MEXICO AND THE CHURCH.

Dunstan Times, Issue 3334, 16 August 1926, Page 8

MEXICO AND THE CHURCH.

CATHOLIC POINT OF VIEW

Father P. J. Cooney, parish priest at Lyttelton, contributes to the Lyttelton 'limes the appended article regarding the conflict between the Mexican Government and the Catholic Church in Mexico. It is hard to imagine any conditions worse than those in Mexico lor the past len years as far as real Ireedom is concerned. To us ol this country religious freedom is a very sacred thing, and forms the very cornerstone of our national edifice, finding expression in the Constitution of every State in the British Empire. The Mexican Government is bolshevik and is trying to carry out Soviet policies. “It is attempting,” says the Bishop of San Antonio, “to de-Cns-tianise the country and to banish all religion.” “This persecution,” adds Dr Drossaertcs, “is being directed by Leningrad.” In addition to ruulmg out religion, it is intent on plundering churches and stealing all ecclesiastical property. A year ago the persecution began by order of President Calles. Then the operations were confined to cci tain districts, notably to the State of lobasco, but now the persecution has spread, and in the I ederal Capitol we have the authorities ordering the deportation of all ministers of religion wiio are not of Mexican birth, and the closing of every educational institution in which religion is taught. There have been collisions between the soldiers and the people, notably at Coionia Bom a, where a crowd ot p,UUU people gathered to defend the priests, who were in the end taken forcibly from the shelter of the Church. Deported priests are arriving m the United States with stories of incredible hardships.

Mexico, beginning with its Const!tu tion of 1857, which decreed the separation of Church and btate, has treated jlie Church with continuous hostility; oppressive laws and restrictions have teUowcd from decade to decade. Though this legislation has not always been enforced, it has never hecu repealed. T'c-rc is a recapitulation or these? laws iu the Catholic Encyclopaedia un der Hie title of “Mexico.” I subjoin sonic of them: Public officials arc forbidden in their official capacity to assist at any religious ceremonies or ..o entertain in honor of a clergyman, however high bis rank. No religious rite or demonstration may take place oiitsi/le the church building in any part of tile Republic. Priests and nuns arc not permitted to wear a special dress or garb in public. The law does not recognise monastic orders, 1101 permit their establishment. Religious institutions shall not have the rigid to acquire title or to administer an;, property- All religious orders of men and women which exist throughout the Republic are 1 suppressed. AH Church property becomes the property of the State. ‘ Legacies in favor ol ministers of religion are mill and void. In no place shall decent burial be re fused to the dead, no matter what the decision of the priests. _ Ali hos pitals and charitable institutions man aged by religious corporations arc secularised. ’ Religious instruction is prohibited in all Federal, State and municipal schools. No clergyman can be elected a Congressman or Senator More recent legislation claims for the Slate the right to determine the maxi mum number of ministers of religion (u Tobasco the number of priests has been reduced to seven —seven priests fur 180,000-souls! It was further en acted that these priests should not be less than forty years of age and married, The result has been that all ex-cept-three priests (who are in hiding have been exiled, hi this free Repub lb priests have no vote and are noi allowed to perform any religions rite except in buildings under Government supervision.

The war in Mexico in its ultimate analysis is one against (!od and the supernatural. It is waged on defonce'ess men and women, by as conscienceless a. group as ever paraded in the garb of a Government. The Catholic Church is opposed to evil in high places and in low. She is the one great moral bulwark of order, never afraid to raise her voice against crime. The self-seekers in power are fully cognisant ol her existence as a. challenge to them and rlioir misdoings. If Voltaire in bis hatred for Christ cried out in desperation; “Wipe out the infamous 'me,” so the Mexican Government today makes vocal the same cry. “Get rid of the Catholic Church; away with it; hunt out its clergy; exile its consecrated women-; close its schools; hand over its splendid old shrines to others whom we need not fear and i hen wo shall feel more secure iu our official brigandgo/’ There is the attitude reduced to- plain language. There is another feature of the whole affair which is worthy of note: It is the studied discrimination evidenced by the Mexican worthies in their treatment M Catholic and Protestant agencies. The latter were and are let free to carry on their work of proselytising, in Fact, they are welcomed, aided am abetted in their work by Mexican authorities, whilst all the engines of persecution are trained on the Old Church. Although the people of Moxi"n, are overwhelmingly Catholic, yet there is not a single Catholic representative in the Federal Assembly. The elections are a farce and the governing body that framed this ininuitous constitution keeps itself in power ,!V corrupt practice. Bishop Kelley, of Oklahoma, for many years a stalwam (inirnpion of the Mexican Catholics told a special correspondent of the Universe” that from Ids knowledge of the character of Callus he foresaw trouble of this kind. “Ho is keeping his promise to the Reds, and starting a policy of religions persecution. Hnt there are other reasons for lighting the torch at present. For many years one could he sure about many things in Mexico. One was the confiscation of all property that could he confiscated with safety. Generals and politicians there need money. Now the Church has been confiscated to death. The pickings at present are ■small, lair there might he something, so on with the ready-made Constitution. which was never submitted to the people. The last/ painting in the sanctuary will be torn down and sold in New York; the last jewel in the Madonna’s crown will go to Paris to adorn a strumpet.”

‘‘The whole agitation against priests, mms and schools,” said Bishop Kelley, “is a smoke screen to draw the eyes ol Americans while the Government went on with the theft of foreignouned and I'oroign-controllod properties.”

It is the story of .Bolshevist ,'Uussia all over again. An armed junta, hold sway and anarchy runs wild. Immoral dives are welcome in Mexico; the Catholic Church must go. The nationalisation of the sources of supply and the redistribution of land (without compensation) among the peons is a beautifully euphemistic way of describing pillage and spoliation. Meanwhile, the same sad results of misery and starvation threaten to lollow in Mexico as come from the Communistic experiment in Russia. It is Russia all over again! and as in Russia, so in Mexico.

the one stabilising influence in society, tlie one sure bulwark against anarchy—the Christian religion-—is singled out tor attack.