BISHOP JULIUS ON THE CHURCH OF ROME.

Press, Volume LVIII, Issue 11014, 11 July 1901, Page 3

BISHOP JULIUS ON THE CHURCH OF ROME.

— ♦ TO THE EDITOR OF THE PRESS. Sir, —The statement made by Bishop Julius that "Rome luid acquired a. very ; great, deal of political influence in the co- ' ior.v,'' which was also confirmed by the i leading article in Tuesday morning's [ "Press." should awaken feelings of alarm iin the hearts of all patriots. The Rev. Le ; Menant, dcs Ohesnais, in the light of facts ! that cannot be disputed, has made a misi take, and instead of the motto. "No Papist : need apply," the inscription reads, "Papists j pre fori ed, and let 'em all come": His reasoning that it is a fundamental dogma of the Catholic Church to respect every- legitimate authority, and not to seek redress," etc.. is certainly sj>eoious. Until the civil law ajid the laws of Rome are in harmony (which Cod forbid) the respect of Catholics for the law of the land is only nominal, not real; for our national canon law cannot become lawful unless sanctioned by the Pope. 1 am not conversant with the corruption which seems to be on the increase here, having but recently come from the United .States. But. I have facts at my command showing what Rome, as a vast politicoecclesiastical organisation, is doing in the land of the Star.? and Stripes. Your priestly correspondent professes to held up his hands in holy horror at the thought that Catholics are a menace to tb.2 ftate. But the Roman hierarchy is a menace to righteous legislation. The enlightened effort in 1897 to secure the ratification of the arbitration treaty between Great Britain and the United States was coDcededly defeated by Roman Catholic political power. Hon. Henry W. Blair, on the floor of the United States Senate a few years since, in on the Education Bill, faid ! : "Upon this very floor, soon after we had passed this Bill, full two years ago, andi while it was in the hands of a packed Committee in the House of Representatives, where it was finally strangled —on this very floor a Senator showed mc a letter which I read with my own eyes, the original letter of a Jesuit priest, in which he begged a member of Congress to oppose this Bill, and to kill it, saying that thfty had organised all over the country for its destruction; that they succeeded in the Committee of the House, and they would destroy the Bill inevitably; and if they bad known it early enough, they could have prevented its passage through the Senate." Because Pies:d?nt Harrison. Jn his first term of office, broke up the iniquitous Bureau of Catholic Indian ..\iissiomi, which misappropriated millions of dollars, and because of his efforts which resulted in tho annexation of the Hawaiian Islands, be was defeated when he sought ire-election. So speaks "The Western Catholic News" and "The Catholic Review." The Roman, hierarchy is a menace to judicial administration. Judge Rtghter, when asked to issue an attachment compelling a cloistered nun to appear as a witness, and who could appear at the City Hall in New Orleans for many years and sign receipts for large amounts of money, which appropriations were a direct violation of the laws of the State, refused- to issue the attachment. Rome's minions can thrust their hands into the public treasury, the judges be guilty of a wanton miscarriage of justice in trampling on the rights of the people, and when investigation is demanded these subjects of bis Holiness can hide from justice in some nunnery or monastery. Rome is a. menace to the liberty of free speech and the liberty of the Press. Father Phflon. the editor and owner of "The Catholic Herald," St. Louis, under a threat of a boycott from Archbishop Ccrrigan, was forced to miserably retract all that he had said against State aid to Catholic schools, together with his strictures against his ecclesiastical superiors in their insidious attempts to unite Church and State. -Mark you, this retraction was made after Father Phelan had! boldly declared, "No man owns mc. No man owns my pen. I shall allow no man born to dictate how or what I shall write." Rome is also a menace to the lives ot Protesta.nts. Every conspirator in the plot which resulted in the assassination of President Lincoln, and which also purposed the death of Seward and Grant, was a Catholic, and the conspiracy in its inception, in its personnel, and in its issues, was the work ot Jesuitical Romanism. Lord Painiersfcon says:—"All history tells us that wherever the ttoman priesthood has gained a predominance, there the utmost amount of intolerance is invariably tbe practice. In countries where they are in the minority they instantly demand, not only toleration, but eouality, but in countries where they predominate they allow neither tokration nor equality." In conclusion, I heartily second Dr. Elmslie's appeal for the formation of a Protestant Protective Alliance, whose object shall be to safeguard our blood-bought liberties. —Youis, etc., G. MANIFOLD. Linwood. TO THE EDITOR Or THB FBBSS. Sir, —Tha Orange Lodge is to be congratulated on its success in getting Bishop Julius to preach the sermon in the Cathedral last Sunday, and Protestants generally in having so" able a champion, of their cause. A good many people of late have not known to what extent he was an opponent of Roman Catholicism, many fearing ne was following in the wake of them in matters ceremonial. However, he has given with no uncertain sound his views of the inner workings of the R.C. Church and their aggressiveness in the matter of social, political, and religious questions. lam glad to see in your issue, of yesterday (and that of your contemporary also), you have taken up the question of Government appointments. From some cause of other there is very great difficulty in getting boys into Government positions. I know of a case myself where an application was in the hands of the head of a Government Department for very nearly the year round, and he had not been appointed, and, for all I know, is

