And it is not merely to procure ‘labourers for the vineyard’ that the studies are deplorably mutilated; another, and a rather curious, motive of hurry is found in certain congregations at least. Certainly in the Franciscan Order students were prematurely advanced to the priesthood for the sake of earning money by their masses. A mass, of course, cannot be sold; that would be simony. But a priest will say mass for you or your intention if you make him a present of half-a-crown. He may say it gratuitously if he pleases (secular priests generally do, I think), but the bishops have decreed that if a priest accepts a ‘stipend’ at all he must not take less than half-a-crown; the Church, being socialistic, does not encourage competition. Now every friar is bound to say mass for his superior’s intention, and the superior, having to provide for the community, secures as many and as ‘fat’ stipends as he possibly can. As a friar is bound to say mass every morning he is worth at least 1l. per week on that count alone; in fact, at Forest Gate, where we were six priests, more than 400l. was netted annually in stipends for masses. As a priest, however young he may be, says mass daily from the day of his ordination, the anxiety of the superior to see him ordained appeals to our sympathy; a student is an onus on the community, he must be made productive as soon as possible.
Under such conditions it is not strange that their educational system leads to such unsatisfactory results.
