THE RELIGIOUS WORLD

Evening Star, Issue 16993, 15 March 1919, Page 2

THE RELIGIOUS WORLD

THE CATHOLIC LAITY.

THEIR DUTIES AND RESPONSI-

BILITIES

This topic formed largely the subject of Father Liston's recent sermon before the Catholic Federation. In the course of his address he said: " This is no time for shrinking from the light, apologising for ourselves or our religion, for languid curiosity, or cold criticism. These are days of stirring action and each of us must play a man's part. Fear no foe, turn aside from no danger, strike at every enemy, deal back blow for blow. Let courage be your first, your second, and vour third name. The Church needs the hearts and minds and personal service of all her children. ... By historical tradition, by force of circumstances, and by the sharp experience of stinging injustice, we Catholics of New Zealand are essentially a fighting race. Let us remember 'that we are still on the field, with many a battle ahead. " What, then, more particularly, are the duties and responsibilities of the Catholic laity? The lay members of the Church are called upon in these days of blatant paganism with its tremendous glamor and apparent power, to lend to the cause of religion the protection and help it no longer receives from the godless State. The noble task of the laity is to devote energies, talents, and resources to the glory of God, for in glorifying God are found map's true life, real liberty, and lasting happiness. In matters of natural order, a lead is required that has the guarantee of Divine assistance. Such a leader is the Catholic Church, founded by i the Saviour of the world. The Faith which j she offers you, members of the Catholic Federation,* is a light, a guide, an inspiration, which', when compared with the feeble flame that burns for your le»s fortunate countrymen, is as the sun compared with a flickering candle. It loaves you in no fog about your personal bearing towards God—your duties of belief and of worship—and your obligations to yourself, your families, and your fellows. It tells you in clear language what you are burning to know about your nature and the meaning and purpose of your life. There is no call for you, who walk about in the ! spacious and well-lit rooms of faith, to be j disturbed by the appearance of false I lights or bewildered by new-fangled j theories; for you have at hand in your ! religion a sure standard of action, a plain j course of conduct, strength, and balm for tired, bruised, and aching hearts, and in Christ. His Mother, and His saints, perfect models for every state of life. ... " If you, members of the Catholic I Federation, are true to this first duty, true, that is, to God and to yoursleves, you will be able to go a step further and help your fellows. There is no call to prove—the fact is, alas, too glaring—that multitudes of our countrymen outside the Church are losing, or have lost, religious faith. Yet, I am convinced that deep down in the hearts of our people you will find a craving for the truth and a sincere religious feeling—a smouldering fire which only needs the strong, warm breath of Catholic enlightenment, zeal, and charity to fan it into a blaze of belief and worship. Here is your chance as laymen; here is a noble apostolate. It is your high privilege to put into the souls of men who are freezing to death in the faithless anterooms of faith the sacred spark of divine truth, and enkindle in them a yearning j for the only religion that can warm their | minds 1 and hearts. . . . The toiling j masses are keenly conscious of the greed ' and injustice that weighs so heavily on j them; make them understand that the j Church, whose proud boast it has been to ' be the Church "of the people, has power ! to heal the sores of suffering humanity and breathe into it the vigor of health* Go out _ in sympathy to the captives and the: bruised of modern industry—and strive ' for the enactment of good laws to secure their right, their dignity, and the fullest measure of freedom and happiness that this passing world of discipline permits, i Go forth, I say; go forth quickly, before the spirit of paganism blasts with I ruin our beloved country; go forth into the highways and the byways and by your deeds of mercy, and your personal service, save your countrymen for God and lead them to the feet of the Saviour '■ of the world. If we are to work in this j way for the welfare, spiritual and tern- ! poral, of our fellow-countrymen—and God knows there is crying need to do so, — then we must use the opportunities that are given us in the exercise of our civic : rights. | Do not say we are only a minority, | 0110 in seven, for a minority, provided 'it j be compact and earnest, wins through j every time. Only, the minority must not j stand apart as an alien, and we are no ; aliens in a. land that has been built up by our brains and hands, tears, and blood, a's ', touch as by those of others; its strength j lies in identifying itself with the welfare I of the nation. Its place is in the busy , world as well as within the sanctuary and ' at the foot of the altar. Our hearts must beat in thorough sympathy with our countrymen in the things that are theirs— - material interest and social welfare—in order that they may be with us in the things that are ours—the priceless treas- ' ures of religion. The nation's interest!?, let us not forget it, are our interests : the ■ people's cause, our cause. We cannot' afford, either for the sake of our countrv or our religion, to live away from the social and political life around us. There is too much at stake. We love this young country of ours, not so much for its grand mountains, its broad rivers, and fertile plains as for the richer, freer, nobler : human life which it is making possible; wo want to direct its high hopes, to push ' forward its legitimate aspirations, and ; win it to Christ and His Church. The time has surely crime, then, for us to enter more boldly into the national life and make ourselves a force in the nation, for the battle-cry is fast becoming "paganism or Christianity?," "the State or Christ?," "the overthrow or the main- ; tenance of all moral and spiritual authority?" "Why stand you here all the day idle?" " Ouoe- again let me be practical. If we are to become a power in the national life and leaven the countrv with Christian principles, or.r Catholic laymen must find their way en to all sorts <f public bodies and cheerfully -boulder the burdens of public duty. But !hto T prefer to riuote the wise words of an experienced h'.-hop. He is thinkmg of England, where the conditions are much the ?ame as in Nov." Zealand : 'We wart men who will ft rain their siii'C'vs to work for their country and the public Catholic good. Wo are not asking for spoutera and swashbucklers, but for conciliatory men who can he firm ; men who will take their share in the general business of bodies and practically demonrtrate the right of Catholics to equality of treatment by working a*s hard as their non-Catholic colleagues; men who wiii nevw fight merely for fightimfs sake, but always prefer quiet arrangement and peaceful conciliation. 1 would not, however, J<e understood tc- imply that a little hardhitting is not, at times, both needful and successful. A man has to let his public see that he in in <?nrnest ' It is strength ir. action, then, we nu.Kt have, not id> < vaporinas; dogg-ed peraev-.fance. not emjity \ itsnlutions; not th* "O'd of one crying t in the wilderness, but the voico of many \ waters, sounding with ail the force that comes from a united and organised body. I "If I have not spoken of "our rights'as Catholic citizens K is bocaajse I fee! that if we hre faithful to our duties and responsibilities to God and country the lights will settle themselrcs. Yet I would «iv

