Communications

...Stuart calls the "unfortunate people," i.e., the Catholics of Scotland, was mainly due to "oppressive tactics by the nonCatholics of Scotland...

...Stockley professed to have found in The Commonweal.—The Editors...

...A fairly intelligent woman (but obviously one without good manners) once told me, at a social function, that "I could tell any lie I wanted for twenty-five cents...

...I did deal, at some length, with the educational situation, making no attacks on anyone for the old system...

...But the antagonism of the "refined" and "cultured" Glaswegians against them resulted in their being driven from the city to seek refuge at Antigonish, Nova Scotia...

...He was himself at least a generation removed from the misery and squalor of the slave-ship...

...I have further gathered much information about Haitian, and in a less degree about Cuban practices, in part at least from natives of these islands...

...Diligent search has failed to bring to light the phrase, "Now that Ireland is independent," tvhich Dr...

...Walter Stuart, it is regrettable that he should have failed to recognize the true causes responsible for Catholics in Scotland having to become hewers of wood and drawers of water...

...There are many painful illustrations of the trials endured by these Acadians...

...Moreover, while vaudouxism is practically unknown in Jamaica, I understand that in Haiti, where the Ashanti were excluded and the Dahomeyans exercised the dominant influence among the slaves, this form of ophiolatreia reigns supreme...

...Would not, for instance, Spaulding's Reformation—in which Protestant authorities are called upon to defend the Church—exert some influence on the minds of those who have hitherto accepted as axiomatic everything that was written or spoken against the Church...

...IRELAND AND INDEPENDENCE Cork, Ireland...

...Stuart by his "imperium in imperio" and also his "direct action of the Vatican" introduces a clever yet false implication as subtle as Mr...

...Even in Jamaica, obeah, duppyism, myallism, etc., are commonly confused by the inexperienced, while as a matter of fact they are in some essential respects quite antagonistic...

...Father Furdek has done more then any other man to make and shape the true AmericanSlovak character...

...Thus, myallism, actually a residue of the old religious tribal dance of the Ashanti of West Africa, at times devotes itself to "digging up" or destroying obeah, which in its strict sense is the survival of Ashanti witchcraft...

...Let me suggest that on the Caribbean shore of Colombia there is a "Cartagena" which has certain historical associations with piracy...

...This is the catacumbal psychology...

...Would not a constant reading of The Commonweal dispel, for example, in the case of Mexico, the absurd contention that Catholics are attempting to bring about war between the two nations...

...in order that in later days these pupils might avoid breaking out into print to display a thorough unacquaintance with the sad events and circumstances which have resulted in past, and to a large extent present, conditions existing among Catholics in Scotland...

...Editor of Slovak v Amerike...

...The rural districts, on the other hand, deprived as they are of this social solvent, prove a fertile soil for the seeds of intolerance...

...Professor Stockley, with terseness and logic unanswerable, showed in your issue of April 13 that if words had any meaning, Ireland was not independent—^yet, nor could it be, while the present regime lasts...

...Whitehead gone pretty far afield in associating the term with Carthage in Africa, and an evil reputation of that city which was altogether Roman and not African...

...but even if I agreed with Mr...

...The public library—one of the most potent influences for good in the hfe of the nation today—might very easily be used to introduce the Catholic mind and spirit to the countless thousands that live in Stygian darkness as far as any real knowledge of the Catholic Church is concerned...

...Then, too, the term obeah or obi is seemingly extended from its own technical meaning to every form of West Indian witchcraft or sujjerstition...

...Would not the perusal of the weekly diocesan papers give the lie to the belief that the clergy attempt to influence or control elections, since the critics would look in vain for any dogmatic utterances on the part of the clergy regarding politics and things political...

...He was debarred from the learned professions, being ineligible to act as a lawyer or a) doctor or to become an officer in the army or navy...

...The colony still exists there under Bishop Cameron...

...Henry S. Whitehead notes that among the Negroes of the Virgin Islands, "Carthaginian" is a term of opprobrium...

...Five years in Jamaica, much of the time in the heart of the "bush," has familiarized me with the local obeah and kindred superstitions...

...Many persons who would hesitate to seek the facts from the logical source—Catholic authorities—will quietly slip home with a book to the seclusion of their study to see and read what the Papists have to say for themselves...

...By legal enactments no Catholic was permitted to own land...

...I am not aware that "the Education Act of 1918, inspired by the then Minister of Education, Sir M. A. L. Fisher, was bitterly opposed by every member of the Scottish Catholic Episcopal save one...

...I laid due emphasis on the economic and political difficulties arising from the Irish peasant origin of most of the faithful...

...He could not own a horse valued at more than $25.00...

...Would any self-respecting American citizen be satisfied with the thing miscalled freedom in Ireland...

...Stuart and I differ in our opinion of the likelihood of his choosing...

...Still, we must always hope that some few may believe us— and continue on our weary road...

