The Catholic bulletin. [volume] (St. Paul, Minn.) 1911-1995, 1913-11-15

fully behind. How many young work
ing wives have not the faintest notion
of cooking and housekeeping and the
care of children.
1t is to the Christian Brothers that
Belgium owes the admirable Schools
of st. Luke Here are educated the
young builders, painters, and deco
rators who by their admirable taste,
their passion for their art, and their
thoroughly Christian spirit remind one
of the memorable days of the Guilds.
A modest course of drawing lessons
which was started in Client in 1863
under the auspices of the st. Vincent
de Paul Society gave birth to the
new institution. Now the "Ecoles
Saint Luc" are established in five diff
ferent localities, and number more
than two thousand students and fifty
nine professors.
"Patronages."
In almost every parish of Belgium
we find that the clergy have estab-
lished 'patronages. Ten years ago
there were in Brussels alone twenty
five patronages for boys with four
thousand members, and nine patron
ages for girls with two thousand
five hundred members. At Antwerp
the membership was still larger
These patronages, ostensibly mere as
sociations for recreation, have, thanks
to the zeal of the priests and
their lay associates, effected in Bel
GUM, both for boys and girls, what
has been done to some extent among
ourselves by the Catholic Boys Bri-
gade." By keeping the children away
from the dangers of the street and an
idle life, and by completing their re-
ligious education, they have helped
them to preserve their faith, to under
stand better their duties as Catholics,
and to realize the need they have of
sound principles and good Christian
habits; they have brought many back
to the practice of their religion. The
influence of the priest over his "pa-
tronnes" certainly seems lasting and
beneficial After more than twenty
five years the founder of the patron
age of Saint-Nicholas (Waes), Pere
Druwe, hardly ever passes along the
streets of the town without being
spoken to at every moment by one of
his "old boys" now grown. up. They
come up eagerly, shake hands, tell him
the various little incidents of their
daily lives, their sorrows and their
joys, ask him thousand questions,
and are quite delighted when the dear
old priest gives them kind word of
advice together with his paternal
blessing.
Cooperative and Benefit Societies.
The de Vrede" guilds of Antwerp
number many thousands of workmen
and date from 1885, the Central Fed
Grafton of Christian Workers in the
Textile Industries" now has member
ship of about thirteen thousand and is
rapidly increasing. In the provinces
there are sci cooperative diaries. 1t
is owing to the zeal of two priests
(the Abbes Couturiaux and Crousse)
that there is hardly village in Bel
gian Luxembourg which has not it's
dairy. Thanks to the Able Van der
Schueren, there are in and around
Alost no less than twenty-six of them.
Those of us who have a taste for
rabbit-pie may learn with surprise
that they owe a debt of gratitude to
Belgian priest The Able Lanssen
founded society at Eereghem West
Flanders) for improving the breed of
rabbits. The breeding of rabbits is
an important source of income to the
peasant of West Flanders: the poorest
among them will have their twenty
or thirty rabbits. These rabbits are
mostly sent to London.
The "Syndicat General des Voy-
ageurs," ETC., with a membership of
nearly ten thousand members, counts
a priest as one of its founders.
In this country we have number
of unions of employers for the purpose
of promoting their own interests. It
would be we'll to initiate the various
exist for promoting the welfare of the
workers. Thus, for instance, Belgium
has it's Union of Employers on Be-
half of Workmen," which was founded
at Li6ge in 1886 by the enterprise of
the Bishop, Mgr Doutreloux. Accord
ing to the statutes of this union, en-
ployers of labor, company directors
and managers of industrial concerns
aim at promoting the religious, moral,
and economic welfare of the working
classes. In 1901 the membership stood
at three hundred.
Most noteworthy of all is the Chris
tan Syndicate movement, which began
in 1904 with ten thousand members.
In 1912 the membership had grown to
over eighty thousand. All honor to
the distinguished Dominican Father to
whom these results are due. Father
Rutten, o. p, just after his ordina-
ton, became so much interested in the
Labor question that he was not afraid
to throw in his lot with the workers.
He actually worked in a mine with the
miners for three years! This gave
him an insight into their life which
no amount of study could have Sc
cured.
Whatever improvement in your
position is possible" he has said to
the workmen, that we shall together
try to obtain" No wonder that the
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