The Catholic bulletin. [volume] (St. Paul, Minn.) 1911-1995, 1911-05-20
THE CHURCH IN SCOTLAND
WHY CONVERSIONS TO THE
FAITH ARE FEW.

Conversions to the Church are, it is
said, not so frequent in Scotland as in
England where they are numerous and
constant. An interesting explanation
of this is given in the Catholic Herald
by correspondent who says:
"The secular press observe, such as
The Scotsman rarely reports conver-
sions of any kind; but they keep on
occurring all the same, though not to
or in quality, in Scotland. And the
question | wish to ask is-Why is
this? Why does Scotland lag behind?
There are several reasons to account
for it, but the most palpable is this:
Scotland is, and always has been, a
much more Protestant country than
England. Catholicism was simply
rooted out, both interiorly and exterior
ly, completely obliterated both from
the heart and the eye of the people,
and a new and unheard-of system
called Professionalism firmly grounded
and established in it's place.
cit was no so in England. The
Anglican Church retained much of
Catholicism when it broke communion
with the See of Rome. We have only
to read Father Benson's lucid descrip-
tion of the High Church position to-
day, or peruse any copy of the Church
Times or call to mind Mr.. Lacey's
pamphlet, De Re Anglicana,' addressed
to the Roman Cardinals when consid-
ering the question of Anglican Orders
and we shall see that large section
of Anglicans are Catholic in practically
everything except submission to the
Roman Pontiff. Of course without pre-
cisely this they are not Catholics at all.
But what l mean is that in their
doctrines and devotions they approx
mate to Rome in a way that is quite
unknown among the Presbyterians of
Scotland. A Catholic might easily mis-
take-indeed, they say many Catho-
lie has mistaken an advanced Ritual
istic London church for Catholic
chapel. Thousands of English people,
therefore, are familiar with Catholic
doctrines and devotions, and are
trained from their childhood to love
and practice them; and when their
| logical faculties, assisted by Divine
grace, perceive some of the more glar-
| ing inconsistencies and absurdities of
the Anglican system, they have little
difficulty in stepping over to the true
Church.
"In Scotland all is different A Scot
comes into this world with profound
horror and hatred of Rome in his
heart, and never has a chance of get
ting it softened. The Puritan tradi-
tion is too strong, with it's dull, dreary,
unliturgical services, in which any Ro-
man innovation would be heartily de-
tested. OF Bishops and priests and al
tars, vestments and lights and feasts,
and things of that kind he will have
none. So he never gets accustomed,
| like his English brother, to the nice,
attractive part of Rome's worship.
There is no point at which Rome and
Geneva meet, whereas Rome and Can
| terbury often do. Hence there is more
intense bigotry in Scotland, more ig-
norance, more prejudice, more hatred
of the Catholic Church. A Scot has
far more to unlearn, and consequently
much more to learn. I do not think
the Scotch will ever embrace Catho-
iicity from the aesthetic side, but
rather from the intellectual and dog
matte side, and that not for a long time
yet. They are a slow and canny peo-
pie, and hard to move; but already the
failure of Calvinism and the need of
an authoritative religion are beginning
to work conversions.
1T is satisfactory to be able from
this to believe that the Scotch, though
"slow and canny' may yet, it is to
be hoped at time not distant, be Of
the one Fold under one Shepherd"