Ethnologists at Milan

...in brief, help, with all the word implies, from those whom workers for union have every right to expect it...

...The chief centres of interest in the second series of conferences were the dissertations of Father Schmidt and Dr...

...The president of the congress, however, in the closing session suggested a means of remedying this defect...

...and when Mr...

...A Vincentian or a Holy Name man would be picked up here and there from the common group and the particular unit to which he attached himself increased by that much but the great reservoir of men, the aggregate of the Catholic man- hood of the community would not be lessened since the recruit would still be one of that aggregate prepared to support other causes, as from time to time they arose...

...Father Schmidt gave an introductory talk on the savior-gods or heroes of the primitives, in which he quoted with approval the recently pub- lished lecture of Professor Radin, Monotheism among Primitive Peoples, first delivered before the Jewish Historical Society...

...It is certain, in any case, that the defense of our Faith demands the development of this study...

...During the interval to elapse before the next re-assembly, he urged the organization of smaller national conventions of three or four days, instead of international meetings of a week's time...

...2 Capuchins I The program consisted as usual of two parts, the one devoted to general introductory questions, the other to special problems...

...Warmly supported by' Church authorities, it was a complete success...

...and Father Bouvier, S.J., the Religio-Ethnological Con- gress aims chiefly at the promotion of a truly scientific study of non-civilized peoples...

...For the opening session, His Holiness Pius XI caused the fol- lowing telegram to be sent-The Holy Father thanks the members of the congress for their assurance of devotedness and renews his encourage-ment of religio-ethnological research, the importance of which is emphasized by the Vatican Exposition of Missions...

...Among the lecturers and authors of note who took part in the activities at Milan were the valiant Bishop Ruch of Strasbourg, Monsignor Schrijnen, rector of the new Catholic University of Nimeguen, Monsignor Batiffol, former rector of the Catholic University of Toulouse, Monsignor Galbiati, prefect of the Am-brosian Library, Father Rosa, director of the Civilt~ Cattolica, Dr...

...consequently, a greater number of writers, professors and mission- aries would be enabled to take advantage of the op- portunity...

...The eminent Egyptologist, Dr...

...It is so pitiable and so unnecessary, for there is no one who does not wish Catholic unity...

...For it is, surely, one of the accidental glories of any religion, true or false, that it should be a bond which unites men in the observance of it...

...At the inaugural sitting the chair was occupied by Cardinal Tosi of Milan, who further favored the members with a wel- come in his palace on September 18...

...In a following lecture, the secretary of the con-gress, Father Pinard de la Boullaye, S.J., pointed out the reaction that is at present making itself felt against the tendencies of the evolutionistic school, the more and more clearly defined adhesion on the part of ethnologists to the principles of historical criticism, and the prominent part played by America in this trans...

...Birth and coming of age are alike marked by ceremonies which bestow a religious and a political status, make a man a communicant (so to speak) and consequently a citizen...

...formation of method...

...77 per- cent are what the cattlemen call mavericks--un-branded, unattached...

...The praise and encouragement lavished on the congress by the Holy Father and his representatives will, it is to be hoped, help to multiply these workers...

...Even a tribal cult, which does not pretend that its god is the god of any neighboring tribe--would regard it, indeed, as plagiarism if neighbors were to adopt its own tenets-- nevertheless identifies itself eagerly with the whole life of that one tribe...

...They were not planned nor con- ceived to replace existing agencies but rather to co-6rdinate activities already under way, to support each in its proper sphere and to be a great pool or reservoir of Catholic men from which all might draw for mem- bers and support...

...Only 23 percent of Catholic men are attached to any group within the church...

...Finally, two specialists on Christian orig- ins, Monsignor Batiffol and Bishop Ruch, in two masterly discourses, afforded occasion for a com-parison of Christian and pagan ideas...

...and the next day met the same acquaintance in the same blazer, but with the letters, M. O. R. Y. C., embroidered over the pocket...

...November 4, 1925 THE COMMONWEAL 643 down...

...His Holiness is happy to remark the consoling revival of research among Catholic scholars...

...it must be assured of earnest and continued support by priests in the parishes and by the great majority of existing organizations...

...Religious ethnology concerns itself particularly with the religion of these peoples...

...Catholicity, and Catholicity only, was asked...

...Conventions such as that of Milan have the double virtue of doing honor to Cath- olic learning and of preparing select workers in this field...

...False science must be opposed without delay by a science that is better informed and impartial...

...A form was necessary to delimit them but only in form were they to be something new...

...Pestalozza, delegate of the Italian Minister of Public Instruction, Father Piolet, editor of the Revue des Missions, M. Deffontaines, delegate of the Paris Geographic Society, Monsignor Faraoni of Florence, Monsignor Hanus of Prague...

