The Birmingham age-herald., 1914-05-31

society of Scotland. drawing supper
 from Scotland only. equals 1t 1T | amount.
 The great giyers to Catholic world
 missions are. among American dio
 cese1, New York with gifts last yea amounting to s1b3o00 Boston, s57, 7,oo0
 Philadelphia. $6S,O00; Cleveland, s7s0(
 and Baltimore s7100. Not a city ir Catholic countries like Austria. Italy Belgium and Spain come anywher. n..r the gifts of these generous Cath. | olic American cities. St Louis far
 outranSs Rome, and Pittsburg Cath olies give more than do those of Liver. pool. Catholics of the country are ex- fremely gratified at the showing just published.
 Never since there was Roman Catholic church did such condition ob- tain as obtains since the consistory Just held. The college of cardinals from among whom the next pope will be chosen contains as many prelates not Italian by birth as it does italians. Reasons for this new turn of affairs are the growth of the church beyond the confines ot Italy. and the more and more catholic administration of the church under it's present pope. Cardi- nal Falconlo, once apostolic delegate at Washington and now a member of the eurfa or governing body of the church in Rome, is naturalized American. He is Italian by birth. If he De counted an Italian the college stands 34 Italians te 32 foreign but if he be reckoned an American, the college is 33 each. This includes Car d1nal Belle the patriarch of Lisbon, created cardinal two years ago, and Just now proclaimed The delay has been caused by the political difficulties in Portugal
 Those in best position to know say that the radical change, sufficient to make 1914 historic in Roman church annals. does not increase the possi- bilty of the election of a foreign born cardinal to the papal chair. The next pope will be an Italian as have been all of recent centuries, and he is more than likely to be an Italian in sym pathy with present policies. Rarely has a pope had behind him a united cnria and college in greater degree than has Pope Plus X. Most of the older cardinals are so old and ill that they have no pronounced policies, and the two last infusions of new men into the college, 1911 and 1914, have brought in prelates who are loyal to existing policies. The few that are not have teen left behind in the consistory se- leet'ons Since the consistory of May. 1914, the prelate more than any other
 
 De I,ai.
 Into the general synod of the Re- formed Church of America, to be held at Asbury Park on June 4, will come proposition from the Reformed Church of the United States looking to organic union. If such be effected it will mean a religious body of 425,- 900 members Informally it is stated, however, that the Asbury Park body will not welcome the proposal, on the ground that while these bodies have little in common, they occupy different fields, and their histories and outlooks are wholly unlike. The last named body proposed union with the Presby- terians sometime since, but the pro posal fell through.
 Are Dutch and German
 These two bodies are the Dutch and the German branches of the Reformed churches. Nine-tenths of the Dutch rship-so called, for 1t is not Dutch, but as American as most oth- ers-is in New York and New Jersey, with about 15,000 in Michigan, while practically all of the membership of the German branch is In Pennsylvania and Ohio, with perhaps 15,000 in Mary iand. One came from Holland and es- abolished the first church organization in what is now New York, the other from the palatinate of Germany. and founded the first in what Is now Phil ade.phia, or more exact, the German town suburb of that city. The Dutch men will not, it is reported, favor union with the Germans.
 The Asbury Park meeting will report receipts of it's foreign work unsatis- factory, in that its board has de- felt of $25,000 It's domestic work. however, shows no debt and larger in- come than ever before.
 United Brethren. just holding a ma uonal congress of men, issue a state ment to their membership showing a growth last year of $500. but a laps ing of 24000 members; people out off rolls and nobody knows what became of them. These brethren also show that 800 churches, or a seventh of all among them, received last year not one new member by profession of faith. These churches include some of the largest among brethren. More than 60 of them are in Iowa, more than 50 in Ohio, and others are in Pennsylvania and Virginia. Steps are already un- der way to find out what was the matter.
 The national congress was held in