The Hawaiian star. [volume] (Honolulu [Oahu]) 1893-1912, 1903-12-18
AN ARCHBISHOP
ON The CHINA
ARCHBISHOP HABTY, MANILA'S
AMERICAN CATHOLIC ARCH
BISHOP, Is PASSING THROUGH.

Among the passengers ON the China
are Archbishop j. j. Harry tne Arch
bishop of Manila and head of the Cath-
Ollie church in the Philippine Islands,
and his secretary Mousiguor L.. ".
Fowler. Archbishop Harty was born
in st. Louis and is hrty years Of age, a
man of splendid physique and charm
ing manners. He was ordained priest
in 1873.
Early i'm June last he received ca
blegram from the Holy See announce
ing his appointment to the See of Ma
Mia. He went to Rome and was con-
secrated on August 18th. lie was the
last Bishop named by the late Pope,
Leo XIII, and the first to be confirmed
by the new Pope, PiuX y, by whom he
was presented with a beautifully chas-
ed pectoral cross which he prizes high
ly.
Archbishop Harty, in speaking of his
new field of labor said he had formed
no plans for the future conduct and
management of church affairs i'm the
islands. Although he has familiarized
himself in a measure with conditions
in the islands he said he had determine
ed upon no plans except to do the work
which he will find when he reaches the
islands. He went on to explain, how
ever, that he would take a very decid
ed interest in educational matters and
by the building UP o. schools and col
leges in the islands hoped to accom-
plsh a great deal in the way Of the up
building of the people.
Il was glad to learn upon investiga-
tion,' he said, that the people of the
Philippines, on the whole, are not un-
educated. There, as in -very other sec
ton of the world, you will find many
people who have been denied the OPP
portunity to obtain an education. We
have illiterate people in this country,
and in some ections-Tennessee for
instance-there is a considerable popu-
lation of illiterate people. The per-
centage of ill!teracy in the Philippines,
however, is quite small, and l hope to
see this condition greatly improved as
the years roll by
Archbishop Harty had quite a little
to say about the friars and the friar
land question
The friars began work in the Phil
ippines $50 years ago." he said. "They
civilized the natives and taught them
agriculture. During these $50 years
| they received various grants Of land
| from the Government, which lands
are separate and distinct from church
property, the ownership resulting
! from their personal efforts in lines of
industry apart from their church work.
Whereas the church property in the ISL
ands, as in the United States, belongs
to the people of the respective parish
es, the title resting in the name of the
several Bishops, and held by them for
the benefit of the parishioners, the
lands of the friars are the property OF
the orders to which they belong, anl
held for the advancement of the COM
munity interest, which is an education
al one.
Now, if the friars choose to sell thi,
property and they are offered a salts
factory price, they are at liberty to dc
so. They may dispose of their lands
precisely as a man sells realty. in this
country. The acreage of the friar lands
in the Philippines is not as great a:
some people suppose. There are indi'
viduals in California whose holdings o.
lands are as great as the entire hold
ings of all the friars in the Philippines
Their holdings approximate 40C, go
acres"
Archbishop Harty said that man!
of the Spanish friars had left the isl
7 ands since they passed under Ameri
can control. He said that 400 friar
have gone back to Spain and 300 NOR
have gone to South America, leaving
about 400 in the entire Philippine ar
chipelago.
The other Americans who have beef
appointed bishops in the Philippine
are Bishop ID. j. Dougherty, with a res
idence at Nigan, 200 miles from Mani
la; Bishop Rocker, with diocesan sea
at Jaro and Bishop Hendrick, with hi
diocesan seat at Cebu.