A Bishop and eight missionaries have been abducted by bandits in the Province of Hopei. The report says that Mgr. Hubert Schraven, of the Vincentian Missionaries, and eight of his priests—three French, two Dutch, an Austrian, a Czech and a Portuguese—are being held by the outlaws,
At the same time, details have been received, through the Fides Agency, of the kidnapping of Fr. Gerald Donovan, young American Maryknoll missionary, who was carried off from his mission near Fushun, Manchukuo, on October 5. Fr. Donovan was at Benediction which was being conducted in the mission chapel by another missionary, when he saw a man enter the sacristy. He went to the sacristy to see what the man wanted and found himself face to face, not with one, but with two men, both pointing guns at him. At the same moment, an altar boy entered the sacristy to replenish the coals in the thurible. The bandits took Fr. Donovan and the boy and left the mission by the back gate which gave them easy access to the mountain pass. The priest was last seen disappearing over the mountain with an escort of five bandits; he was still wearing his cassock and surplice. The surplice was later found on the mountain side, badly torn. The thurible, which the altar boy was holding when taken by the outlaws, was also found. The bandits sent back the boy with a note asking for a ransom of 50,000 dollars. The Japanese military, aided by a corps of 2,000 volunteer police, have spread a net throughout the territory to stop the bandits.
The two Franciscan missionaries, Fr. Epiphanius Pegoraro and Bro. Pasquale, taken captive over two years ago when Reds destroyed the Catholic mission and leper asylum at Mosimien, in Sechwan Province are still alive in the hands of the Reds. Bishop Vanni, Vicar Apostolic of Sian, has written to Tatsienlu confirming the report that the two missionaries are being held in Northern Shensi.
The missionaries of the Sacred Heart, working in the mission of Shihtsicn, Kweichow Province, have received official assurance that Fr. Kellner, the young priest taken by bandits a year and a half ago, is dead. Very little news had been received of him after his capture, and all reports were surrounded with uncertainty.
The Bishop of Nottingham blessed and opened, on the 2nd inst., the new club for girls which has been started in Derby Road by the Nottingham branch of the Catholic Women's League. The club will provide a social centre for Catholic girls after leaving school. A special welcome will be extended to such girls from other towns also. At the opening ceremony the Bishop pledged the help of the clergy in ensuring the club's success.