...Stuart must be aware that the English Education Department has no control over Scottish education...

...This, I believe, is the underlying thought in Theodore Maynard's admirable article in America (January 24, 1925) under the caption, The Best Method of Catholic Propaganda...

...But again in your issue of April 27 we read from the pen of one of the assistant editors this sapient remark: "With the entry of Ireland into the ranks of the free nations," and one cannot help wondering why a reputable paper like The Commonweal tolerates the repetition of such a falsehood...

...William E. Gladstone said of these laws, that they were the most oppressive and cruel ever inflicted upon any nation in civilized history...

...It is difficult to speak temperately on this subject...

...The West Indian black, no less than his brother of the States, tries to satisfy "Bockra Massa" by giving whatever answer will please the most, regardless of objective reality...

...ANN INGERSOLL MEIGS...

...TO the Editor:—The article on Obi in the Caribbean in your issue of June i, has much of interest...

...He was an ambitious man and an indefatigable worker who had not only built up the culture, civism and religion of the American-Slovak citizenry, but the Czech as well...

...Surely Mr...

...No credit for the Act of 1918 belongs to the Secretary for Scotland (Mr...

...Compelled by dire necessity...

...The reference is clearly to Cartagena, Colombia, which in its prime was the chief slave-mart of the new world...

...Because of a scarcity in manual labor, the authorities of Glasgow invited the Clan Macdonald to come to that city to work as pottery laborers...

...PROTESTANT CONTROVERSY Philadelphia, Pa...

...I stated this in my first draught, deleting it for no better motive than a memory of the counsel de mortuis...

...But hasn't Mr...

...When, therefore, Mr...

...MARY MACSWINEY...

...I again apologize for having to deal with errors better perhaps forgotten...

...They were housed in the east end of the city...

...Now that we have left the catacombs, I hope our psychology will change...

...Finally, as I think my article shows, I am aware of a good deal of dirty linen that could be aired (it could hardly be washed) before those who read this paper...

...Possibly it was this that prompted him to write his book on The World and Its Mysteries...

...In reply, I can only assert it...

...They are no longer* surrounded by that former spirit of open aggression but are still combatting a conspiracy of silence which refuses to break to tell the sad story of their spoliation and oppression...

...JOHN C. SCIRANKA...

...TO the Editor:—My experience in regard to Protestant controversy is the same as that of your correspondent in your issue of May i8...

...Whitehead may have drawn his information...

...I did not state nor, I think, imply, that the condition of what Mr...

...DENIS W . BROGAN...

...The lack of Catholic books and periodicals in the rural public libraries is astounding, and in the great majority of instances this condition exists on account of the complete indifference to the matter on the part of the Catholic population, and what is more, the Catholic clubs and societies...

...The very word obeah is the white man's effort to transliterate the Ashanti term for witchcraft, obayi, as heard from the lips of the early Ashanti slaves who were usually known as Koromantyns...

...One is the history of the pitiable remnant of the brave Catholic Macdonalds of Glengarry...

...TO the Editor:—^The powerful undercurrent of religious bigotry and racial intolerance ever present beneath the surface and now and then taking form and shape and rising to the top for air when the atmosphere is congenial and exhilarating, proves beyond cavil or serious doubt that the Catholic Church has made little, if any, progress in removing the suspicions and evil imputations of yesterday from the minds of the present generation...

...He was refused education, except that under proselytizing agencies...

...It would be well for the Board of Education in their school history of Scotland to teach their charges a few of the injustices meted out to Scotch and Irish Catholics...

...This mistake is a common one, and no doubt Mr...

...Robert Munro) and his permanent officials...

...METHODS OF CATHOLIC PROPAGANDA Reading, Mass...

...Catholics from Ireland and the country places of Scotland herded together in the poorer localities of these strange Scotch towns and cities...

...If asked honest questions and giving honest answers, we are not believed, either because of our supposed ignorance, or certain untruthfulness, I often think, as your correspondent does: "Why put the question at all...

...A slight knowledge of canon law would have told him that a Catholic bishop has rights, such as the case under consideration, which even the Pope of Rome must not infringe upon...

...Where did Mr...

...My own experience has been somewhat restricted and this may make me over-exacting in the precise meaning of the word...

...TO the Editor—In The Commonweal of February 16 occurred the phrase, "Now that Ireland is independent...

...THOMAS FLANAGAN...

...Our Catholic organizations and societies could employ their time and energies to no better purpose than to take immediate steps to have a fair representation of Catholic literature placed side by side with the controversial works of Protestant writers on the shelves of our rural libraries...

...but when I told her that she could do the same without paying anything, she could not see this...

...OBI IN THE CARIBBEAN Boston, Mass...

...Stuart has the hardihood to state, in face of such historical facts, that the Catholics in Scotland love life in the shades of the underworld, it is, if I speak gently, adding insult to injury...

