GOOD COUNSEL: THE SOCIETY'S FEAST DAY Pulpit Celebrations

Forty sermons will be preached on Sunday, April 26, in honour of the patroness of the Society of Our Lady of Good Counsel, whose feast it is.
The preachers will include Fr. Woodlock, S.J., at the Oratory, and Fr. Martin d'Arcy, S.J., at Corpus Christi, Maiden Lane, Fr. Martin Dempsey, C.M.S., at St. Mary's, East Finchley.
A special Mass will also be celebrated at the church of SS. Anselm and Cecilia by the Rev. Sir John O'Connell, K.C.S.G., LL.D., a former solicitor, who will be assisted by Fr. Scanlan and Fr. Watts, both former solicitors. The sermon on this occasion will be preached by Fr. FitzGerald, of Willesden.
PEWS: WHERE EMPTY AND WHERE FULL
' Letters in the Morning Post have been discussing the question of the empty pew. To the correspondence Fr. J. B. Ward, of St. Saviour's, Lewisham, has contributed a letter in which he emphasises the more consoling aspect of the full pew. He writes :
"In Catholic churches the empty pew does not exist. Every Catholic place of worship in the land is full every Sunday to the limit of its capacity. In this connection let me instance my own church in a parish that is only one mile square.
"The average attendance for the first four Sundays of Lent of the present year, when all the people, by the bishop's order, had to be accurately counted, was as follows: Morning services 1,612, evening service, 536. Our full churches are explained in part at least by the Catholic Church having unswervingly held fast to the teaching of Christ, who because he is God as well as man, has always a message for the human soul.
"When the non-Catholic churches take Christ at his word again. as to a large extent they did in the Victorian era, the empty pew will not be such a nightmare to them."
CANON J. MAHONEY Relinquishing Municipal Work
It is announced that, for reasons of health, Canon James Mahoney, Ph.D., Deptford's representative on the London County Council, will not contest the seat at the election in March next year. This widely-known priest and social worker, who has been a member of the council for several years past, elected at the last two elections by substantial majorities, suffered a breakdown some time ago and is now resting.
North Kent has had a tireless worker in Dr. Mahoney, whose fields of labour have included Woolwich, Dartford, and Deptford. In this last parish he has devoted himself not only to his congregation, but also to the general wellbeing of the district, for the past 20 years.
The second London Mime Festival will be held on June 13 in the Portland Hall Polytechnic Extension in Little Titchfield Street, W.1., opening with children's classes.