AT EVERY MASS.

Greymouth Evening Star, 6 December 1911, Page 5

AT EVERY MASS.

ROMAN CATHOLICS WARNED ON PROHIBITION. v CIRCULAR LETTER. BY ARCHBISHOP REDWOOD. (Published by A loan gem exit.) “A leader of the No-License party has publicly declared that if National Prohibition is carried, one ’of the results will be that after about ten yeax-s, no wines, even for medicinal or sacramental purposes, will be allowed in the Dominion. As this will render the celebx-ation of Mass impossible, we feel obliged to warn our people against Prohibition, and warn them not to vote for it.” The above is the wording of a circular letter issued by Archbishop Redwood, and read in every Roman Catholic pulpit at every Mass in the diocese of Wellington yesterday. The reading of the message or injunction was accompanied by comment which, in nearly every case, dwelt upon the sacredness of the Mass, and the possibility of an upheaval being brought about in an otherwise peacable community, by the threat of interference with a sacred and important portion of the Roman Catholic belief. COMMENT BY ROMAN CATHALIC CLERGY. Preaching at Palmerston yesterday, the Rev. Father Costello, after reading the circular letter, stated that he would not have refex-red to this matter otherwise, though, in some other Churches there, sermons favouring Prohibition had been preached. The Catholic doctrine was one of temperance. Men who preached that wine was itself evil must also preach that Christ was a bad man, as His first' miracle was to convert water into wine. The elements constituting good wine and good spirits were not evil, but were created by God Himself, and it was not their use but their abuse that the Church condemned. There was no harm in taking wine in moderation, and, for those who could not take it in moderation by their own free will, then teetotalism was the remedy. This was a free coxxntx-y, and any reform should be a free-will reform, and not an enforced one.

THE ASSIGNED CAUSE FOR THE LATTER.

Remarks attributed to Mr. Hammond are said to have been made at a meeting held at Ashburton on November 18th, the following report of which is fx-om the “New Zealand Tab. let”

Among other questions, Mr. Hammond was asked —(1) If the Prohibition party contend that alcoholic liquor is an evil in itself, and he answered, “Yes.” (2) If so, was he. aware of the three

exemption clauses in the Prohibition enactment and he stated “Yes, he was.” (3) If in the event of Prohibition being carried on the Dominion issue, do they (the Prohibitionists) itend agitating for these exemptions to be repealed. In the first place he answered “No.” But when be was asked, “Why not?” in the face of alcoholic liquor being an evil in itself, be said, “When we carry Prohibition, a few years after we will have the majority of the

people educated to the extent that the doctors will throw alcohol out for medicinal purposes; the churches will not use it for sacramental purposes (as indeed his own Church is not using it now); and it will not be necessary for industrial purposes . 'Shen will come the repeal of the exemption claus-

cs —in a matter of about ten years. We have (says the “Tablet”) ilo desire to press these utterances more than the situation warrants. We content ourselves with saying that the bare possibility of being deprived of Mass is a prospect which no good Catholic ca nregard with equanimity. THE ROMAN CATHOLIC STRENGTH.

As it may he assumed that the above injunction from the Roman Catholic clergy will influence a big vote against Prohibition, it is interesting to quote the number of ad her ents to the Roman Catholic Church A New Zealand (as gazetted a few days ago, and as compared with those of the other principal denominations). They are as follows : Roman Catholics Otholics (undefined) U 532 Episcopalians 4i1.6fl Presbyterians 2-14.663

Methodists (including ’ Primitive Methodists, Methodist Church of Australasia, and others) .. 94.827 Baptists 20,042 Salvation Army 9,707 A2U