If, then, the Government, after due inquiry, find that the vast majority of the people do not join in the cry for secularization, but desire to have the Catholic religion taught in the schools which their children attend, it would be nothing short of religious persecution to introduce the public schools system of the States into the Philippines. It is ever to be borne in mind that the new American possession in the Far East is one in which the great bulk of the people are practical Catholics who attend to all their religious duties.
To counteract the baleful influence of the Protestant missionary and Bible societies, it will be necessary for the Catholic Church in America to be alive to the new and grave responsibilities thus thrown upon her by the hand of Providence, and to send out English-speaking priests at once to the Philippines, to make up for the great dearth of priests caused by the excesses of the rebels. Before the rebellion they numbered between one and two thousand, a small number in comparison with the Catholic population. Fifty have been killed outright; many others have died of the hardships undergone in captivity; while several hundreds have left the country, apparently with no intention of returning. Every year till last year, bands of enthusiastic young missionaries used to go out from the colleges in Spain to fill up the gaps in the ranks of the Friars, caused by sickness and death. That perennial source of life and strength can no longer be relied upon under the new conditions. The energies of the Spanish Friars will most likely be expended in Spain itself, where the lack of priests is still severely felt, and in developing their great and flourishing missions in China, Japan, Tonquin, and Formosa.
It is a matter of astonishment that the Church in the United States has up to the present no organization for supplying foreign mission. Perhaps the struggle to keep abreast in numbers with the growing Catholic population has absorbed all her energies. But now, for the first time in her history, she must cast her eyes beyond her boundaries, and send speedy help to the millions of children who have been given to her keeping, and whose voice may be heard from across the wide ocean, calling to her for spiritual help and ministration. Let her gaze steadily and thoughtfully on the vast harvest of souls given unto her. She shall reap where others have sown and planted. Let her gird herself to the work, and go forth and gather with joy the good wheat that others—the poor Spanish missionaries—have sown in tears and cultivated through much tribulation.
A fact of interest in connection with the aspect of our subject under consideration is the challenge sent to Archbishop Ireland by an American Presbyterian of authority in his sect. He tells the Archbishop in effect that if the Catholic Church in the United States will undertake the missionary equipment of the Philippines, his sect will gladly withdraw from the field, and devote their efforts to Africa instead. Without attaching any more importance to this declaration than it deserves, especially as it is founded on the false assumption that one Gospel is preached by Catholic priests in Washington and another in Manila, we may, nevertheless, infer from it that these men believe they would have a much easier task in dealing with the Spanish missionaries than with Catholic missionaries from the States. Without saying anything in disparagement of the learning of a body of men which has produced a Gonzalez, one of the greatest philosophers of the century, we believe that American priests, being more in touch with modern times and more open to modern ideas, could give them valuable lessons in the conflict between the Church and the world, as it is carried on in our own days. It is not by profound theological arguments that we can deal with men who can neither understand nor appreciate them. Priests are wanted for the Philippines who can make their voices heard beyond its boundaries; who can mould public opinion by means of the daily Press; who can keep in touch with the politics and legislation of the United States; and can bring public opinion there to bear on unjust and unfair treatment, if anything of the kind is attempted against the Catholics of that unfortunate Archipelago.
A street in Manila.
[1] A recent report in the daily papers (April, 1899), that one or another of the most civilized Indian tribes, of which remnants remain, is determined upon emigration from the United States to Mexico, because of the fairer treatment they have reason to look for there, will certainly not surprise those who are familiar with the broken promises and rescinded obligations that have marked the Government’s dealing with the Red man and his Catholic educators and missioners.