The Irish standard., 1899-04-08
CATHOLIC WORSHIP IN MANILA.

CATHOLIC WORSHIP IN MANILA.
a subscriber at Puyallup. Wash.
draws Our attention to letter from an
American soldier at Manila named Will
Downey, the sonoi the local Baptist min
lister. and asks us to call him down
for his Misrepresentation and ridicule Of
Catholic worship in the Philippines.
MIR. Downey," says our correspondent,
frequently honors lis with epistles Of
this style, and coming as they do for
publication into community where
Catholics are in the minority and where
we have nc Catholic paper to champion
our rights, they are apt to produce
wrong impressions in the minds OF our
fellow townsmen of different denomina-
tons
Having read young Downey's letter
we hardly know whether to pity or CEN
sure him. No doubt he is prejudiced
against the Catholic religion. but that is
to be expected from the son OF Baptist
minister with an Irish Catholic name.
Oh all scoffers OF Catholicity the most
virulent are the descendants OF Irish
apostates. and if the pedigree of the
Downeys is accurately traced we ven
ture to say that they will be discovered
to have sprung from renegades to the
faith. ~.
In previous issue OF The Irish
Standard we quoted several Protestant
authorities to disprove the false state
ments OF bigots concerning the Catholic
natives OF the Philippines. We showed
that OF all the races rescued from bar
barism they are the most intelligent and
best educated. and that their present
civilization they have wholly received
from devoted Catholic priests. Young
Downey or his father cannot name a
people to equal the Filipinos that have
ever been civilized under the auspices
OF Protestant missionary societies. Even
Will Downey unconsciously pays tri-
butte to the detested priests whom he
saw in the old church at Manila on New
Years day. Speaking Of the services he
says: The music was something grand,
an orchestra Of, should judge, rs piec-
es, a pipe organ and chorus of IS or
80 voices, they all sang and played TO-
gether, then one at a time, then more
singers in different parts of the building
and the effect was grand. The robes and
vestments OF the priests were rich will,
gold and silver. There were professions
all around the room and up and down
the center, ringing of gongs and tink-
ling OF bells; to me it looked more as
if they were trying to scare the devil
away than worship God. 1t was first
class entertainment and l enjoyed it. y
The young fellow admits that he en-
tered the church and would not pay one
cent for his seat, though "the church
does business on a cash basis" If he
returns safely to America and goes to
any church on New Years day he will
find that he will have to pay more
than cent to obtain seat, for Ameri-
can Christians run their churches on q
cash basis or the cause OF religion would
soon languish and decay. 1t is usua
to pass the contribution box around ii
his fathers church, is it not? AS fol
extortionate charges for burying the
dead and performing other religion:
functions, Father Francis B. Doherty o
San Francisco has branded such stories
as falsehoods, and he knows more o
these matters than does young Downey
There is not cemetery in the United
States that does not charge fee for in
torment OF the dead, and why shoult
not a charge be made for burial il
Manila? He says the American soldier
disregard the burial regulations AM
instead OF placing the dead bodies o
their comrades in the inches of the wal
they bury them in the ground. TIL
Americans, OF course, can do as the
please, for they are conquerors. 1t Ger
tainly should not bother them YER
much how the natives bodies are dis
posed OF, whether they are placed il
inches. cremated or thrown into pi
Ii young Downey ever visits the BIRTHS
islands he will find the bones Of the dea
in CHASTITY piles in the crypts underneat
the chancels of the famous Cathedral:
ard what is very strange, they are nc
the remains OF Filipinos, but of Angie
Saxons.
AS regards the ignorance of the Spar
ish converts from paganism, an English
, man says in the New York 1ndepene