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THE FAR HORIZON
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A Glance at the Field at Home and Abroad
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SOUTH AMERICA P ROBABLY th e re is no country in the world which is still so much under the power and influence of th e priests, as P araguay, South Amer ica. The p riest’s influence is so g reat everywhere in th a t country th a t it is very difficult to get th e people to even listen to the Gospel. No m a tte r how bad and immoral th e p riests may be, th e people still cling to them and believe th a t they are God’s servants, and th a t as such they are free to do ju st as they please. When we refer to th e evil lives of th e ir priests, the people tell us th a t they are holy, and it is no sin for them to comm it even the vilest of sins. The priests live in open sin and are left in peace. Not one of the “ faith fu l” will say a word again st them. A p riest lived not very far from here, who is in charge of th is “ d eparta m ento.” One day he was found in te r fering in politics. The Comandante of Encarnación was going to p u t him in prison for th e offense, b u t he fled to Posadas, and retu rn ed to his village via Corrientes and Asuncion, tak ing a journey of about a thousand miles to escape th e Com andante; th is p riest is one of the Tory P arty (P artido colo rado ) in one of the villages which is under his care. He was a t the head of the Tory p arty th ere a t the election. His p arty lost, and since last September he has no t once visited th a t village to hold a religious service, as he and th e chief of the village are political enemies, the chief belonging to the L iberal party. This p riest keeps a man to play the harp while he is. dining, also to send him to sleep, and to waken him up again. He spends whole n igh ts in playing cards for money, and when he ~ was asked by a very pious Catholic
“How can you, being a padre, play cards like th a t? ” he answered the man, saying, “Why not, such and such a sain t played cards and w h y should no t I ? ” The poor man could say noth ing more, and although he did not und erstand how it was possible for a man to be th e sp iritu al guide of the people, and a t th e same tim e to play cards, yet if such and such a sain t did it, why should no t th e p riest do the same? Another p riest who w rote a le tte r to one of our members in Yataity, not long kgo, went to a race and got very drunk, and wanted to sell- his long black coat. Another p riest one day got d ru n k and while in th a t sta te went into th e church to hold a service, and scolded th e peo ple very much. Another p riest had charged a bridegroom a good sum of money for his services in conducting the m arriage service, When th e bride groom asked for a receipt in o rder to show it to th e bishop, th e p riest gave him a slap on th e face and told him, “There is the receipt -for you.” These priests are dishonest, u n tru th ful, gluttonous and imm oral; when the religious leaders are so nothing b etter can be expected from th e people. The moral condition of the people could h ardly be worse; it is appalling. Their only hope is Jesus, b u t he is placed far away in th e background, almost entirely out of sigh t; very little is heard of Him who is th e Son of God and the Saviour of mankind. The V irgin Mary, Saint Joseph, and o th er saints, these are placed in th e foreground, and adored and honoured by every class. Yesterday was St. Joseph’s day, and to pass the evening th e priests in Posa das had a cinematograph, w ith th e canvas hanging in fron t of the church
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