Moral Conditions in South America

Buffalo since November 5 to canvass :for a colored Lutheran mission to be begun at that place.

BuFF,\LO, N. Y. - A mission was opened on New Year's Day with an informal l'eception in the afternoon, followed by a brief service. On the following Sunday afternoon the first service of the .Stmday-sehool was held, and at night services were -conducted bY Rev. E. E. Mueller and Rev. Il. F. Wind, the Institutional :?iiissio.nary. A well-locatecl house enes as tempo1·ai-y quarters. rrhe owner, -a Lutheran, has granted the ui;e of this 1·oomy house, without rental charge, until l\fay 1. The lower floor is tempo1·arily fitted up as a chapel, ancl the upper floor can be used as a residence fo1· a missionary. The Board for Colored :Missions is being appealed to for a missionary for this promising field. 'l'he writer earnestly hopes that a good missionary will be secured; for he believes that •our work has a wonderful opportunity at Buffalo. Iler is a district without a church, a list of prospects, a house for services (no store could be 1·ented) and for the missionary, and a lively iuter~st on the pa.rt of the Lutheran congregations of the city. Vi'bat more could a missionary desire? , STATISTICS. - 'l'he annual reports for the year 1925 show the following totals for this :field:· Souls, 1,579; communicant members, 913; voting members, 173; schools, l t.l:; male teachers, S ( 3 of these are pastors also) ; lady teachers, 14; pupils, 795; pupils in Sunday-schools, 925; baptisms, 100; confirmations, 69; communed, 2,743; marriages, 17; bmials, 85; contributions, $9,050.83; with boa1·d and tuition at Immanuel Lutheran College, $14,187.'i'·.l:. Concord leads in the number of souls (231), of communicant members (127), of voting members (33), o.f baptisms (16), of confirmations (15), and of funerals (8) ; Kannapolis, in th~ number· of persons that communed ( 447) ; Spartanburg, S. C., in the number of pupils in school (154) _ and in Sunday-school (90) ; Atlanta, Ga., in the number of marriages ( 4) ; and Yonkers, N. Y., leads the congregations in total income ($1,747.19). J.P. SMITH.

Moral Conditions in South America.

Some years ago a plenary council Qf Latin American bjshops was held at Rome. In the Acts and Decrees of this council the following may be read : "The widespread pollution of fo'.rnication is to be deplored and conciemnea, but especially the . most foul pest of concubinage, which, increasing both in public and in p1·fratc, is leading not a few men of every station to eternal destruction. l\Iost unfortunate will be the religious training and the moral c~timation of clrildren begotten o.f an w1happy union of this sort. o dreadful a plague brings in feat· and terror alike destructive o.f all religion, of all honor, and of true civilization. On that account, moreover, the condition o.f those lh"ing iu concubinage is pitiable, because, having wallowed in the filth of unchastity, they are truly com,erted only with great difficulty, because, being made a mo t dangerous rock o.f stumbling and a cause of many o[euses, it is with great difficulty that they are willing to satisfy God and men and the Church. ~l'hereCorc let the guardians of souls, with bowels of mercy, seek out· wandering sheep of this kind ' ancl lead them back to Christ's fold ; and, terrified by their own ·difficulties and. placing their hope in

Goel, let them despair of the safety of no sinner, but with the most a1·dent zeal let them be solicitous for t:he conversion of all sinne1·s. Ilence, availing themselves o:f the· advice of their own bishop, let them strive to prepai-e a plain ,vay of conversion, and as often as scandals. can be removed from the midst by legitimate mal'l'iage, let thein glacUy remit the temporal prerogatives and rights that they may · win souls for Gou and legitimize offspring, accord. ing to the rules handed down by approved a~thors. "And with no less zeal let parish priests and confessors be solicitous for the conversion of adul. terers, since their temporal and eternal l~t ought to be 1·egarded as utterly niiserable. O.f these adulterers the Council of 'rrent has said: 'It is a grave sin that dissolute men should have concubines, but it is a most grave sin, and one committed with remukable , CQntempt for this great sacrament [matrimony] that married men also should live in this state of damnation and should dare sometimes to support . and keep them at ho.me with their wh•es.' " · 'l'hroughout South America it is. safe to say that from one-fourth to one half of the population is illegitimate, born of parents married neither by

Church nor by State. The most deplorable feature 'is that the priests in only too many instances set an e,•il example. It is stated that statistics were presented to the council of South American bishops above referred to which showed that in Latin

America, of 18,00Q priests 3,000 . were living in regular wedlock, 4,000 in .concubinage with \heir so-called housekeepers, aµd 1,500 in relations more or less open with women of doubtful reputation . F. J. L.