this: We claim—and we claim it not by way of privilege or favor, bat as an mi questionable right—that onr religion shall be no disadvantage to ns in chit public life, and especially that our children shall n>.t be handicapped and their parent? penal set simplv because conscience bids us sscun. for the littie ones a religious training in the school as well as a secular. .And I would add: Wo have tried sweet leasonableness in the past to secure bare jus lire for orr Catholic schools, and we but nttle further ahead. Let us, in God's name, try some other way. Combine and fL-ht. No public cause worth the winning is ever won without combination. No just eauee—and our.s is overwhelmingly just—is ever lost for which even a minority o f earnest men combine and fight."

" PRAYING GENERALS." Th pronounced religious tone of the leading officers on the allied side is a quality that matches; itself with itie justice of x their cause. That the head of the American forces as well as generals of the British are praying men is one of the personal factor? noted by ' The Consrrega.I tionalist,' which sketches the scene on Thanksgiving Day at Chaumotrt. the American headquarters in Eastern France, I where a formal service was held under the j auspices of the leaders of our American I Army with many dignitaries present lepresenting the allied nations: " The comm&nd'ar of the American forea made an address in which all boasting was conspicuously absent and the serious and religions note wai dominant. Here are some of his striking words witn regard to wcojrnitoin of the divine help without which even the superb valor of our troops might 1 ot have been crowned with eikwse. Victory was our goal. It is a hnrdvon gift of the soldier to his country. Only the soldier knows the cost of a gift we now present to the nation. As soldiers inspired by every spiritual sentiment, we have each silently prayed that the .success of righteousness should be ourn. Great iar.;e. indeed, hav,> we to thank God for trials succes-sfiiUv met and victories won. Still more should we thank Him for the golden future, with its wealth of opportunity and its hope of a permanent universal peace. With thankfulness, we humbly acknowledge that hie strength has given us the victory. We are thankful that the privilege -has been given to us to serve in such a cause. " These words of General Pershing recall the remark credited to that stern British soldiar. Lord Kitchener, when the news came to his London office in October, 1914, that General Joffre had thrown the Germans back at the Marne, 'Somebody has been praying.' MarShaJ Foch's wellknown custom of taking a portion of every day for qtiiet meditation -and praver, and the devout .spirit of General Allenbr. the conqueror of Jerusalem, must also be noted in this conneceion. "That men of iron like th»se military leaders in the cause of freedom have ail through these terrible months realised that 'if it had.' not been for the Lord who was on our side, then the proud waters had gone over our soul,' should carry a powerful lesson to the whole world."

