A REJOINDER.
[To THE EDITOR OP THE " SPECTATOR."]
Su ,—May I call attention to remarks made in a letter printed in your issue of November 23rd signed by Mr. Sydney H. Carr? As one of your Roman Catholic readers, I feel it incumbent on me to object at least to one assertion made in this letter. Mr. Carr states that Roman Catholics are interlopers in this country. A strong word, interlopers ! He does not back up this assertion by quoting any authority. As it happens, in my own district of Yorkshire I have a visible proof that Roman Catholics are not interlopers. Briefly, I may state that in the neighbourhood of Whitby there are Catholic families holding an unbroken tradition from pre-Reformation times. Through long periods of persecution and poverty there has never been wanting a Roman Catholic priest in the districts of Ugthorpe and Egton to administer the Sacra- ments. All through the Reformation epoch the forefathers (poor farmers mostly) •of many of our Catholics in this district were holding the old faith. One constantly hears the expression, " Such-and-such a family have always been Catholics." At Egton Bridge to-day there is an important Roman Catholic, but no Anglican, church. Surely the word• " interlopers " is too strong for a body of people with these far- reaching traditions ? What of the more important families who retained the old faith during troubled times,—the Howards, the Scropes, the Vavasours, the Herries ? Are all these ancient houses pinning their faith to an intruder ? Pope St. Gregory and St. Augustine, were you also inter- lopers ? I desire to write in no controversial spirit ; merely I wish to claim for my co-religionists, who have gone through so many trials and made so many sacrifices for their ancient faith, some better title than " interlopers." Are our Roman Catholic brothers in Ireland, in Canada, and in all the various Colonies intruders ? Surely we have many Anglican friends who can give us a fairer name.—I am, Sir, &c.,
Previous page