not yet. He is a Protestant. As the two Christchurch papers state, the question of religion should not count at aft. but the fitness of the applicant on his merits. Of course, in office work, for certain departments, examination res-ults should be the test, but in boys seeking to etiter different trades, they cannot be examined in what the% hare, at the time, little knowledge of. but' showing a bent for certain branches of trads. Ido not think you are far wrong in your surmises as to the departments of which one Minister ci the Crown is head. It would ba an eye-opener if a return could be obtained of those employed in his department, and the religious persuasion of each. In the matter of sending Protestant o'oildren to Convent schools. I am at one with the Bishop. They should not be sent there. There are other excelent finishing schools to which they could go. Roman doctrines can hs easily instilled into the young mind—from a copy heading, or sentence to analyse, on the blackboard. The safest way is* to avoid the temptations. All Roman Catholic parents are not agreed that their Church schools are the best, for more than one parent ha-s told mc that were it not for the priests they would send their children to the Government schools, i. the BiLie were read in the said schools, they might haye good reason to object to send them. However, I agree that the Bible (with a conscience clause) should be read, the Lord's Prayer recited, and the Ten Commandments thoroughly learned by every boy and girl. It is through the absence of these that there is so much wrong-doing. I firmly believe that a great many of the crimes "boys and girls are now guilty of are committed in ignorance of any divine law prohibiting them. They are growing up in woeiul ignorance d God's Word, and of the meaning of the holy days of the year, as the Ascension, Good"Friday, Easter Sunday. Lent, and many other solemn seasons. Ask them why these days are observed, and very many Cannot tel you. Parents, unfortunately many of them), are careless about Sunday school tuition and family training; therefore the State should protect the rising generations. It is to be sincerely desired that the move suggested at the meeting of the Presbyter}' yesterday be put into rtractice. Let Protestants stand by Bishop Julius, and show to him that the indeffeience shown by many in such momentous questions of our holy religion and the .raining of oitr children is vanishing. Let us also°see that there be no favour to any creed in social and political matters where appointments can be made for fathers, mothers, boys, or gills.—Yours, etc., NOT AN ORANGEMAN. TO THE EDITOR OF THE PRESS. Sir.—l was much amused this morning, in reading the letters of your correspondents, about the sermon of Bishop Julius for the Loyal Orange Society. According to them, the State is in danger, the Anglicans, the Presbyterians, mc Methodists, the Baptists, the Salvationists, etc., should unite together and put their shoulders to the wheel, because the State carriage is in danger. They are afraid of a few, poor, uninnuential Catholics who form only one-seventh of the poulation of the colony. If they do not all bring their forces together, it is done ; Rome will rule over this beautiful colony, and they will all groan under the yoke and tvrnnnv of the Roman Pontiff. Verily, I believe"that "a ball of fire has fallen (not into the Roman camp) but into the Protestant camp, producing awe and uncontrollable fear." They must, beware "of the intrigues of the Church of Rome. Catholicism is a danger to the State. The Pope commands supreme allegiance. The British recognise no authority superior to the English throne and Government- Catholics attribute all power and dominion, short of absolute Deity, to an Italian prelate, immured in a Roman palace." Wherefore, Bishop Julius did well "to raise his voice in warning, and lay clearly before the public the vast national issues at stake." cautioning them against the danger which they must grapple, and the gross folly, not to say sin. of indifference and lethargy." (Sec "Anglicanus' " letter). "G.," in his letter, asks: "What toleration is shown by Roman Catholics, towards the various sections of the Christian Churches i,n our midst?" Then he adds: "It is in Protestant countries that this spirit (of toleration) is shown in the utmost degree to a Church which would dethrone its benefactor, were its power sufficient." (See "G.s" letter.) Mr Seddon is at the same time, the boon friend and the bond slaw, of Roman Catholics. Hf> is always trying to legalise grants to their schools." (See "A Mere Colonist's" letter). I hope, dear Mr Editor, you will allow mc a few words in reply to these grave statements. Let. not out non-Catholic friends he alarmed : there is no probability for generations to come of the Catholics petting ascendency in these colonies, and if ever they did they need not fear oppression and persecution. Tho supremacy of the Pope Is of a purely spiritual character. In temporal things he claims only a directing or guiding power, reminding civil authorities of their duties towards Ood and society. When any civil law endangers morality, such as divorce, unChristian education, he has a right to warn the faithful that they cannot avail themselves of the hanetit of the law; but. even in Catholic countries, a fortiori, in Protestant countries, he cannot interfere with the civil law, no matter how unjust, nor prevent its legal civil effect', and Catholics must seek redress only by legitimate means, and never use violence to oppose it. If some have acted differently they did so on their cvrn responsibility, and without the sanction of the Church. The Pep-"- has protested against the Religious Association Bill in France, because by the "Concordat," which is still in force, they are granted religious freedom, and this Bill is a violation both of justice and religious liberty. There is ri such thin? as the "intrigues of the Roman camp." We use no intrigues to make converts, and we admit no one into the Church except they are thoroughly acquainted with the Catholic religion and are sincerely convinced that it is the only true Church established by Jesus Christ, "which has never changed, and remains always the same. In political matters the Pope is not infallible. He does not claim or command supreme allegiance. His opinion may be controverted and taken for what it is worth, like that of every other man. The Pope is not impeccable, and may do wrong. H= cannot add anything to or" take anything l from primitive Christian revelation ; he can only define disputed points of dogma and morality, and state the true meaning of the Divine revelation. What becomes now of the "vast national issues at stake?" What are the dangers people must grapple with? Your con-espomlent. "A Mere Colonist," asks: "What toleration is shown by Roman Oatholir.s towards the various sections of the Christian Churches in our midst?" We. love our non-Catholic friends; m all matters not affecting the faith we are willing to join with them and to help them. In our civil and business intercourse we make no difference between them and those who belong to our creed. We do not exclude them from our charities, and we are i»lad to assist them in anything we can. It is only in religious things "we cannot unite with them, because we believe our religion to be the only true one. and this is -why we are caller! intolerajit. In France Protestant clergymen are recognised and paid by the. State. In Rome, our late illustrious Pontiff. Pius the IXth, permitted Protestants to build churches and forbade Catholics to molest- them. If individual

