The Irish standard., 1908-02-01


affairs that during the past year the
government has been urgently asking
for priests to fill the four vacant army
chaplancies that are now assigned to
the Catholic Church, and 1t has not
been able to secure them. The time
was when there was a clamor on the
part of the Catholics for ciaplancies
in the army, and some bitter language
was used against the party in power
because appointments were not imme-
diately made. There have been four
army chaplancies vacant for year,
and tho Bishops havc been asked TO
nominate priests who are adapted to
this peculiar work. but owing to the
dearth of priests in every diocese in
the country the Bishops have not been
able TO spare those required for this
work. The same state Of affairs Will
soon become acute in the navy With
the prospective Reorganization Of the
navy there will be, an increase in the
cllaplaincy corps. but il the Church
cannot supply the priests for the army
now, how can the priests be furnished
for the navy when the demand comes
With the magnificent fleet Of sixteen
battlcships now OH it's way to the Pa
cinc coast there are $4,000 men, the
very flower Of the navy, and there Is
only one Catholic priest.
The needs Of the army are just us
urgent. There are thousands of our
listed men in the army who never sec
u priest, and should they fall sick or
die in the service, the only spiritual at
tendance available would be from the
nom Catholic chaplains. What a great
pity this is, and what a dcplorable
thing It is that out Of the many thou
sands of priests in this country some
cannot be released to I'LL the vacancies
that are now existing in the army.
The latest appointment was made
last September 1t was that of Rev.
Neil P. Brennan. Of Maiden, Mass.
There will be another examination on
February 3. There will be two candi-
dates presented for this examination.
If these two candidates pass all the re-
quirements and receive their commits
sions there will still be two or three
vacancies. Priests desiring these ap-
pointments must be men Of special at
tainments, because the examinations
are pretty hard; moreover, they must
be designated for this duty by their
Bishops and presented to the President
by tho Apostolic Mission House in
Washington, D. c.
The law requires that they shall not
have passed the age Of 40 years and
that they shall have passed satisfactor-
lily such examination as to mental and
physical qualifications as may be pre-
scribed by the President.
A very plausible explanation of tho
anxiety of the government to increase
the number Of Catholic chaplains In
the army and navy is given in a letter
from a Catholic seaman now stationed
in the Philippines His statement also
shows that IL the government needs
Catholic chaplains for the advancement
Of it's own interests, the Catholics in
both branches Of the service need them,
too, and badly. The letter follows:
In a despatch to one Of our local
(Manila) dailies, under date of Novenn-
ber %, we read what Gen'l Ainsworth
says about the great danger to Amer
ica as nation from the present scare
ity Of recruits to our army. AS one on
the ground. as 1t were. and mixing free
ly with our soldiers and sailors here.
will you allow mo just a little space to
touch on a complaint so vital, as Gen.
eral Ainsworth says. and not df may
be so bold as to state IT. without
grounds?
Let us see, then, why the growing
young American does not run SO much