The Lutheran Pioneer St. Louis — 1931, Page 47

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THE LUTHERAN PIONEER

47

Are You Serving Others?

While Dr. James H. Franklin, a former mission-
ary of the Baptist Church, was traveling across the
continent, an old Negro porter on his car asked him,
“Say, boss, is you a preachah?” “Yes, how did you
guess that?” “Oh, Ah just saw a book in your seat,
and Ah thought you must be a preachah. Ah was
almost a preachah myself onee.” “Why did you
give up?” “Well, sah, Ah’s got a young brothah,
and when Ah told him Ah wanted to be a preachah,
why, he’d been converted hisself, boss. Well, sah, we
talked it ovah and decided he’d go ahead to college
and be a preachah, and Ah’d come back on the road
and work; so Ah did, boss; and every month Ah
sent him money, and he went to college.”

“And did he finally become a preacher?” “Yes,
sah, in Afriky. They call him Bishop Scott.”

“Bishop Scott!” Dr. Franklin gazed with amaze-
ment at the noble figure before him. Bishop Scott is
said to be the first colored preacher whom the Meth-
odist Episcopal Church made a bishop. Dr. Frank-
lin had often read of his heroic life among his people
in Africa.

Dr. Franklin met Bishop Scott in a little town
in Georgia. After the services he went up and shook
hands with him. “Have you a brother who isa porter
on a sleeping-car, Bishop ?” he asked him. Then he
told the incident on the train. “Yes,” said the
colored bishop, and the tears rin down his cheeks,
“he’s my brother, and may God bless him! I owe
everything to him.” — My Church.

Roman Catholic Missionary Forces.

A census has just been completed of the Cath-
olic missionary forces, scattered throughout the
world, which are under the direction of the Sacred
Congregation for the Propagation of the Faith.
The returns show the globe more than ever mapped
out by Catholic propaganda for an immense variety
of missionary agencies, which present a great dis-
play of power and activity.

The jurisdictions which depend on the propa-
ganda — patriarchates, archdioceses, apostolic vica-
riates, apostolic prefectures — are divided into 14
sections. Up to January 1, 1930, the jurisdictions
depending on the propaganda were 28 in Europe,
9 in Western Asia, 44 in India and Burma, 14 in
Siam and Indo-China, 95 in China, 17 in Japan,
16 in North Africa, 30 in South Africa, 22 in North
and Central America, 33 in South America, -31 in

the South Sea Islands, and 29 in Australia and New
Zealand. The statistical returns show that the
Catholics gathered through the missions 13,345,373
converts, to which should be added 1,307,194 cate-
chumens. These figures do not include the missions
of Australia and New Zealand.

The number of persons working in missionary
fields (European priests, native priests, catechists,
lay brothers, sisters, teachers, assistants, and so
forth) amounts to 163,615. The government of
the various missionary fields is carried on by vicars,
titular bishops and priests who act as vicars, or
delegates, of the Apostolic See. The census returns
show that there are 281 Bishops, 91 vicars without
episcopal rank, 24,305 native priests, 28,938 Euro-
pean priests, 226 doctors of medicine, 3,635 parishes
or semiparishes. These workers serve 46,465 mis-
sionary settlements, 45,826 churches or chapels,
31,418 establishments for the training of the per-
sonnel, among which are 45 universities, 309 semi-
naries, 1,117 superior schools, and 386 professional
schools. Their students number 1,521,710." In ad-
dition, the Catholic missions conduct 691 hospitals,
with accommodations for 283,503 patients; 1,848
pharmacies; 1,525 orphanages, with 81,240 or-
phans; 299 homes for the aged, which house about
11,332; 81 colonies for lepers; 134 dispensaries,
which care for about 9,699 people; and 164
printing-shops.

BOOK TABLE.

Synodical Reports of the Missouri Synod, 1930.
English District. 100 pages. Price, 29 cts. Doc-
trinal paper: “The Preparation of the Church for
Its World Mission. (Acts 7—12.)’?— Northern Ne-
braska District. 50 pages. Price, 16 cts. Doctrinal
paper: “The Relation of Synod to Its Members.” —
Nord-Nebraska-Distrikt. 47 pages. Price, 20 cts.
Doctrinal paper (continuation): Die Bigenschaften
Gottes in ihrer Anwendung auf das Christenleben. —
Western District. 24 pages. Price, 25 cts. Doc-
trinal papers: “Archeology and the Bible.” “Living
up to Augsburg.” Worin besteht dic Staerke der
Kirche? Vom Privatstudium der Heiligen Schrift. —
Central District. 95 pages. Price, 40 cts. Doctrinal
papers: Die Geschichte des Mittleren Distrikts. “The
Augsburg Confession.” “The Lutheran Sunday-
school.” — Sucd-Jllinois-Distrikt. 92 pages. Price,
40 cts. Doctrinal papers: Der rechtfertigende und
scligmachende Glaube. “Why Do We Subscribe to
the Augsburg Confession after Four Hundred
Years?”

Church and the Christian Education of the
Children. By Rev. Arthur Brunn. 19 pages. Price,
5 cts.

This is a reprint of a paper read by the author at the
last convention of the Atlantic District of the Missouri
Synod. It is well suited for general distribution. The
great importance of the parish-school is stressed. May
the tract find many readers and prove a blessing!

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