IT has been assumed by many social reformers, most of whom ought to know better, that the Catholic Church will use her influence to support the wealthy and powerful rather than to champion the poor and disinherited. It is to disprove this stupid, and often malignant, lie that the pamphlets in this volume have been written. Therein are briefly set forth the record of her dealings with the labouring-classes throughout the ages of her greatest secular power, and her clear teaching on the rights and duties of those classes in this present time; and there are added two appeals to those working men and women of this country whom the injustice of our chaotic social system has driven into revolt against God and His laws. For nineteen hundred years the Catholic Church has been known as "the Church of the Poor." Now, at the dawn of the twentieth century, she still follows in the footsteps of the Carpenter of Nazareth and His followers, those labouring men and women who "preached the good tidings to the poor."

CONTENTS

A LETTER TO THE WORKING-MEN OF ENGLAND.

CHRISTIAN DEMOCRACY IN PRE-REFORMATION TIMES.

By Abbot Gasquet, O.S.B.

THE CHURCH AND LABOUR.

By Abbot Snow, O.S.B.

1. The Church and the Slave.

2. The Church and the Serf.

3. The Church and the Crafts.

4. The Church and the Workman.

CHRISTIAN ASPECTS OF THE LABOUR QUESTION.

By the same.

FAIR TREATMENT FOR HONEST WORK.

By the same.

THE CATHOLIC CHURCH AND THE SWEATING SYSTEM.

By Leslie A. Toke.

LEO XIII ON THE CONDITION OF LABOUR.

By Cardinal Manning.

THOUGHTS FOR FREETHINKERS: AN APPEAL TO YOUNG MEN.

By the Very Rev. Canon Barry, D.D.

THOUGHTS FOR CREEDLESS WOMEN.

By Emily Hickey.

Catholicism and Socialism

Containing

Christian Civilization and the Perils that threaten

it. By the ARCHBISHOP OF PHILADELPHIA.

Socialism. By the Rev. JOSEPH RICKABY, S.J.

Some Economic Considerations of Socialism.
ALEXANDER P. MOONEY, M.D.

By

Some Ethical Considerations of Socialism. By the

same.

Socialism and Religion. By the Rev. JOHN ASHTON, S.J.

Socialism, By CHARLES S. Devas, M.A.

Plain Words on Socialism. By the same.

The Socialist Movement. By ARTHUR J. O'CONNOR.

Social Work for Catholic Layfolk:

Containing

The Layman in the Pre-Reformation Church. By Abbot GASQUET, O.S.B.

The Layman in the Church. By the Very Rev. Canon BARRY, D.D.

The Work of the Catholic Laity. By Cardinal VAUGHAN. The Help of the Laity. By the Rev. JOHN NORRIS.

Rescue Work. By Lady Edmund TALBOT.

Settlement Work. By the same.

Work in the Hop-Gardens. By BERTRAND W. Devas. ·
Retreats for Workers. By CHARLES PLATER, S.J.
Study-Clubs for Working-Men. By C.C. MARTINDALE, S.J.
Some Methods of Social Study. By LESLIE A. TOKE.

CATHOLIC TRUTH SOCIETY, 69 SOUTHWARK BRIDGE ROAD, S.E.

A LETTER

TO THE WORKING MEN OF ENGLAND.

-:0:

THIRTEEN hundred years ago the Christian religion. was brought to England by a good and holy man called Augustine.

Augustine was sent by a man, equally good and holy, called Gregory.

The religion preached by Augustine was the Roman Catholic religion, and the man Gregory, who sent him, was the Pope of Rome.

Augustine could not preach any other religion, because there was no other Christian religion known. The many different Protestant sects and religions, which are the stumbling-block and scandal of the present age, had not been invented. All the Christians in the world held but one Faith, and that was the Roman Catholic Faith.

England was, at the coming of Augustine, inhabited. by a people called the Saxons, who had driven the older inhabitants, the Britons, into Wales and Cornwall. Many of the Britons were Christians and, of course, Roman Catholics, having received the Faith from Pope Eleutherius about one hundred and eighty years after our Lord's Ascension. But, owing to the misfortunes of war and their conquered condition, their religion had sunk to the lowest ebb, and they did nothing to spread it among the Saxons. Hence, when Augustine came, England

(62)