...As it is, you never know which stories are new and which are old...

...In the first part, the president of the congress, Father Schmidt, S.V.D., held his audience intensely interested in a summary exposition of the results of the three scientific expeditions whose expense was borne by the Pope personally: that of Father Van Overbergh, of the Missionaries of Scheut, among the negrillos of the Philippines...

...There was the fear of a strength that these men, 77 percent of Catho- lic manhood, might develop that brought unwarranted opposition...

...All jokes, but especially anecdotes, will have to be en- tered at the Library of Congress here, or at Stationer's Hall, in England, and it will be illegal to release one without giving its age--"strictly fresh," "storage," "pre-war," and so on...

...He protested in horror, explaining that that sort of thing wasn't done...

...no one who cannot and will not seek to further such a plan to such a goal...

...To the Italians, who have nearly abandoned the field of ethnology and history of religions to the rationalists, the congress has revealed the existence of a Catholic science very rigorous in its methods and most con- fident in its conclusions...

...Mackenzie writes about "my religion" just as a Dane (say) might write for the English public about "my country...

...Soviet Russia is not the only land in which the history of religions and that of primitive religions in par- ticular (religious ethnology) are used as a means to propagate indifferentism and atheism...

...The report of Father Gusinde, S.V.D., on the Fuegans, whom he studied in the course of four recent expeditions, and that of Father Schebesta, S.V.D., just home from Malacca, on the Semang Pygmies, illuminated this point with thor-oughly new information...

...it has nothing proprietary in it, nothing egotistic...

...These contributions brought out the funda- mental agreement between the ideas of the primitives on morality and those of civilized peoples, even the possession by the most backward tribes of moral con- cepts purer than those had by nations in other respects more advanced...

...ETHNOLOGISTS AT MILAN By H. PINARD DE -a BOULLAYE E THNOLOGY, we know, is the science that deals with the manners, the customs, and the beliefs of non-civilized peoples, or, as they are called in a purely relative sense, the primitives...

...of all indeed except a very few most of which had been a part of the old federation...

...The more re-cent and reflective religious organizations of the world go further, and insist that if things were as they should be, not one tribe only, but the whole of mankind would be united in holding this or that creed, however tenu- ous, fulfilling these or those religious duties, however...

...This one, for ex-ample, that I am leading up to, about the man at the Cowes Regatta, who met an acquaintance of humble origin and plebian speech, wearing the blazer, or pea- jacket, or whatever it is, of the Royal Yacht Club...

...Thus would be avoided the difficulty of high traveling expenses as well as that of multiplicity of languages...

...But I hope I am not alone in feeling that most of the other contributions suggest a quite different interpretation of the word "my...

...Then there was more than the failure to understand and appreciate the purpose...

...Cardinal Ra-gonesi presided at the brilliant reception organized by the university two days later in honor of the assembled scientists, as well as at the closing meeting...

...the first named spoke on the concept of redemption in the New TestaNovember 4, 1925 THE COMMONWEAL 645 ment, the second on the Eucharist and the alleged communion rites in pagan cults...

...The councils of men were never to be a new society in any real sense...

...unity and sup- port and co6peration and mutual aid among all our great organizations...

...Pestalozza treated of the idea of redemption in Mazdeism...

...The following figures will show at a glance the composition of the congress: Representatives from : Among these : Austria xo Laymen 19 Belgium 5 Bishops, Monsignori I9 Czechoslovakia 4 Secular Priests 40 China I Franciscans 8 France 14 Society of Divine Word 8 Germany 18 Dominicans 4 Holland 2 Jesuits 21 Italy 47 Foreign Missions of Milan 5 Jugoslavia I I Foreign Missions of Parma 2 Poland 8 Father of Pious Schools I Russia I White Fathers 4 Spain 2 Benedictines 3 Switzerland 3 Carmelites 2 United States I Oblates M.I...

...Without counting those who took part in only one or the other assembly, 13o members were present from Italy and other lands...

...Wishing an abundance of heavenly light upon this session, the August Pontiff heartily bestows the blessing desired...

...Your Letter The words in your letter Are sea-shells-Castaways that whisper Unmistakably Of the home whence they came...

...there is no mistaking his attitude...

...To judge by the highly laudatory newspaper articles which appeared on the congress, notably in Italia, the Corriere and the Osservatore Romano, and by the congratulations offered by numerous Church digni-taries, the impression produced by the gathering at Milan would seem to have been excellent...

...Father Allo, O.P., of the University of Fribourg, presented an erudite study on the so-called savior-gods of Greek and Roman paganism...

...and that of Father Schebesta, S.V.D., among the Pygmies of Malacca...

...It has shown, as on its part, the Vatican Exposition showed, the incomparable re-sources secured for the service of science by the col- laboration of missionaries...