CHURCrI ORNAMENTS TO BE RETURNED. Rheims is not permanently despoiled. Twenty cases of church ornaments, tho loot of German soldieT6, have been started on a roundabout way home. But Cardinal Fartmann, the Archbishop of Cologne, who is the agent for their return, wrings from the Brooklyn ' Eagle' no very enthusiastic raaise;—"Cardinal Hartmann, ; the Archbishop of Colotiiz, is a prudent Ipereonase. When the British troops took i possession of the city he made sure that 'they would not set'eyes on certain- evi;dence of German sacril ge in France. ' Xone of the Allies mugt be allowed to see ; the great collection of religious ornaments taken bv German soldiers from the d»o----cese of Rheims and stored at Cologne. So these thhiffs, filling 20 cases, were sent to , Switzerland. Thev are at Berne, in the j care of Bishop Maglinne, who will return them to France. How or whv Cardinal Hartmann obtained them he has not said. ! That will be an interesting storv when it 13 told. We should be glad to believe that he was solicitous for the safety of the sacred vessels, and asked the German military authorities to preserve 'hem and let him be their custodian. It would be pleasinc also to learn-that be did not start them on the way back merely because Germany was beaten and Coloane occupied, but that lie had always intended their return at the end of the war. That would tend to eoften the impression made by his attitude toward Cardinal Mercjer aiid his defence of the invasion of Belrium. It is so far good that some of the German loot from the Rheime Cathedral and churches will he restored, though the destruction of the Cathedral itself is irreparable."

THE CURE'S DILEMMA It could not have happened anywhere except in Fiance, this heart-catching little incident of the solution found by an old French cure for the problem of burying a non-Catholic American soldier. The whole village, had loved the American, the whole village withod to do him honor, but be was not of the true faith, so how could lie be buried in consecrated ground? French chivalry struggled with French leneration for old religious customs, and the outcome is as pure and delicate a little idyll as ever pot into a French storyteller's masterpiece. The Chicago 'Tribune' car ries the following report of it: "A very sick young American soldier left a truck train in a little village in the Vosges, thmk-'ng ho would be all right in a couple of days. He was the first Yank with whom the villagers had come in close contact, and all laid themselves out to minister to him. The village cure, a kindly soul, took a deep interest ; n tho bov. The priest's whole human life wiw embraced in the phra*e 'Pour la Franc*." So for the sick doughboy he brought knickknacks and sweetmeats. The Yank could not talk French and the care could not talk English, but they managed to make each other understood admirably. " The boy continued to grow worse, and one momimr he died as the cure was holding his hands. The villagers broueht great wreaths of wild flowers, which filled the little room of the c.ureV hilleide home. The mourning for the unknown American seemed to touch each of the little homeg. Then perhaps the biggest dogmatic problem of the gentle priest's life riared him in the face! Where could he dig the grave? The bov was not a Catholic, and no one ever had been buried in the villaga cemetery who was not a Catholic. Th» cemetery ran alonu the priest's trarden. separated by a thin stone wall. The villagers were wondering, too, where the grave could be made, when tli»y beheM the cure spading up the earth in his earden aj. close to the little stone wall a* he could get. The boy had died 'ponr la France,' and should be put as near th» holv "round as the venerable jn«n could do it ' On the dav of the funeral the villagers gathered in the garden, and with wci faces consecrated as best they could In* resting-place of the non-Catholic. One great wreath of wild Rowers covering tn» grave had worked in it in purple blooms the words 'Pour la France.' A ruas wooden cross was erected. The cure was still troubled because the bov was not in holy ground, but he told the villagers ho had done his best. Then the villager- &. few mornings after that *aw a large hole in the priest's garden wall, right beside the grave of the' American soldier. Some surmised that the priest himself had torn down the wall during the night. Anyway, no wall now stands between the grave of the doughboy and the holy ground, and the grave always is covered wit.li wild flowers »nd the little bcadwork designs so common to French Cat-holla cemeteries. It is further surmised that If the cure does mend his garden wall it will have a jog in it running out into the garden and around tho mound of earth en which always are kept fresh blooma which spell the wgrds ' Pour la France.'"