The Catholic bulletin. [volume] (St. Paul, Minn.) 1911-1995, 1911-09-02
HERE And THERE IN EUROPE

lie to the false rumors circulated to
the effect that the clergy were yield
ing to the Republic Not single
Bishop has been false to the instruc-
tions of Rome and out of six thousand
priests all but about eight hundred
have refused the pensions. The
Bishops of Belgium have just sent
letter of encouragement and congratu-
lation to their brethren in Portugal
assuring them of prayers and spiritual
support in their hard fight to keep
the Church's flag flying against the
enemy. Meanwhile, the political
situation has developed an almost
Gibertian air of comedy, for while the
Republicans are showing victorious
front to the world, the agents of King
Manuel are going about openly in the
cities and towns and villages of Por-
tugal and in many places the Royal
lists are drilling under the very noses
of the Republican officials. At Ribas
and Calecca the inventories of the
Churches were taken by an armed
force which was strongly opposed by
the townsfolk, and a troop of infantry
was sent to quell the disturbance The
Government proposes to prosecute
the Bishop of Guarda for his hostility
to the dictators. But this is by no
means an isolated case and wherever
the soldiers go in their work of seiz-
ing Church property they are met
with violent resistance
The Strike in Britain.
In Britain, at the present moment,
there is no hint of the real designs
at the back of the immense strike
which is paralyzing the country,
threatening it with famine and
disease, calling out the forces, and
giving great cities like Liverpool and
London the appearance of towns in a
state of siege AS I write, every sta
.tion is guarded by troops with fixed
bayonets, and filed with weary men
and women who since yesterday have
been seated ON their luggage on the
platforms waiting for trains which
might or might not go out. And yet
that is the most amusing side of the
matter. The dark peril which lies
behind, the lawlessness which has al
ready been shown, the diminishing
provisions, the disorganized mail
service rendering business impossible,
the despair of the women and chill
dren of the poor who will be the
first to suffer, the horror of men
called to fight their fellow countrymen
to save the country that both should
love, the danger to our churches and
converts should any general dis
turbance take place have opened our
eyes for the first time to the ravages
which Rationalism, Goddess educa-
ton, and false Socialism have made
amongst the people of England once
considered SO amenable to reason, so
law-abiding, so reserved. The strike
has spread even to Ireland, while one
of the first men to be killed in the
Liverpool riots was unfortunately a
Catholic, whether an onlooker or not
it is hard to say. The clergy have
busy times attempting, in their daily
rounds, in the confessional, and in
the pulpit, to impress upon their peo-
pie the obligations they owe to the
nation as a whole and to their fellow
men, and the grave duty they are
under of giving an example to others
in period of great trial and distress
which is passing over not only the
temporal but the spiritual life of the
nation. How it will all end is I'M
certain, but it already shows how
badly the world and individual states
get on without the Catholic Church.