members of the Church are unkind to those, who differ from them in religion the Church cannot be blamed for it; it condemns their conduct, and stigmatises it. a-" nnChristian. It is only by suasion ar.d good example Aye try to make conA-erfs. Is it not Avhat Jesus and the Apostles did? Are we not permitted to have that liberty which is granted to all other denominations? The Hon. Mr Seddon is not the "bond slave of Catholics." He. would be the first to repudiate this calumny. He has granted a feAV favours lo Catholics, not as Catholics, but. because he considered the work done by them deserving of State assistance. In this he has done no more for them than is done for any other denomination who did the same work, including the SalA-ation Army. To speak so of the Premier of this colony is both cruel and unjust.

With regard to our schools, we a.re Avilling to build and .timi.li them according to the 1-tmirements of the State, to have certificated teachers, to follow the Government programme, and to have them inspected by the Government inspector. If Aye do all that the State requires. why should u-e be condemned because aa-_ Ava.ut to t_-aoh religion besides? If the Protestant Bible were introduced into the schools it would make them thoroughly Protestants, and it a. ould force the Protestant system on the children of the colony, which would be unjust. We do not object, to the Bible being taught in pubjie sahools for those who desire, it. but avc c!aim the right to transmit faith to our children. One of your cori-3.pond.nit-says that our's is not the true faith. This may be his opinion, but we are as much entitled to our oavti belief a.s he is to his. Our motto is, "Fair play, and liberty for all."—Yours, etc., TH. LE MEN-ANT DES CHESNAIS, S.M.V.G. Christchurch, July 10th. [A number of other letters are held over for want of space.—En.. "Press."]