Roman Catholicism Strenuously Opposes Communism

Bay of Plenty Times, Volume LXXVII, Issue 15058, 19 August 1949, Page 4

Roman Catholicism Strenuously Opposes Communism

Reply To New York Broadcast Te Puna Clergyman's Views "Allow me. to point out to your readers the misleading comparisons made by the Rev. Dr. J. Bromley Oxnam of New York in a recent broadcast, the substance of which was cab ed to New Zealand papers,"' writes the Rev. Father R. Hoogveldt of Te Puna," in a letter to the Bay of Plent" Times. "Dr Oxnam stated 'Roman Catholicism and Communism were both totalitarian.' Roman Catholicism is totalitarian in this sense that it has preached for 1900 years the totality or completeness of the teaching of Christ to further the Kingdom of God. In this sense the Son of God was a totalitarian. But His Totalitarianism does not lead to slavery, on Ihc contrary it leads to real freedom. "Communism is totalitarian in this sense that it teaches the totality of a pagan materialism to further the kingdom of unbelief and to enslave men. The Catholic Church never seeks to control the mind of men everywhere, it simply carries out Christ's injunction to preach His Gospel to all men. In other words it tries to instill in the minds of men the ideas and principles of Christ Himself. Communism on the other hand tries to instill in the minds of men the ideas and principles of Marx and Lenin. The Catholic Church ex-communicates apostates as Christ Himself did in Mathcw 18 ch. 17 verse. The Catholic Church ex-communicates to keep Christ's teaching intact. Mos,cow ex-communicates for just the opposite reason, to keep her neo..paganism intact. Outworn Accusation "The Catholic Church always condemned assassination and foul means, this outworn accusation is no longer held by any fair minded historian. Sureiy some Catholics committed crimes, but this does not discredit Catho'icism, the same as Peter's denial and Judas' suicide does not discredit Christ. Moscow like Hitler, practises assassination without condemnation to obtain their wicked ends of a despotic imperialism, and twists historical facts to suit their evil minds. "Rome is intolerant as Christ was intolerant, namely of unchristian teaching; Moscow is intolerant of christian teaching. Rome never demands blind unthinking loyalty. A host of most intel'igent converts like Newman, Chesterton, Dr Plancke, etc., refute ' this unthinking accusation of Bishop Bromley Oxnam, but Rome does demand full loyalty to Christ's teachings as Christ Himself demanded that. "Moscow however, demands unthinking loyalty for her unchristian teaching in order to seduce the gullible masses that have lost the taste for what is spiritual. Rome believes in the co-operation between Church and State, each in its own independent sphere to keep the flame of faith alive for the common good of all. Moscow rejects the co-operatiomof the Church as recent events have shown in order to materialise the masses for the good of a party clique. "Rome does not shackle the minds of men, but rather frees the minds of men by insisting that only Christ's truths and His divine revelation can make us really free, including our culture and science. Moscow does shackle the minds of men by blinding them to Him who is the Light of the World, and thus enslaves them in the chains of totalitarianism. The Catholic Church admonishes her children not to read un-christian' things simply because they are wrong and there is a law of christian standards to be defended. Moscow tells her adherents not to read certain things because she wants to propagate standards contrary to christian thought. "Surely Rome repeats throughout the centuries that the Catholic Church is divinely founded which she can bear out by Christ's own words, -tradition and history. But she never forces this conviction on | anyone, only those who are truly convinced of this are received into her community, by their own free

will. Moscow, however, repeats in our century her Marxist materialism which is contrary to the Bible, tradition, and the christian interpretation of history, and forces it on her satellites. Falsehoods Condemned "Moscow spreads falsehoods and misrepresentations. The Popes over and over again condemned falsehoods and half-truths. The Catholic Church does not mix up in things purely political but she upholds that democracy must be based on christian teaching, otherwise it will write its own death warrant. Moscow does interfere in things purely spiritual, in order to kill christian democracy, the great bulwark against Communism. The Catholic Church is not reactionary and weighted with land holdings. "The Encyc'icals on Social Justice of Pope Leo XIII, Pius XI, Pius XII, belie that often repeated accusation. is reactionary as it wants to take us back to the pagan rf*™ before Christ and Moscow herself is weighted with a false collectivism of sheer robbery which violates the natural rights of all men which the Vatican stoutlv defends. "The Pope does not think of summoning the world to a holy war, such ideas he leaves to twisted minds, but he does summon the world to a crusade of prayer and penance, to obtain a lasting peace among all nations. But Moscow does force the world to re-armament which might lead to war, because it does not understand either prayer or penance. The Pope does not want to salvage power or gain prestige, he knows very well that the Kingdom of Christ is not of this world. His power is spiritual as Christ's power was spiritual. Moscow wants to increase power because it believes in the pride of materialistic power and expansion and the things of the spirit arc foreign to her mentality. "The American heirarchy does not nut the principle of separation of Church -and state in jeopardy, it only asks for its co-operation to give the Catholic schools fair play. It simply defends the elementary christian outlook on things, namely, the supremacy of the spiritual over the material in the educational field and the natural right of all parents. "There is still hope for the American ship of democracy to rid itself of the barnacles of materialism just because it has pilots like Cardinal Spellman and other christian leaders who do understand that democracy without Christianity is doomed." Father Hoogveldt concludes.