Wood County reporter. [volume] (Grand Rapids [i.e. Wisconsin Rapids], Wis.) 1857-1923, 1899-08-03
RELIGIOUS INTELLIGENCE.

Abiding to Prof. Hyslop's CONVEX
sation to Spiritualism, the Churchman
says: Whatever may have been the
revelations made by Madame Piper,
who, to our knowledge, is wonderful
woman, though by no means has it
been demonstrated that she is q true
"automaton," these concern only the
person who sits at her feet. She has
never yet made a revelation that con-
tributed an iota to our idea of the
future life. Nay, we go further: the
futre life. Nay, we go further; the
pictures she draws Of the spirit world,
like those Of all her colleagues, pre-
sent no ideals worthy of human effort,
and fall UNNECESSARILY below a para
disc in the lofty sense of Holy Scrip
ture. Were the matter within our
choice, we would not hesitate a mo-
ment in selecting this present world
as our permanent abode, with all it's
evils and injustice and maIevolence, in
preference to that depicted in the
frances of Madam Piper, ct id genus
omne. It's Grass vulgarity, bizarre
grOtesqueness and monstrous banality
would be intolerable. And the Won
der is that some of our keenest stu
dents Of psychic phenomena have be-
come so elated at this negative account
Of the spirit life, which they believe to
be authentic, that they have ignored
the essential nature of the message it
self. The surprising fact of any mes
sage at all has startled them into
neglect of its irredeemable puerility
and fatuousness. In our judgment,
then, it. behooves sober-minded people
to maintain their attitude of in
credulity toward these phenomena. In
the opinion of many Of the most
capable students of our day, their
existence is very far from proved
| when one applies the rigorous tests Of
truth that modern science demands.
A writer in the Catholic World pre-
sents an array of statistics to prove
that the Philippines are far from
priest-ridden. The official records Of
! both the religious orders and the
| government, published long before
Dewey entered Manila bay, show, he
says, that in no Catholic country is
! the number of priests so small, com
pared with the population, as in the
Philippines. The priests are fewer
than in almost any diocese in the
! United States, compared with its Cath
Ollie population. In 1896 the whole
clergy of the islands only numbered
1888 priests between all the orders and
seculars combined The secular
clergy amounted to 773, of whom about
one-ha1f is of the native races. These
| had charge Of a population Of over
! 1,100,0 900. The secular priests Of the
| Philippines are almost exactly in the
same proportion to the population as
/ are the priests in Chicago, which GER
! tainly is not the happy hunting ground
of swarms of idle clergymen. The
| argument is far stronger in the case Of
! the "friars." The whole Humber in
| the Philippines, Carolines and Lad
rones was only 1915, including Jesuit
and Dominican professors in the col
leges, those in charge of the Manila
| observatory, and the missionaries
among the Mohammedans Of Mindanao
and the heathens Of the Carolines
The latter occupied 105 of the 167
Jesuits, the other So being in Manila
in the usual scholastic work Of their
order. Two hundred and thirty-three
| Dominicans supplied the religious
needs Of three-quarters Of million of
Catholics. The Jesuits and Benedic-
tines, beside their literary work, at
tended to the parish needs of nearly
100000 Christians. The Franciscans.
properly so-called, had 240 priests
in the Philippines, and thus 240 attend
ed to a population Of over LOO, coo.
The Recollets had 321 priests for a
million and a quarter of Catholics
The task Of the Augustinians was the
greatest Of all. Three hundred and
twenty-seven priests, including the
superiors and the general administra-