POOR
242
POOR
Qu^cc (1909); Annuaire de flldpilal Sl-Joseph (Three Rivers,
1906-10); Report Hospitals and Charities (Ontario, 1909); Budget
de la province de Quebec (1911); Noces d'or de la Societe St-
Vincent de Paul, i Quebec, 181,6-98 (Quebec, 1897): Rapport ge-
neral du conseil supirieur de la Saddle St-Vincent de Paul du
Canada (1910).
Stanislas-A. Lortie.
III. In Great Brit.^in .\xd Ireland. — In the Brit- ish Isles two different types of organizations deal with the care of the poor: (a) pubUc statutory bodies; (b) voluntary associations. Under the former may be included Parliament, which makes laws affecting the care of the poor, and local bodies, such as county, borough, town, and district councils, and more par- ticularly the boards of guardians which administer them. The tendency of modern legislation has been to transfer certain sections of work affecting the poor from boards of guardians to other local bodies. As education, public health, pension, and asylum authorities, municipal bodies other than boards of guardians now deal with feeding necessitous school children, medical inspection and treatment of chil- dren attending the elementary schools, the after- care of school children, scholarships, schools for defective children, inspection of laundries, work- shops, common lodging houses, and houses let in tenements, the allocation of old age pensions, and the provision and management of all forms of asylums for the insane and epileptic. All public statutory bodies dealing with the care of the poor obtain their funds from taxes or rates, to which Catholic as citizens contribute either directly or indirectly. In Great Britain until recently Catholics had few or- ganizations for securing Catholic representation upon public bodies. Within the last few years, however, the Catholic Federation movement has spread in different parts of the country. This aims at en- couraging Catholics to take their share in public affairs by becoming candidates for public office (not necessarily as Catholics, but as ordinarj' citizens), and to safeguard Catholic interests by putting test questions to all candidates on matters affecting Catholics in order to afford guidance to Catholic voters. By these efforts, and notably by the exer- tions of individuals, Catholics have secured some representation upon public bodies, though not in proportion to their numbers. In the House of Commons elected in January, 1910, there were 9 Catholic members out of 49.5 for constituencies in England and ^\'ale,-!, but none out of 72 in Scotland. No figures for municipal bodies are available, but in many of the larger towns in Great Britain Catholics have representation (for example, the London County Council has 5 Cathohc members out of 137). Catho- lics have greatest representation upon boards of guardians which exist directly for the care of the poor. This is due mainly to the efforts of the Catholic Guardians Association (founded in 1S94), which forms a centre for Catholic guardians, holds an annual conference, gives legal advice, conducts negotiations with Government departments, and assists in various ways. Out of 24.000 members of boards of guardians in England and Wales .540 are Catholics. In Ireland, of course, except in a few districts in the north, a large proportion of the members of all public bodies are Catholics: out of 103 members of Parliament, for example, 74 are Catholics.
In legislation affecting the poor. Catholic members of Parliament by their influence have safeguarded Catholic interests. In acts, for cx.ample, dc:iling with defective children, provisions have been in- 8erte<l which secure to Catholic parents the right under certain conditions to have their children sent to Catholic schools: in the recent Children's .\ct similar restrictions have also been inserted. Catho- lic members of municipal councils have in many
cases secured the appointment of Catholic co-opted
members upon the education committees, consid-
erate treatment for Catholic children in the ad-
ministration of the Provision of Meals (Education)
Act, in the medical treatment and inspection of
school children, in the work of the Children's Care
Committees, and in the carrj'ing out of the Indus-
trial Schools Acts: they have also in many cases
obtained satisfactory provision for religious ob-
servances for Catholic inmates of lunatic asj^lums,
remand homes, inebriate homes, and the like. The
efforts of the Catholic Guardians have gained great
advantages for Catholic in manj- districts, such as
the appointment of Catholic religious instructors
in workhouses and infirmaries, facilities for Mass
and the sacraments for the inmates of poor law in-
stitutions either within or without these establish-
ments, arrangements for recognized Catholic visitors
to workliouses and infirmaries, and the safeguarding
of the faith of Catholic children by securing their
transfer to Catholic poor law schools. Indeed, be-
yond the benefits to their own coreligionists, to the
influence of Catholic guardians may be attributed
in no small degree the improved administration of
the Poor Law in recent years. A striking witness
to the value of their efforts in this respect may be
found in the anxiety shown by those interested in the
reports of the recent Royal Commission on the Poor
Law to secure the support of Catholics for their
particular views.
Catholics influence the care of the poor through voluntary organizations, either by participating in the work of general agencies or by their own efforts on Catholic lines. The more important philan- thropic bodies, such as the Charity Organization Society, the National Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Children, the Children's Country Holi- da}- Fund, or the public hospitals supported by voluntary funds, all include many Catholics amongst their members, with the result that these bodies usually willingly co-operate with recognized Catholic organizations, whenever Catholic appUcants for relief have to be considered.
In the absence of official statistics, it is difficult to estimate accurately the extent of charitable work amongst the poor by Catholics themselves as Catholics. Every Catholic mission, with a resident priest, serves as a centre for such work. Poor Catholics in distress instinctively turn to the priest, who, if he has no suitable charitable organization at- tached to his church, usually acts as almoner him- self. Some approximate idea of the extent of such work may be gathered from the fact that in England and Wales there are 1773 churches, chapels, and stations with 3747 priests, the corresponding figures for Scotland being 394 and 555, and for Ireland 24(38 and 3645. Similarly, an extraordinary amount of charitable work is regularly carried out by the religious communities, especially bj' those of women who devote their lives to personal ser\'ice amongst the poor, such as the Sisters of Charity, the Sisters of Mercy, the Sisters of Nazareth, the Little Sisters of the Poor, the Sisters of the Good Shepherd, the Little Company of Mary, and others. Almost every possible form of charitable assistance is undertaken by these communities in different parts of the three countries. Orphanages for boys and girls, poor law schools, industrial schools, homes for physically and mentally defective chiUlren, homes for the aged, night refuges for the destitute, reformatories, train- ing homes for servants, homes for working boys and girls, hospitals, hospices for the dying, con- valescent homes, holiday homes in the country and at th(> seaside, working girls' clubs, homes for penitents, refuges for fallen women, homes for inebriates, visit- ing the sick, nursing the sick poor, instructing the deaf and dumb in their religion, are all amongst the
