The Catholic bulletin. [volume] (St. Paul, Minn.) 1911-1995, 1920-06-19

ESTANT MISSIONARIES TO GET
CONGREGATIONS.
Praise for the great work of civil
cation and education performed by
the Catholic Church for the people of
Mexico was given by Eber Cole Byam,
a nOn-Catholic, in his testimony be-
fore the Senate committee Investigate
ing Mexican conditions. Mr.. Byam
took occasion also to correct misstate-
ments made by John Lind, who went
to Mexico in 1918 as special repre-
sentative" of President Wilson, and
to demonstrate the falsity of a tale
invented by Protestant missionary
to discredit the Catholic priesthood in
The southern republic.
The printed report of Mr.. Byam' S
testimony and that of Father Francis
P. Joyce, chaplain United States
Army, Monsignor Francis C. Kelley,
president of the Catholic Church Elk.
tension Society, Mother Elias del San
tissimo Sacramento, former superior
of a Carmelite convent in Mexico. and
of several other witnesses, has just
been issued by the the Senate com.
mittee
Non-CathoIic Praises Catholic Work
In Mexico.
Mr.. Byam told the committee that
he had lived in Mexico from 1895 until
1907. He had spent much time in five
of the principal states of the repub
lie, and had charge of work for rail
roads, plantations and other enter
prises.
Asked by Francis J. Kearful, coun
sci for the committee, whether he
had ever BEEN a Catholic, Mr. Byan
replied:
81 have never been, nor any Of my
ancestors for ten generations
Mr.. Byam explained to the commit
| tee that in addition to the infOrma
ton he had gathered during long
residence in Mexico he had studied
the history of the country. He men
tioned several historians with whose
| works he had fai,iliarized himself
THE first efforts of the Catholic
Church in Mexico toward the educa
| ton of the Indians began shortly aft
er the Conquest, and the work was
undertaken by missionaries said Mr.
Byam. .. They established
schools and gathered Indian children
in these schools, where they were
| housed and fed and clothed.
They were taught to read and write
given religious instruction and kept
from contact with their parents as
much as possible to avoid the perpet
uation among them of native idolatry
THE Catholic missionaries in Mex
leo were faced with the difficulty OF
the pupils reverting to the mode Of
| life of their parents. To overcome
that they established as many board
| ing schools as possible. Those that
could not be kept in the boarding
schools naturally returned to the vii
lagos, but the moral and religious
training which was given by the mis-
sionaries, in addition to learning tc
read and write, esta blished devotion
| to religion which 100 years of revolu
tionary radicalism has had little eff
| feet upon"
Judge Kearful called Mr.. Byam's at
tention to the criticism of John Limo
that the Catholic Church had been in
different, if not hostile, to popular
education in Mexico, Mr.. Byam re
piled:
During the colonial period the
Church in Mexico was in reality de
tendency of the state. . 1t could
make no move whatever without the
permission of the home government
The numbers Of the clergy were linn
tied. In reports rendered to the Span
ish government by it's agents, . .
we find that proportion of one priest
to 5000 of the population was the aver
age sought. That refers particularly
to the sixteenth and seventeenth cen
turies.'
Mr.. Byam was pressed to say
| whether he thought Mr.. Lind was
justified in his statment that in late
years the Church in Mexico had not
done all it might have done to ad
vance the education of the masses.
| 81 do not think he was justified,
said Mr.. Byam.
| Catholic Church Did All That Was
| Possible.
| do you think the Church has done