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PERTH, THURSDAY, MARCH 4, 1943.
NO. 9,065.
Soviet Constitution Guarantee
. . .
"Freedom of Religion" in the Soviet "/"What the Statistics of Official Catholic Year -Book Disclose
prisuned from 1923 to 1926, and again from 1929 to 1933, and is now reported in exile in Lithuania. In the same Archdiocese, the Most Rev. Vincent Ilgin, Apostolic Administrator in Kharov, appointed in 1926, was imprisoned in December of that Russia to -day with 8,338 churchesHe has been year and then exiled. I.744 of which are Catholic, the Melbourne "Advocate" makes the following in Lithuania since 1933. The Rev. Michael Jodokas, Apostolic observation, and gives the true facts Administrator in Kazan, Samara, and about religion in Russia to -day. Simbirsk, was imprisoned in 1929 and It is interesting to compare these has not been released. "official figures" of M. Maisky with the In the Diocese of Zytomir, Monsiginformation given in last year's issue nor Theophilus Shalski, Apostolic Adof the official year books of the Cathoand the Vice -Administraministrator, Pontificio." the "Annuario lic Church, tor, Monsignor Casimir Naskreckv, were Of 13 Apostolic Administrators in the country's ecclesiastical jurisdiction imprisoned in 1926 and 1929, respectivesince 1926, eleven are in prison or exile. ly, and have been exiled since 1932. The Rev. John Swiderski, Apostolic while information is wanting about the other two, and their place of resi- Administrator in the Diocese of Kamieniec, and his Vicar, the Rev. Alexan dence is not known. The various dioceses of Russia were der Wierzwicki, were imprisoned, the entrusted to Apostolic Administrators former in 1930, and the latter in 1932. Father Swiderski was exiled in 1932, soon after the Revolution, molten the Communists refused to toleratt the pre- hut Father Wierzwicki, as tar as is this pro known, is still in prison. even But sence of a Bishop.
Commenting on the statement made by a correspondent to the "Age" that the Soviet Ambassador to Britain (M. Maisky) had given official statistics to -how that there are 58,422 members of the clergy of all faiths practising in
-
"One of the great epiritual tragebiee of our generation ... surpassing possibly the destruction of the Sixteenth Centurg" visional arrangements, it appears from statistics of the dioceses, has not been tc the liking of the Government.
Prelates Exiled. In the Archdiocese of Mohilew, lour Administrators and one Auxiliary Adminitrator have been forced to leave
'Its country.
Most Rev. 13olezlao Sloskan Apostolic
sl
Administrator in Mohilew and in Minsk, elected in 1926, was imprisoned on August 10, 1927, then exiled to Siberia, and was last reported resident in Riga, Latvia. The Apostolic Administrator in Moscow, the Most Rev. Pius Eugene Neveu, elected in 1926, could not be exiled because of his French nationality, but he was not permitted to remain in Russia, and is now in Paris. The Most Rev. Theophilus Matulanis, Auxiliary Apostolic Administrator in Leningrad, appointed in 1918, was im-
Held Prisoner. Two Administrators Apostolic in Tiraspol Diocese have been in prison since They are Monsignor August, 1930. Augustine Baumtrog, Apostolic Administrator of the Volga, and Monsignor
John Roth, Apostolic Administrator of the Caucasus. Of the two Vicars ad interim in this diocese, the Rev. Dr. Stephen Demurof and Monsignor Carapet Dirlughian, They are respecnothing is known. tively Vicar of Tiflis and Georgia and Administrator Apostolic the Vicar to for Armenian Catholics throughout Russia. the post of Administrator in both cases being vacant. These facts add to the picture of the Church's condition in Soviet Russia, which might be gathered from the faci that all resident Bishops have long since been removed from their Sees. Since the post of Vicar Apostolic in Siberia and that of Apostolic Adminis-
THE SHOP FOR BETTER SERVICE. Any goods sent to country not satisfactory we pay freight. Our motto is: "We have it; we will get it, or it cannot be had."
*Bolshevists Wage Cruel and Relentless War Against Russian Orthodox Religion also . . trator in each of the two sections of Siberia are vacant, as the Papal Year Book also shows, the six ecclesiastical jurisdictions of European and Asiatic Russia are left entirely without Ordinaries, and all the provisional administrative posts, with two possible exceptions, either have never been filled or have been vacated by the imprisonment or exile of their Administrators. Further light is thrown on the matter by the Rev. Andrew Beck, of the Congregation of the Assumption, speaking at the last annual meeting in London of the Catholic Truth Society. Father Beck referred to another member of his Order, the Rev. Leopold Braun, as "the only priest who for several years has been publicly celebrating Mass in Moscow. The presence of Father Leopold Braun in Moscow, under the protection of the American Government, said Father Beck, "seems to me a symbol of what the younger generation of Catholics in England and America may yet achieve for Russia. "I see that solitary priest, so restricted and handicapped in his work for souls, as an outpost of defence for the Church, hanging on grimly until the time for the spiritual offensive begins and the Gospel is again preached to the Russian people. "It is a very terrible and tragic thing that thousands of Russians are to -day dying in battles at the hands of the Nazi army, dying in defence of their homes and-let us never forget it -indirectly, but quite certainly, in defence of ours, the majority of them 1aptised members of the Church, schismatic, perhaps, many of them, but val-
idly baptised into the Church of Christ;
and they are dying without the Last Sacraments, without a priest to give them a last absolution or a last anointing. .
.
.
"That, to my mind, is one of the great spiritual tragedies of our generation, surpassing possibly the destruction of religion in the Sixteenth Century." So much for the Catholic Church. Russian -Orthodox Religion. Regarding the Russian -Orthodox religion, an enlightening comment is furnished by the "Memorandum on Religious Freedom in the U.S.S.R.," which was issued at the end of last year by the Russian -American National Committee over the signatures of Archbisand hop Vitaly, Boris Sergievsky, Boris Brasol, of the Russian Orthodox Church. file Memorandum states: Ever since the Bolshevists assumed the reins of power in 1917, they have been, and still are, waging a cruel and relentless war against religion in general and Christian religion in particular.
The Soviet Constitution of 1918, while providing for the freedom of religious and anti -religious propaganda (Article 13), deprived the ministers of God of all civic rights and placed them in a class along with common law criminals (clauses d and g of Article 65). The Constitution of 1924, verbatim reiterated those provisions in Articles However, Ar4 and 69 respectively. ticle 4 of the 1929 version of the Constitution was amended as follows: (Continued on Back Cover.)
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