The Irish standard., 1906-12-08

our onward march through the golden
paths Of charity, persuaded that the
good and faithful will endure, whilst
the works Of self love and materialtsm
are doomed to shame and failure.
Being convinced of this, dear readers.
it is full Of confidence that I venture,
through the kindness of the editor, to
ask you for some assistance, to enable
me to repair our humble church and
erect an. altar of our Lady in the same,
at I4ifteh. This church has been raised
and consecrated to the prince OF the
Apostles some twenty. years ago,
thanks to the generosity of some kind
benefactors, but time and unsolid foun-
dationr have done their work. More
over it Is situated so close. to the
banks of the Nile, the only spot pro-
curablc at the time, that during the
annual rise Of the great river the water
had full liberty to do its work. Now,
happy to say, that is no longer the
case, but 1t stands in urgent need of
repair. In several places the light can
be seen through the crevices. and the
mortar, in great part, fallen away.
Our Christians, almost all Copts, are
SO poor that instead Of expecting any
pecuniary help from. them, it is the
missionary who must extend them his
charity from day 70 day, and that in
order to prevent them from embracing
the creed OF the prophet, that of their
more wealthy neighbors, Or taking as
the price of their faith the all-entic-
ing gold Of separated sects, ministers
of which are overrunning the country,
especially in these later years.
The church of Egypt, no other than
the Coptic, has much degenerated since
the days Of SITS. Denys, Cyril and
Athanasius. Alexandria, the star of
the Orient, has seen heresy upon
heresy invade the sanctuaries Of it's
illustrious doctors, confessors and vir-
gins. The Mahomedan Of today sows
and reaps his crop or invokes "Allah"
and the prophet on the very soil once
fortified and sanctified by the COM
panions of SITS. Paul, Antony and Pa
comus, the great monks Of the desert.
Nevertheless, dear readers, in front of
these appalling changes and numerous
difficulties we do rot despair of the
The Society of African Missions, OF
which ] am an humble member, has
for its aim, besides the charge of nu-
merous missions on the Guinea coast,
the evangelzation OF the Nile Delta,
The devoted priests and nuns Of the
above arc working with marked sue
cess on the banks IF the great river.
for upwards of twenty years, Drawing
by their heroic charity and self-sacri-
flee the thousands of obstacles which
every day besets them. Already many
have given their lives and fortune to
this noble undertaking. Happy to say
In the death role Squire many of Ire
lands sons and daughters. Then cour-
age! dear readers. Come forward
nanfu)ly in defense Of our faith in
dark and Mahomedan Egypt; lend II
helping hand to those laboring ON its
burning sands. Your donations, how
ever small, will be most thankfully re-
ceived. He who on his generous and
tender charity, once praised and re-
warded the poor widows mite, will not
leave your gift unrewarded.
All checks and money orders to be
sent to the undersigned, who will be
happy to communicate with ANY per-
son interested in his undertaking.
Rev. John Prenderdast.
J Catholic Mission. Lifteh, Egypt