Since August 14 of the past year the status of this mission has changed considerably. War has stalked through it from end to end, from east to west and from south to north. Three large sections of this city where Catholic activity and Catholic charity were strong and flourishing lie in lamentable ruins. Hardly~a village or hamlet in the mission districts outside this great city has escaped the consequences of battle. At the present time God alone knows the number of ruined churches, chapels, schools and institutions of charity that lie in the wake of the destructive find pillaging forces of war. An ac-Curate estimate is not yet possible, byt we know that the toll has been We know that many buildings, and small, are but scattered tfeaps of brick and mortar; others are damaged beyond repair; few have Scaped unscathed. ery report fom the outlying districts reads like a litany of the dead. I am told on the highest authority that the major portion of the revenue producing holdings of the mission, revenues earmarked for the support of orphans and for the education of aspirants to the priesthood, have been wiped out.
Sitting in the midst of ruin and desolation, this Catholic Mission of Shanghai has no time to wail and lament. True to the teachings and the spirit of Christ who came upon earth to preach mercy and love, the mission under the direct command and leadership of her bishop has thrown her buildings, her "personnel, every ounce of her energy, every resource at her disposal into the work of salvaging the human wreckage cast upon her shores by the tide of war. Her institutions have been converted into emergency hospitals for the broken bits of humanity rescued from the fields of battle; her devoted religious women, driven by the fortunes of war from their peaceful occupation in their convents, hospitals and schools have written a glorious page in the records of mercy and charity of this city, this Province, and this Nation. Refugees by the thousands, Christian and pagan, destitute and despoiled, have thrown themselves upon her bosom of charity and cried for shelter and bread. And in spite of the heavy material and financial losses which she has suffered, Christ's poor have not been turned away empty-handed. At the present time the fathers and sisters of the mission are either directly caring for or helping in the care of nearly 130,000 of the pitiful victims of strife.
It is a fact, the Bishop writes, that our mission is in partial num; it is no less a fact that our works, so flourishing both in Shanghai and in the interior, will be retarded as an in mediate consequence of our financial losses. How can we continue our schools, our catechumenates, our orphanages and hospitals? Where can we find the means to reconstruct our works of Christian charity? But there is something still left to us; something which cannot be and never will be taken from us, and that is our love of Christ and souls, our unshakeable faith in Divine Omnipotence, our steadfast hope in the. Infinite Mercy of God, our strong resolution to live. and our joy to suffer with Christ for the greater glory of God. The Lord gave: the Lord has taken away, sed be the name of the Lord Ww have placed our hope in Thee, O Lord: and we shall not be confounded forever. We have believed and we do believe unto charity.
Text read from the printed page and cleaned; old type leaves the occasional error.