Page 13, 30th December 1938

30th December 1938

Page 13

Page 13, 30th December 1938 — THE CHURCH MOVES ON Numerical and Material Progress
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THE CHURCH MOVES ON Numerical and Material Progress

It is to the annual returns printed in the Catholic Director), that one goes for statistical proof of the Church's slow but steady onward march in England and Wales. The figures appearing in the 1939 Directory show again an increase under nearly every head. Industrial areas cannot stabilise their populations: economic circumstances make. for ebb and flow; so it is not surprising that in several dioceses there should be a drop in the numbers of the flock. Other dioceses more than restore the deficiency and help to musks an aggregate increase in the country's Catholic population of nearly 13,700 souls.
Increase nearly all along the line: such is the statistical testimony. Nearly, because this time the returns show fewer children in our elementary schools, though the schools themselves have grown in number.
Church building has proceeded apace. From practically all parts of the country the year has brought reports of openings or of stone-laying ceremonies. At least a score of new churches have been opened, and there must be as many more now building. Mount St. Bernard's Abbey Church nears completion; St. Mary's Abbey, et Buckles!, has put the final pinnacle to its church fabric.
THE HIERARCHY IN 1938 Three Losses—Three Consecrations
A year which has brought the death of three Bishops in Great Britain has been on that side a year to deplore. England has suffered two losses: the Bishop of Salford and the Bishop of Lancaster, while Scotland has lost the Bishop of Argyll and the Isles.
Numerically, at the year's close, our episcopate stands as it was, because 1938 has brought the consecration of three new Bishops-Auxiliary: Mgr. Griffin for Birmingham, Mgr. King for Portsmouth, and Mgr. Mathew for Westminster.
REQU1ESCANT Other Great Workers Recalled
From the ranks of the priesthood, secular and regular, 1938 has taken toll in many well-known workers. To print a full list here of the clerical losses during the twelve months would be a lengthy matter, but some of the more noteworthy figures may he recalled:
Birmingham has lost Mgr. Hymers and Canon Villiers; Liverpool, Mgr. Walshe; Brentwood, Canon Shepherd; Northampton, Mgr. Ashmoie and Canon Walmesley Carter; Salford, Mgr. Gonne, by a tragedy of the sea; Southwark, Canon Mahoney; Hexhant and Newcastle, Provost Mackin; Middlesbrough, Mgr. McCabe; Portsmouth, Mgr. Mullins and Mgr. Gudgeon. Looking north of the Tweed, we find among Scotland's priests who died in 1938 such widely known men as Mgr. Ritchie (Glasgow), Mgr. Turner (Dundee), Canon Vignoles. To Scotland, too, belonged the Venerable Canon Lord Archibald Douglas, who died, as he had Icing lived, in the South of England.
From the religious orders and congregatlone the numerous losses have included Abbot Cummins, Abbot Cox, and Dorn. Dunstan Sibley, 0.S.B.; Fr. Eric Burrows, S.J., the archaeologist; Fr. Henry Bellasts, of the Birmingham Oratory; Fr. John Bennett, C.SS.R., and his namesake, Fr. Arthur Bennett, Oblate Of St. Charles; Fr. Trevor Hughes, former Provincial of the Fathers of Charity; Fr. John Leather, O.P. Taking seculars and regulars together, death has claimed during the year something like 150 of the clergy in Great Britain.
Prominent Lay Folk
Many prominent workers are among the laity deceased in the past twelve months. Here, again. only a brief selection can be attempted. Art is the poorer by the death of Mr F. L. Griggs, aA.; music by the loss of Sir Richard Terry. Stage memories pass with Miss Mary Rorke. Heavy toll has been taken of Catholic women active in various capacities: one need only mention Viscountess FitzAlan, Lady Rankeillour, Alice Lady Basalt. Frances Cheetertou, May Bateman, Cecily Hallack, Mrs Weeuelin.
Three Catholic peers have died: Lord Haldon, Lord Shaughnessy, and Lord North of Kirtling, while from our haronetage have gone Sir Charles Clifford, Sir Alec Russell, Sir John Harvey Blunt.




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