Waterbury Democrat., 1902-03-06


 The following is q copy of letter | taht I have recently sent to Rev Father Shanley in Hartford, and that is, be ueve, self-explantory.
 CHARLES F. KELLOGG.
 Waterbury, March ,, 1902.
 Rev Walter J. Shanley, Hartford:
 Dear Sir: It is not my habit nor de- sire to enter into any controversy Ill the newspapers, either for the state board of which I have the honor to pc secretary. or for myself. However, your repeated communications of late to the public press show such deter mined effort to bring discredlt upon the county homes and upon the state board of charities, that feel com, pelled to send you simple statement of the facts ill the case, trusting that your sense of fairness will enable you to acknowledge their truth.
 The statement ill my report of our last board meeting to which you take such violent exception was this: Ar engagements are now made for holding Roman Catholic services in several of the county homes." Perhaps more exact wording of the idea l intended to convey, without in the least anect- ing the truth of the matter, would have been this: Arrangements are now made in several of the county homes to give the Roman Catholic in- mates the benefit of religious services or instruction in their own faith" The accuracy of these facts you can scarce ly attempt to deny Anyone who is at all acquainted with the work of the m services of any sort, Protestant or Catholic, are held in the county home buildings: in all cases the children go out to attend church services.
 Tn the case of three counties, Hart ford. New London and Fairfield, the Roman Catholic children in the county homes have for several years attended service in the church of their own faith. At the New Haven county home word has been given to the Catholic clergy for them or the sisters to come to the home and hold all the religious services they desire, but 1 do not know that they have as yet ac- cepted the invitation. In Litchfield county the sisters come to the home in Winsted to give religious instruction, and I am told that this arrangement is perfectly satisfactory to the Roman Catholic priest in the town. In the case of Windham, AIiddlesex and Tol- land counties. the fact that the homes are situated i'll the rural districts at q considerable distance from any Roman Catholic church, has been the chief reason for sending all of the inmates to q Protestant church. 1 sincerely hope, however, that satisfactory ar- engagements may be made in the three counties last mentioned for the Roman Catholic inmates to receive instruction in their own faith, for I have always believed, with the members of the state board of charities. that eqnal re lgious privileges in the county homes should be granted to all churches
 In your letter to the Hartford Times of February 2S. you say, ''As the wards of the state from Litchfield county are vate institution, etc. Now, anyone who is well informed in the matter knows that such children are not com mitted to the Gilbert home They are committed to the Litchfield county home. which, under the provisions of section 3,65G of the general statutes of 1883, uses a part of the Gilbert home buildings as county temporary home because it has no buildings of it's own The state wards in Litchfield county are i'll no way under the control of the Gilbert home trustees; they are under the control of the board of manage ment of the Litchfield county home. which is similarly composed as in other counties. viz: consisting of the three county commissioners, one representa- tive from the state board of health and one from the state board of charities Any complaints in regard to the treat ment of the children should be made to the board of management of the Litchfield county home.
 The Gilbert home itself is plainly q private institution, established and on. dowed through the generosity of a Protestant gentleman, and it's trustees would have a perfect right to main tain 1t as q Protestant institution if they should so determine. But I no tlce that Roman Catholics have always been willing to board their children ir the Gilbert home at the merely nom inal price required, and thus to receive large part of their cost of sunnor1 from the generosity of the institution.
 In regard to the communication, which have appeared recently in tb, Catholic Transcript upon this genera subject, I would simply say that in, correspondents slurring allusion to th, national conference of charities an, correction in the Norwich letter of. Feb ruary 27 is alone sufficient proof of hi or her ignorance. Some of the bes and most active members of that con ference are Roman Catholics, and iii annual meetings are remarkable fo