`GOOD FRIDAY' ENDS IN PHILIPPINES

Archbishop tells of big progress
"THE Church in the Philippines has passed through its Good Friday and is now approaching its Easter Sunday," Archbishop Reyes, of Manila, now visiting the United States, said in an interview in New York.
Mgr. Reyes, a hero of the during the Japanese occupation,
Philippine resistance movement remarked that vocations to the priesthood are now more numerous than ever and represent all classes.
There are more than 2,000 Filipino priests.
Of the 21 Bishops, 17 are nativeborn Filipinos, and the two Archbishops are likewise Filipinos.
The number of schools and students has more than doubled since the end of the war.
The Archbishop expressed no alarm over Communism in the islands.
"We believe." he said. "that Filipinos will not turn easily to Communism. They are a people of small landowners and are willing to work.
" Catholics represent 80 per cent. of the population and they have a striking devotion to the Sacred Heart, Our Lady and the Passion."
The Archbishop pointed out that the Rosary is recited over the radio by young lay people every evening.
He stated that the Holy Father looks to Manila " as the great centre from which the truth will he radiated through the Far East."
Communist-inspired charges that the Church is a great landowner amuse rather than annoy Archbishop Reyes.
He recalled that an official report of the Philippines Government showed that of all the arable land. only one-twentieth of one per cent. is Church property.