THE author of this book, the full title of which is "The Decay of the Church of Rome," was a Franciscan monk in England when he withdrew from the Roman Catholic Church twenty years ago. Since then he has attained distinction in literature that has brought him to the front rank among English authors. 'Among other books he has written, "Twelve Years in a Monastery," "St. Augustine and His Age," "Talleyrand," "The Iron Cardinal," "Peter Abelard," and "Life in a Modern Monastery."
In his latest work, a large volume of 320 pages, Mr. McCabe reviews the events which have brought a net loss in membership to the Roman Church of eighty millions in the last seventy years.
The work is startling in its stern accuracy, painstaking research and vigorous presentation of facts and figures. It is also remarkable for its fairness of tone and freedom from religious bias. Mr. McCabe takes up the condition of the Roman Church in the different countries of the world, one by one, the statements of fact being in each case reinforced by figures from official sources, many quotations being taken from Roman Catholic publications.
So far as the United States is concerned, it is curious to note that Mr. McCabe's figures are less than those given by such Roman Catholic authorities as Miss M. T. Elder and Bishop McFaul. Upon that showing the loss has been six millions in the last fifteen years. in spite of the heavy immigration. Mr. McCabe's figures do not come down to quite such a late date, but he puts the loss at one million for the last ten years of the nineteenth century.
As to the cultural condition of Roman Catholicism in this country, Mr. McCabe points out that here-—as everywhere else——it is burdened with a high percentage of poor and illiterate, and that "the percentage of Roman Catholics in the jails and workhouses is a very long way out oflall proportion to their numbers."
In commenting upon the aggressions of Rome in Anglo-Saxon Countries during the last century, the assertion is made that "apart from France the Roman Church has lost more heavily in the English-speaking world than it has done in the Latin world," and figures are given to prove its accuracy.
As to the Latin countries—France, Italy, Spain, Portugal, and Spanish America—"there can be little doubt that before long the Church of Rome will have lost half its strength." In each country and in each part of each country the secessions are in strict proportion to the spread of education. The seceders are literate to the extent of 90 per cent, and include the great majority of the educated men. The faithful are illiterate to the extent of 85 per cent; grossly ignorant to the extent of 70 per cent; imperfectly civilized to the extent of at least 20 per cent.
In regard to Austria, the Los von Rom movement is said to express only a small fraction of the Roman losses, which are put down as at least three millions since I848.
Another encouraging sign of the times is the spirit manifested by not a few of the priests of Rome as well as the people. Recently the Editor received a letter from a priest in the West who had requested a sample copy of The Converted Catholic. In it he said: "Pray, pray that the merciful God may enlighten you as He did Saul on the way to Damascus, and become a member of the true Church. I will remember you every day in my prayers," and he signed himself "Your true friend."
In his concluding chapter, Mr. McCabe says he believes he has understated the losses of the Roman Church, and that his largest statements are based on figures that cannot be questioned. France. Great Britain, the United States and Russia account for the loss of nearly fifty millions.
One boast of the Roman hierarchy here is the number of people who attend their churches. Mr. McCabe says that a return of the average number of churchgoers in Germany, Austria. Italy, Spain and South America would probably add many more million seceders to the list.
In closing his book, the author says "the outlook of the Church is as dark as the whole stretch of its history has been for the last century and a quarter."