...All these have been lacking but some way, somehow those difficulties must be overcome if the least success is to be expected...

...One point deserves special stress...

...Before a new plan can be seriously considered, it must have the strong and clear endorsements of bishops and archbishops...

...The councils sought only to aid, as active allies of hierarchy and clergy, working under them and with them...

...Franz Boas--Professors Lowie, Kroeber, Goldenweiser, Wissler, Sapir and others...

...Wunderle on moral notions among the non- civilized...

...He notes with pleasure the resolution of the congress to adhere closely to the Church's teaching in its constant quest of truth, drawing materials and direct experience from mission documents, whereas less prudent investigators, who assume almost exclusive possession of this field of study, use it as 644 T H E C O M M O N W E A L November 4, 1925 a basis for theories contrary to the Catholic Faith...

...Its importance becomes all the more evident when we take into consideration the fact that modern rationalists and evolutionists pretend to find among the primitives conclusive proof of earliest man's slow emergence from animality, a development whose be- ginnings are marked by a complete absence of all no- tions of morality and of the Divinity...

...This year two questions were discussed in the second part--guilt (moral con-science) and redemption from sin, or salvation...

...It is unfortunate that present circumstances and lack of funds will not permit, as was possible in the past, the publication of a report of the meetings, use- ful as such a document would undoubtedly be to extend the action and increase the fruits of this scholarly re- union...

...Compton Mackenzie replies to the editor's question by offering some of the considerations which led him to become a Catholic, it explains itself naturally enough...

...Father Lindworsky, S.J., in a notable paper, in which he discussed the notion of causality among non-civilized peoples, proved the essential identity of the logic of the primitives with that of civilized men --a thesis defended in America by such men as Doctors Boas and Dixon and Professor Radin...

...Because all would not in the past the story is one of failure...

...I have been irresistibly reminded of this story by the recent action of an English morning paper in start- ing a series of articles by well known novelists under the heading My Religion...

...On the other hand, Father Dubois, S.J., former superior of the seminary at Fianarantsoa, speaking from first-hand knowledge ac- quired in Madagascar, revealed a notable decline in corresponding ideas in the case of a people much more developed, the Malgaches...

...The interest it commands is mani- fest...

...that of Father Schu-reacher, of the White Fathers, to Ruanda in eastern Africa...

...It may well bo that in the providence of God the time was not ripe and that this new disappointment is for the best but those who have hoped and struggled for unity are anxious to carry on under any plan presented for con- sideration and found worthy...

...Founded in I91I, under the patronage of Cardinal Mercier of Malines, by Father Schmidt, S.V.D...

...The wearer, when challenged for an explanation, said the first two letters stood for "my own," and that he meant to go on wearing it...

...The others write of religions which are their own invention, for which they themselves are responsible--their religion and nobody else's...

...Note Step-anov's recent work in Russian, Principles and Methods of Anti-Religious Propaganda...

...Its fourth session, to which attention was directed on the editorial page of The Commonweal in the issue of August I9, was held in the University of the Sacred Heart at Milan, from September I7 to 25...

...CARDINAL GASPARRI...

...Father Schmidt further announced that His Holiness has decided to establish at Rome, in addition to the Museum of Missions, a Museum of Ethnology...

...This is not the time to complain...

...Would not this, in fact, be a happy solution of the problem for America and England, in both of which an international congress now seems impossi- ble by reason of depreciated continental currencies...

...MY IRRELIGION By RONALD KNOX W HEN the millennium arrives, as there is every reason to think it will before long, there will, no doubt, be an Index Jocorum, or official Joe Miller, which will be a blessing to writing fellows on both sides of the Atlantic, and still more to the public...

...Now membership in the groups which actually are societies calls for certain qualifica- tions and imposes certain requirements, but there were to be no such restrictions or demands in the councils of men...

...Until all work together, lay labor must be vain...

...The last days were given over to a discussion of the concept of redemption among non-civilized and some civilized races...

...That was due to misunderstanding, to lack of vision, to utter lack of information...

...Et~6ENE C. DOLSON...

...Junker of Vienna, showed how the religion of Osiris had eliminated the notion from the Egyptian conscience, and Professor Ballini how prim- itive Buddhism, a sort of mind cure, looked for man's salvation by man's unaided effort...

...The phrase, of course, is a perfectly legitimate one...

...He dwelt in particular on the admirable publications of the Smithsonian Institute, of the American Museum of Natural History, of the University of California, of the Department of Mines of Ottawa, and on the activity of American scholars, friends or disciples of Dr...

...No duties were proposed or suggested but those which should have been assumed by all, whether in contact with the councils or not...

...Yet through misunderstanding and misrepresentation, even though not intentional, one more effort to reach it has passed and a new plan must be had...