Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1904-06-01


In Manila can be characterized as follows:
For religious purposes ..............S3 443 Al 5
For charitable purposes. ............. FOG, 521
For educational purposes ............. 1904. 105
for residence purposes 93I,2I1
FOR business purposes .290. 316
Unimproved land Observation-Disclosures. SIS, 992
In addition to their holdings in Manila
the monks have large investments in Hong
Kong. Shanghai and other cities of China
and Japan. Taking their property in the
Philippines at the price paid for 1t by the
government and their real estate holdings
at their appraised value in the city of Ma
Mia alone, the total is SIG, 81 .010, which is
equivalent to an average of $4,000 per
capita of the friars in the Philippines at the
outbreak of the instruction, and $1,000 per
capita for those who are here now They
are the richest people in the archipelago.
No one knows how rich they are because
this estimate takes no account of the enOr-
nous amount of securities they have stow
ed away in their strong boxes.
The total assessed valuation of real prop
erty in the city of Manila is $37 500 900, of
which the monks own nearly Sc, Oo0, COO or
about one-fourth
Island Church Poor
On the other hand, the Catholic church
at large is very poor. While the monks
have been accommodating this vast wealth
they have expended little or nothing for
building or repairs outside of the city of
Manila Archbishop Hart says: For the
aoSe t"Chey SSdiS NSiy llttit care mas DetI
taken Of church property In the Philippines
1t has been neglected and allowed to go to
destruction without ordinary care The
country is full of ruined churches, not
ruined by revolutions, but they are falling
to pieces for lack of repairs, because of the
poverty Of the people and the heavy taxes
they were compelled to pay Large sums of
money are needed to restore these buildings
and make 1t possible to hold services in
them. Some of them are roofess; in some
the floors are gone and in many ca ses only
the walls are standing. Even in the sub
urbs of Manila these melancholy sights
may be seen, and the people are too poor
to restore them, nor is there any other
source from which We can expect financial
assistance. Hence our anxiety to have the
proceeds of the sale of church property re-
main in the islands, for 1t is absolutely
necessary to put the church in working
order. as you might say, to give the people
suitable places in which they may worship,
without reference to the charitable instf-
tutions schools, colleges and seminaries for
which We need funds.
Many Parishes Without Priests.
yes" replied Archbishop Harty to an
inquiry, I'VE could assign number of
American priests to parishes here If we
could get them, but we are not encouraged
to expect many. We hope to get few.
United States that priests are needed at
home. We do not have enough there to
supply the vacant churches, and hence it
is out of the question to send many over
here, so that we shall have to get along
the best we can until we educate natives.
l cannot tell you how many priests we
need; /. do not know the number of vacant
parishes but / am learning startling facts
on this subject every day, and the situa-
ton is simply appalling. If the people at
home knew the facts and the needs of the
church in the Philippines more would
come; and there is mistaken idea of the
climate and sanitary conditions here, and
the greatest drawback is the ignorance of
the languages. American priests are help
less for year after they arrive. Those
who know Spanish can get along well
enough in the cities, but in the country dis
tricts, where no languages but the native
dialects are spoken, they could neither
preach nor attend the confessional At the
same time l hope we may get some help
from home.
Yes. the friars have nearly all gone
and l think the hostility of the people
toward them Is exhausted / tried an ex-
pertinent the other day of sending out two
friars into the country. and they were kind
ly received and well treated, -
Archbishop Harry speaks with great re-
serve as to the situation in these islands,
the difficulties he has encountered, and the
endorsements under which he is labor
ing. happen to know from other sources
that there are more than 1,200 vacant par
ishes of the Catholic church; 100 congre-
cations without pastors, that were former
ly supplied by friars or by native priests
who have Joined the independent move
ment. American priests who come over
here would find 1t no more difficult to per-
form pastoral duties than the Protestant
missionaries or the government school
teachers, most of whom have become pro-
hcient in the native languages within the
first year.