Filipinos.
wAile The cold and lifeless religion
Of the Professionals" az he calls II, IL not
adapted to the purpose. lie raises the
question whether or not the Romanist
church does not secure better results
among the heather" than the Pro-
testant church. Some OF the strongest
Of the Protestant divines are with him
10 q certain extent.
Father Doyle refers 20 the selfish
ACKNOWLEDGMENT OF the Protestant mis-
sionaries In Hawaii and the degreda-
fiOn Of the native race" He gains no
thing In his argument by repeating
the idle stories Of the Honolulu slums,
the incoherent talk Of the beach-com-
Der about the missionaries. Nor are
his Catholic brethren In these Islands.
wholly free from blame in circulating
these specious falsehoods.
According TO the Spanish census Of
the Philippines. taken in 1855, there
were 5.S39,SG0 Romanists among the
people. This statement may he a
large Overestimate.
Accepting IL as substantially true. |
the Protestant churches are confront |
sd. in entering his new field, with the |
fact that the natives are already Rom |
anists, and II will require supreme
effort and intelligence to supplant |
their present faith with another. The |
Protestant societies have no child's |
play before them.
The religious history Of the native |
Hawaiian, during the last seventy |
years should cast much light on the |
true method that the Pedestrians |
should adopt in their coming struggle |
with Romanism in the Philippines.
Rev. DIR. Bishop, in the Friend, is
quite satisfied with the methods of the
early missionaries here, and in review
ing their work in answer TO state
mems made by Col. Parker, sees no
error IN their ways OF teaching There
fore he would apply 1t to the Filipinos.
He cites with pride the marvellous con-
version OF the natives In 1889. He al
lows the intelligent, but uniformed
reader to believe that the same condi-
lions OF things exists today.
Here is the official census report Of
1897: or 25,G37 natives who acknowl-
edged their religious beliefs, 5000 per
cent were Protestant. 32.s7 per cent
were Roman Catholic, and l7.l4 per
cent were Mormons. That IL, one
half are Protestants. The other half are
Catholics and MormOns.
Those who are now seeking for the
best methods OF reaching the heath
en-" naturally ask what Is the reason
for this astounding decadence, from the
Protestant point Of view, OF the ma
lives since 1889? II Professionalism has
had Its own way here since 1920, aided
mt one time by the expulsion OF the
Romanists from the country, why Is 1t
that with all the powerful aid M its
command, and the earnest labor of
self sacrificing missionaries. the ROM
anists and Mormons have taken to
themselves one-half OF the peopleY II