...But such second-hand material is at best only half reliable...

...Thanks, however, to the care and teaching of bishops, priests and religious of the Catholic Church in Scotland, the faithful are coming forth from the catacombs, some of them scarred, no doubt, but as a body still Catholic, still moral, and still possessing a strong faith in their Church and Holy Scriptures...

...These two Catholic high schools were erected upward of eighty years ago by the donations of Catholic denizens of the "shades...

...Stuart obtain his information that the Vatican used "direct action" to have the bishops and priests of Scotland accept the Education Act of 1918...

...Their traditional love for education is manifested by the two institutes of higher learning in the dty of Glasgow: Saint Mungo's Academy and the Jesuit College of Saint Aloysius...

...Whitehead has gathered his data in those West Indian Islands of which I know practically little...

...But in Jamaica, where the Ashanti influence was paramount among the slaves, obeah in its purest form may be studied even today despite the strict government regulations against its practice...

...JAMES F . DESMOND...

...I have taken the liberty of reprinting Mr...

...However, it is a little far-fetched to ascribe to ancient Carthage the opprobrium attached by the Virgin Islander to the term "worthless old Cartagene...

...I am aware that the terms offered were strongly opposed by the late Archbishop of Glasgow, and that his opposition would have been fatal but for the action of Rome...

...The makers of bricks without straw are proud to be pxror, rather than sell their religious birthright for a mess of pottage, or for the opportunity of becoming shipbuilding magnates and coal barons...

...Palickar's article in the Slovak v Amerike (the Slovak in America) which is one of the American-Slovak journals printed in the Slovak language...

...The Catholics of Scotland are in truth emerging from the catacombs of ostracism and, to a large degree, economic pressure...

...A man may quit the catacombs and, keeping his eyes shut, remain in darkness...

...ARTHUR GUITERMAN...

...But truth and justice demand that they be dragged out of the limbo of forgiven but not forgotten offenses...

...FATHER FURDEK—LEADER New York, N. Y. TO the Editor:—I am exceedingly pleased to express herewith my enthusiasm for the brilliant article on Father Furdek written by Mr...

...In a word, he was civilly dead...

...Pure obeah, then, is essentially Ashanti in origin, just as vaudouxism is derived from the snake-worshippers of Dahomey...

...New York, N. Y. TO the Editor:—In his exceedingly interesting article, Obi in the Caribbean, in your issue of June i, Mr...

...TO the Editor:—In your issue of May 18, Mr.'Walter Stuart disagrees, rather vehemently, with what he imagines to be the thesis of my article, The Church in Scotland...

...In the large metropolitan centres, where races and creeds of every denomination are constantly mingling, the virus of religious and racial hatred is noticeably lacking, and this fact gives rise to the theory that contact is superior to education in spanning the gap that apparently separates the Catholic citizen from his Protestant brethren...

...Stuart as to the expediency of doing so, what right have we to expect to use The Commonweal as a laundry...

...Ireland is not free, but Ireland shall be—not with any sham freedom, shackled to an alien empire, but with that freedom which is her right...

...Marshall's letter to Governor Smith...

...Aside from his social achievements amongst the Slovaks of this country, he did a great deal in the study of astronomy, physics and chemistry...

...A creole or native Negro always looked down with great contempt on the "oversea niggers" directly imported from Africa...

...JOSEPH J. WILLIAMS, F.A.G.S...

...It is also unfortunate that he should have raised the issue at all, because, in order to perceive the background of the present position of both Irish and Highland Catholics in that country, it is very necessary to recall, which I am loath to do, the horribly cruel disabilities under which their forbears labored...

...Their children were reared in vicious surroundings where, half a century previous to their coming, it was necessary to enact an Infanticide Act, a measure that was made "famous" by Sir Walter Scott in his Heart of Midlothian...

...Stephen J. Palickar for The Commonweal of June 8. The article, which is a very valuable and interesting biographical sketch of one of the most able leaders the American Slovaks ever had, portrays the true character of Reverend Stephen Furdek and his untiring zeal in the interest of his people whom he loved so much...

...Stuart, of course, denies the egress from the catacombs...

...No doubt in many West Indian Islands there must be a conglomeration of obeah, vaudouxism, and the tribal forms of witchcraft from other parts of Africa, and from these Mr...

...It is simply impossible and better avoided...

...These schools almost invariably obtain the highest places in the government secret competitive examinations, held among the high schools of all denominations...

...From a realization of legal inferiority came a rooted suspicion of Protestants, even if, or, especially if, dona ferentes...

...Cambridge, Mass...

...For many years he was disfranchised and forbidden to be a member of Parliament...

...One cannot discuss anything (even the weather) with people who begin by disbelieving what we say...

...That there is a certain amount of Masochism in the attitude of the average Catholic in Scotland is, unfortunately, true...

...Nevertheless, he can, if he chooses, see the light...