BISHOP ASHBY SAYS: Govt’s action “major point at issue”

Press, 5 August 1976, Page 15

BISHOP ASHBY SAYS: Govt’s action “major point at issue”

It is incomprehensible that on one hand the Prime Minister (Mr Muldoon) can seem to bless the All Black tour in the name of freedom, and yet condemn the opposers of the tour, says Bishop Brian Ashby. Catholic bishop of Christchurch. He sees this official blessing of the tour as a major point at issue. “The freedom of a sporting body to have contact with South Africa is one thing; that it gets the approval of a professedly anti-apartheid Government is another.” The same freedom extended to sporting bodies by a democratic Government must be extended to those in the country opposed to such contacts. As the bishop sees it, the point at issue in Government allegations of treason is democratic freedom.

Bishop Ashby is not involved in either H.A.R.T. or C.A.R.E., or with any protest group. “But I must accept their right to use their democratic freedom within the law to protest,” he maintains. Besides Parliamentary democracy, a democratic State yielded to its citizens those rights of freedom of speech and action within the law which would serve the total good.

"As a leader of a community of probably greater experience than the Prime Minister (referring to the Catholic Church), and certainly one that has lasted through a longer time span, my specific advice to the Prime Minister is that he watch his off-the-cuff remarks,” Bishop Ashby says.

"The election is over and Mr Muldoon is now

not the politician on the hustings, but the statesman who leads our country. We are entitled to believe he will weigh his words in a way commensurate with that position. I believe he made the remarks about traitors in an off-the-cuff comment, and that is why I said he must be joking.” The Catholic Church’s Justice and Peace Commission’s objection to the All Black tour was based on a moral issue. To play sport with South Africa was to enjoy the fruits of apartheid. “We cannot be excused from moral guilt in opting to enjoy this fruit.”

The bishop says that there is no question of racism growing within New Zealand. “The comments made here on the Africa-Asian boycott at Montreal have brought to the surface attitudes that already existed. “This is understandable — we have been isolated, and may still have some justification for believing the world is a white man’s club. Because of a lack of effective contact in many parts of New Zealand with Polynesians, and even with Maoris, our boasted multi-racial culture is not nearly New Zealand-wide. “Publicity also seems to have highlighted the worst sides of our ethnic minorities.” The whole thrust of our society, and particularly its education system, is geared to the values and aspirations of the white, middle-class majority, says Bishop Ashby.

“I am sure that a survey being conducted by the Catholic Church on the relationship of the church to ethnic minorities will markedly reveal white, middle-class values,

especially in tne field of our duty to aid the Pacific countries, and in relation to immigration policies.” On the other hand, he considers, the media has presented the world in its right perspective, as one planet, with a clear indication that human solidarity begins with the preservation of human dignity, whatever the colour of the skin.

He expresses admiration for the Prime Minister of Fiji (Ratu Sir Kamisese Mara) “an outstanding figure today in the Pacific basin.” With an intelligent colonial policy left by Britain, he has steered a potentially . . - explosive society to peaceful independence. “He is one of the many examples of leaders in our world who have shown qualities of statesmanship equal to those of any white man in history,”Bishop Ashby says. “To speak of those who share the same vision for world betterment as trendy minorities is a futile attempt to turn back the clock to the insensitive jingoism of Queen Victoria’s time.” Bishop Ashby makes it quite clear that on the principles he holds, no sporting contacts between

New Zealand and a South Africa which practices apartheid are tenable. A team selected on merit from South Africa which was not just a showcase facade would, of course, represent a marked measure of success, but he is not optimistic. To what extent does Bishop Ashby, who is chairman of the Justice and Peace Commission, speak for Catholics in New Zealand? He replies by saying that Pope Paul’s writings on modern man refer to the Christian option. “While we hold our faith in common, many practical issues arise in which there is a Christian option.

“The Justice and Peace Commission freely admits this, but it believes it has an educative function to make the point that people should consider the issue.

“Our belief is that deeply held attitudes are stopping them from having a good look at situations, such as the tour issues. We remind them that our basic opposition to apartheid is that it is a system based on white supremacy that is legally, socially and politically enforced.’ 1