Protestant Gains in Austria
The “Away-from-Rome” movement seems to make good progress in Austria. It is said that the Protestant accessions of the Lutheran and Reformed Churches during the first half of the year were 2,523, and that of these 2,339 came direct from the Catholic Church. On the other side, these two churches lost 567 members, 476 of whom joined the Catholic Church. This loss on the part of Catholics has led to a controversy in that church, the liberal element calling for a regeneration along evangelical lines, tho not in favor of Protestantism. The largely conservative majority are against this. A noted Catholic priest, Hansjacob, says: “One thing is sure, the clergy of Germany would not be a particle better than that of Austria, if it had not such a powerful opponent in Protestantism. The Reformation has hurt the Catholic Church, but it has also helped her very much. And this double work Protestantism is still doing. The church in Germany, too, has had its great losses. Fully 90 per cent. of the educated classes, 60 per cent. of all the half educated, and 50 per cent. of the working classes have been estranged from the church, and are either superficial deists or even out-spoken atheists.” The wise thing would be to accept the Reformation.