THE CATHOLIC CLUB.

Dominion, Volume 1, Issue 165, 6 April 1908, Page 5

THE CATHOLIC CLUB.

Sir,—"A' Catholic (not Roman)" has excelled himself in the art of straw spliting on the word "Catholic" and evidently does not agree .with my Catholi? reference in regard to the suggested local, query as to the ecclesiastically acccpted' senso of the term. Tho condemnatory, authority of .8. S. Augus-. tine, Cyril of Jerusalem and Ignatius are not satisfying for. him so that he quotes his own authorities "Murray's Dictionary", ."Lord liomily," and "Baxter." This is quito immense. Why they arc the very weakest he could choose. I could give him far better • authorities for his convention only L would have to annihilate them with other powerful authorities and from.his own side ( of Christianity—l cannot, tako him, seriously— surely lie must be endeavouring .to creato; a poor joke, but, sir, with your kind permission L will treat him to something good, using one of his own clergy as tho educator. This article which is from the pen of an Anglican clergyman appeared in the "Weekly Register" September 1897. It is as follows: ' "If we . Proiestants, we old-fashioned Church of England'folk, liavo to , confess that the vasaries of the new religion invented by the Oxford men in 1833 have put us to shame, and made our Church appear, grotesque, vet Catholics have good reason to feel flattered,that so large a section of Anglicans . have devoted: the last sixty years to ' perfecting! as much as they can, this ingenious ■ imitation of tho Catholic Church. Of course it can never be the real thing. You may mould a statue into the closest resemblance of the human- form, but you can'' never make it breathe and live. So you' may dress a man in all the vestments of. Catholicism but it will never, mako him a .Catholic priest. We feel small because tho larger, part"'•■of 'our Church has taken to imitating tho Ancient Church; but Catholics, ought to take, it as an unwilling testimony, to the soundness of their position that they are being so closely imitated. They began by imitating tho Catholic . idea of the Church. Up till 1833,-men had agreed to look upon . our Communion as what it really is, a department of the State, sot up to present a respectable religion of sufficiently- elastic 1 views to include people of almost any and of no opinions. But now they bejan to call themselves members of tho Catholic Church. They began to talk of dissont as heresy arid schism. They began to warn pcoplo that thoy would be unsafe if they continued in separation from tho Church of England. . . .-To say that it was a sin for Presbyterians to sccede from the Church of England, but no sin for Anglicans to havo secedcd from tho Church of Romo showed a good deal of muddlcheadedness. . . .

But still the imitated idea of tho Catholic Church was tho sincerest (lattery of the Catholic position. . .. Some of tho moro ardent spirits of tho party concluded that it would be a grand stroke of policy to imitate the Catholic Mass. Now, the Mass had utterly ceased in our Communion. After Jlinn 24, 1559, it had become a penal offence to say Mass. . . But though tho real thing had gone from us, these courageous 'Anglicans resolved on introducing a copy of it. Vestments and music wore brought into requisition: in many cases the prayers from the Roman Missal were placed on our

"altars," and some clergymen even said the service in an inaudible, voice, so that it might .sound liko" Latin, and more closely resemble tho real thiife. . . The Catholic Church, whenever any doctrinal matter has been in dispute, has over held a General council to declare what in her judgment is the true Faith of Christendom. When tho Anglican Bishops—who at first had sturdily opposed tho now religion—became imbued with High Church ideas, they resolved on the bold counterfeit of a council. And so, from every English-speaking part of the globe, they flocked to a Pan-Anglican Synod. Again a good imitation, but only an imitation! for whereas when a Council r-yoke, every Catholic had to obey, if a Pan-Anglican .Synod over cpoko, every Anglican could snap his fingers in the Eight Reverend faces of the speakers. . . . When the Pope speaks, all controversy is at ond; but when tho Archbishops spoke, a goodly number of par- . sons like myself openly repudiated their Graces' utterances. . . . The favourite hymns of tho Anglicans aro imitated from the Catholics. What can bo funnier than to hear the Puseyitcs singing about tho 'faith of their fathers'? Funny, yet by a singular Nemesis it happens to be literally true ; in tho literal sense, their religion being some fifty years old, is only the religion of their fathers and uncles." I will conclude by advising my friend to stick to his guns as a "'Protestant" and not ape. or imitate the "real thing." lam prepared to admit that there is some genuineness of fooling and principle in tho conscientious and honourable Protestant, but the. imitator of the "real thing" must necessarily parade in false colours. Trusting to have put my friend on the right path 'of oducation, and thanking you for your courtesy.—l am, etc., April 3. A GENUINE CATHOLIC. (No good purpose can bo served by continuing this correspondence. The argument c&iild' be continued interminably on the lines followed by,tho disputants.)