12 (7) Letter to Mr. Frowde. London, Septemher azrd, i8l Dear Sir, Having received no reply to my letter of 17th inst., am advising my friends in Dunedin, by to-days mail, that m correspondence with you has not had any satisfactory result. In your letter of Sept. 9th, you seemed to repudiate a PERSONAL responsibility for the despatch of copies before i\ day named in the prospectus and advertisements issued t the Universities. But in yours of Sept. i6th you say you ai the person to whom any complaint should be directed, would very gladly have been saved the necessity of furthe prosecuting the matter, by your making proposals that might t expected even to alleviate the damage sustained by my client I must now however lay my case and this correspondenc before the Authorities of the University of Oxford, and sha look to them for redress, I am, Yours faithfully, J. P. COPLAND. To Mr. H. Frowde. iO OLD CATHOLICS IN AUSTRIA. Very pressing appeals for help have lately been received, addressed to prominent members of the English and American Churches, and to the Secretary of the Anglo- Continental Society, from that small body of Austrian Catholics who in 1870 resisted the Vatican Decrees, and still persist in their enforced separation from Rome. Two separate urgent appeals have thus been received : one from the Church Council of Warnsdorf, in Upper Bohemia, asking for help towards the installation of a curate to the large congregation in that town, and for the outlying districts ; and another from the Secretary of the Synodal Council at Vienna, depicting the poverty of the Ried congregation, and the necessity of sending out two missionary priests to preserve the seeds of the reformation in other small parishes. The circumstances of this small society of Old Catholics will be tolerably well known to members of the Anglo- Continental Society and readers of the Foreign Church Chronicle. Par- ticularly in Northern Bohemia a reforming spirit has always been abroad, and the enforcement of the Vatican Decrees caused a decided revolt in many parishes. Of these latter — more in number in the early days of the movement, now lessened by neglect and trouble — there remain but three in- corporated congregations— at Vienna, Warnsdorf, and Ried. These are legally incorporated under a new law passed in 1877; but there are many other smaller congregations, or portions of congregations, which are at present without any, or with only casual ministration. The body, consisting of five priests with about ten thousand enrolled adherents, is without help from the State : though recognized by Government, after vexatious delay, it has hitherto been steadily refused all subsidy, and there is no hope of any State help until there is a change of Ministers. With a more tolerant Ministry, with a duly organized Church body, having synod and bishop at their head, the Austrian Old [ 2 ] Catholics hope at a not very distant date to be placed on an equal footing with other religious bodies. Meanwhile their unsupported congregations have the utmost difficulty in main- taining their services and ministry. At Vienna and Warnsdorf indeed, where adherents are numerous, the congregations are fairly able to hold their own; but the latter place requires a curate to support the work of Herr Nittel (episcopal adminis- trator), and to pastorize the scattered population in the neigh- bouring parishes. At Ried, on the other hand, there is great danger of the work failing, owing to the inability of the poor congregation to subscribe for their Church needs. We are informed that £^o a year would secure this position. There is likewise a small congregation in the Erzgebirg, striving man- fully to build a little chapel for themselves; but the work is hindered by want of means. In addition to this, there is a pressing necessity for sending out two (at least) missionary clergymen, who should itinerate among the country congre- gations in Bohemia, hitherto left without any regular ministry save that of the Roman Church. We are assured by the Secretary of the Synodal Council at Vienna that a subsidy of ^loo to ^120 a year for a few years, until State aid is secured, would enable the struggling body not only to maintain its present position, but also to increase and spread. As there must be many who sympathize with the Austrian Old Catholics in their low estate, the Anglo-Conti- nental Society invite subscriptions towards an "Austrian Old Catholic Fund," which will be transmitted to the Vienna Synodal Council for the objects above detailed. ANGLO-CONTINENTAL SOCIETY. President . The Lord Bishop of Winchester. Rev. F. Meyrick, Bhckling, Aylsham, Norfolk, Secretaries \ Ven. Archdeacon Huxtable, Sutton Waldron, Shaftesbury. [The magazine which exhibits the work of the Society is the Foreign Church Chronicle, published by RiviNGTONS, price i^. 6d. quarterly.] , UIUC *M* / ^: 'i. A « 'rfV a^^j