INDIVIDUALISM

Press, Volume LXXIII, Issue 22137, 6 July 1937, Page 13

INDIVIDUALISM

to tbs timoa or ras cress. P. W. Heal: "I must be numbered with itaow who had misapprehended tJinberto Colonna's Intention in his earlier writing. His later leters make his itandpoint clear. I am happy to read his assurance of the /taint in atbetjm. Still it is perhaps as futile to try to characterise God as it is vain to caricature Him. One believes and accepts His all wiseness and is mtyat to leave past, present, and «>to# to His'dispensation. Our inquiry ijeed never approach presumptwia uiquisitiveness. As touching our ttutar subject, individualism, 1 am w« to Mr Colonna's mental foresaw ( searching through and beyond W limitations of partisanship and MMarianism to those spacious acres of 2* i s! e S t > °* unitary scope and reJPMnwhty.. Perhaps he foresees, as £3 i™?' outcome on earth of the S^ c «*jtule and subjection which «»•; news feature of our «PW"* ,i -** en out °* the depths *L*, ic» despair Man shall have "gPWeq. Biji Godlikeness, have iffil A he .Varmth of the emberSi7i.7 spark within him. the "PS of mind and Ssß^P uri * rta & revivifying, and flre of Eternal Truth."

! V-WhjßdeU: "Individualism and perJ?WW Me so inseparably associated SutaPWfible to elucidate the one 2 wplaining the other, conseWUy the reader, in order to underM we full tenor of its meaning lS«. t? "course to Locke's JBH2 Understanding,' Book 11, IfaliiV 8 ' whi . ch should be sufficient wltt *£ he ol thinking man evS,«5! "faction of consummate Whoever <J.H.' is, I must SwdSuJ? P ro /°undly ignorant of w*«? J?" 8 * "} consequence have the Vttft* , cre * tln £- Locke says: 'When ! rift *«S if. whoU y made new, so that awS.™*™ 0 * dld ever exist before. uXrP * «« w particle of matter doth which never before had J? J wh J» t w « ca H creation: cre3B?«,«„ RSf has he proved it by tt? «?inytWn«7* Does not this settle t&JEyE?* without further conSK?*^ 8 *°?hshness of supposing fctifi!£ t £ be div ««ly above another nois « all along the ages, iw»X?, h ° m t es to toe wrecked and .35888£ lood to be spilt, has delayed omifSS? 1 on . Its onward march and pffi^ d «?°. mquisition for the supSTS^W 0 " ot bought. It is % thk «^i d^. slde an y further thought tented an superiority and conTOiM ourselves by being what we

°*f Of ttf? *Yj : l li "* *?y capacity as ColS"* * c ould summons Umberto *2«Wfa?£ Fa S her Cooney to my ¥ lon«X a rt^ onf T erence - u w °uld not ***nbS?*l would be havin § ?>ise~vfz!jft g *° my Premier pre- * kilnedtfw s A spiri }- l sh °uld ■"WwSKiiS H th , em diiTer in the TO i 3* l l God or 'a* the lotfj??,*, A ave more trouble $« m and»L tl Kw nn e t step - Mak " th * Sk OH»i he T et heric replica' of i u L , odge hypothesis—♦WSr3^ 1 iafcty When we got iU«t the Id J nd that death is **& toAy m s2 Off process of this 8? V W«idi n » t ?P ,ri tuallst s are forc« SSide at ?h a Wlth th<? churches to notionXt d *! K gravesld e that wrong 2?»««dtott2?n la some sin penalty «Wo|^™ h th « Garden of Eden. More be .laid on the spiri0' ou r exit - *oiiowt° e Une f of our entrance; & «fflllSX° ften de scribed it. S*« Wonei -«S ■??. the churches r*.W»DS ££!%?, the visi on ceases, perish,' and all that it

DU** "After reading L ■***»» +S~ as latest letter-■SpCS-dW=? "SPSS

onised "Don Boso." Now, if he has read the life of this saint, he will know that great philosopher and theologian that he was, these intellectual tributes faded into the shadows when placed beside the love he bore his fellow men. The fact that he founded and left behind him a religious Order, the Salesians, based solely on the virtue of love, goes far to disprove that this man preached a God of anger. As for Thomas Aquinas and Ignatius Loyola, both these men were veritable children of deepest love and keenest spirituality. They never preached or wrote of the kind of a God that Umberto Colonna would have his readers believe they did."

"Truth": The Rev. P. J. Cooney, in trying to wriggle out of the dilemma in which he finds himself, says that his words, "to resort to ruses, stratagems," etc., "to silence and stifle truth" mean the same as Lenin's, "to resort to ruses," etc., "to carry on Communist work." Since Communistic work is for the purpose of introducing Commurism, that state of society where each will receive according to his needs and give in service to humanity according to his ability, a vast difference in meaning does obviously exist. As for Communistic work having as its aim a "godless Soviet stats," this is ridiculous, for God will look after Himself, and will not become negated to fit in with any theorist.

"Jimmy from the Backblocks": "I was much interested in Umberto Colonna's letter, with most of which I agree, but he does not go far enough. What we want is a religion of man working for the welfare of mankind on this earth, apart from any thought of any hereafter. If we had a church teaching and explaining to the young people how absolute truth, justice, and fair play make for the betterment of humanity, including themselves, it would be doing more good than making it a virtue to profess to believe a lot of stuff that schoolboys can see Is only fables, which to me seem like setting an example of falsehood and deceit. One thing that struck me when I started to read books like "Modern Science" and "Modern Thought" was that I came across the same arguments that the boys at school had used against the Bible teaching. Most people have it in them for much better things if they had the right teaching when young, but, unable honestly to accept the Church teaching, they just drift on. and perhaps long before they come to a thinking age, they have got into habits that are very hard to get out of, even when they know better. I believe most of the sin in the world is through knowing no better. If there were more justice and fair play between the members of a nation it v-'ould gradually come to pass that justice and fair play would enter more into the dealings of one nation with another, and in that way wars would be prevented. It seems a strange thing to me that in religion, the most important thing in life, the churches persist in keeping to the ideas of the dark ages."

"Minor Prophet": "Notwithstanding the crushing rejoinders which have been made to Mr Colonna, there is an important element of truth in his contention that apart from man th»re is no God. That may be an extreme statement, yet it comes very near the teaching of Christ and His Apostles that God can be known only through Him who was the highest Son of Man. 'No man hath seen God at any time. The only begotten Son ... He hath revealed Him.' As far as we are concerned we know nothing of God except through Christ and those in whom His spirit is manifest. And even if we deny to these anything that is divine in the theological sense, we still have to admit their supreme moral authority. Catechisms and creeds and sects are all beside the mark. The most orthodox creed or the most avowed atheism, the denunciation of the Church or the realous glorification of a sect are alike indifferent. Unless a ma nhas something of the spirit of Christ he is none of His and is far from knowing God, and if he has this spirit his creed may take what shape it will."

"Vox Clamantis in Deserto": "'Man is God' could only be said of one manChrist. Theology is not mythology; God is not a myth; the Bible is not an invented story. Umberto Colonna is short of trumps, he has a good heart but the King is missing; he should throw away the joker and take the King of Kings, the joker is himself. If he would 'let the Saviour in* he then could take to P. J. Cooney about hyperorthodoxy. which was the sin of the Scribes and Pharisees." [Subject to the right of reply of Umberto Colonna, this correspondence is now closed.—Ed., "The Press."!