The Catholic bulletin. [volume] (St. Paul, Minn.) 1911-1995, 1921-10-22
HALF CENTURY OF PROTESTANT
ISM IN MEXICO A FAILURE
SUPPORTED IN EVERY WAY BY
/ STATE 1T MAKES LITTLE HEAD
~ WAY-EFFoRTs TO PERvERT
MExlcANs MEET WITH SMALL
SUCCESS.

MExlcANS MEET WITH SMALL
SUCCESS.
For fifty years Professionalism has
been virtually the state religion in
Mexico, says La Prensa of San Anto'
MO. No favor which it has solicited
no work which it has undertaken, no
help which it has required, has failed
to find support in official circles which
have seemed solicitous to be ingratiat-
ing and gain Protestant good will.
Places in which to hold their serv-
ices? They were given the best OF
the closed converts; the Catholics
were despoiled of the churches which
they had built with their own money
and by their own efforts, and by an
anti-national sacrilege, they were even
given a part of the Convent of st.
Francis Of Mexico, the cradle of Mex.
lean civilization.
Safety for their congregations and
missionaries? Public authority was
at their disposal and punished severe
ly any offenses against religious toll
erance.
Help for their propaganda? They
counted on the favor of many sheets
which claimed to be liberal, the osten-
sible and manifest object of which
was to "de-Catholicize" the country
and make it vassal of the societies
for reformist propaganda.
To the social worker at Ellis Island,
life seems made up of episodes that
move one either. to laughter or, more
often, to tears. From the docking OF
the S:45 ferry in the morning, when
the mad stampede of relatives com
ing to visit detained immigrants be
gins, to the departure of the 4:40 boat
in the afternoon bearing some of the
lucky ones who have been admitted
and are on their way to New York,
there are few moments that do not
offer interesting chances to study hui
man nature. The relatives first off
the boat in the morning stand the best
chance of obtaining the cards from
the Information Bureau, permitting
them to see father, mother, wife or
sweetheart. as the case may be.
Therefore, each and every relative,
armed with a bullying paper bag or
satchel filled with fruit and other good
things, runs a Marathon from the dock
to the main building on Island No. l.
And strange to say, it is not always
the men who are in the lead, and it
was amusing one day to observe a
very stout Italian woman we'll up to-
ward the front, her voluminous skirts
swaying with her stride and from the
waist down giving her the appearance
of the winged victory One felt urged
to cheer her on. In the corridors out.
side the detention rooms aliens and
relatives meet, and many are the tears
that are shed and the embraces that
are given.
Some Sad Cases.
The saddest cases that come to the
attention of those working on the Is
| land are where one member of a fam
| lily dies just as the new world is
| reached. This happens all too fire.
quently. Two or three weeks ago, a
little Polish woman arrived with her
| two children, a boy and a girl. The
! boy, little chap of eleven, was tax,
en- from the boat suffering from scar.
| let fever and put in the hospital on
Ellis Island, where he died a few days
later Since the family was Catholic,
the N. C. W.. C. was asked to take
charge of the mother and daughter, get
them place for the night, accompany
them to the funeral and afterwards put
them on the train. The mother was
plucky little soul, sad beyond words,
| with a voiceless grief that made it
| more pathetic AS the ferry pulled
out, she looked back at the hospital
windows where lay all that remained
of her little son and then, as the boat
| locked at the other side, shook hel
head sadly as she gazed up at the
! tall buildings "Neuva York." she
sighed New York meant little to he1
at that moment.
| An old Italian woman is here now
who came to join her son and daugh
ter. They sent her affidavits in 1918
but it. was not until few weeks age
| that she was ready to start Never q
doubt did she feel on the way across
that she would walk off the ship into
her childrens arms. Bat kilograms
and letters have failed to bring a re