ROTARY MOVEMENT

Manawatu Standard, Volume XLIX, Issue 78, 1 March 1929, Page 8

ROTARY MOVEMENT

RECENT MISUNDERSTANDINGS. (United Press Association —By Electric Telegraph—Copyright.) Received March 1, 10.10 a.m. OTTAYVA, Feb. 28. On board the steamer Berengaria at Montreal, Mr R. B. Sutton, president of>Rotary International, gave the Australian Press Association tho following inclusive statement: — “The recent attack in an article in the Osservatore Romano is merely a reprint of an article in tho Civilita Cattolica, which was published on February 16. Sinco it was written I have had numerous conferences at Rome with the director of the Civilita Cattolica, Father Enrico Rosa, and many of the highest Church authorities. As I am a Roman Catholic myself, I am explaining and clarifying the doubts and misunderstandings and presenting a formal statement that Rotary has no connection with Masonry or any other organisation; that religious and political discussion is positively forbidden ; that Rotary has no record whatever of the religious faith of tho membership; that Rotary’s meetings, activities and records are public—there are no vows or secrets of any kind; that there is absolute respect lor tho religious faith of all the members; that Rotarians do not attribute to themselves any private moral code, nor intend to create any sect or national religion, much less do anything contrary to the dogma of the Catholic faith; that with reference to some few actions or statements attributed to individual members throughout our past international organisation, which are seemingly contradictory to the foregoing, the directive authority of Rotary must declare tho same unauthorised, and, furthermore, deplore any act contrary to these fundamental principals of our organisation. “The Civilita Cattolica will publish my formal statement in its issue of March 15 with its observations, which, *1 believe,' should end all further controversy and terminate the previous misunderstandings.”