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New Zealand Herald, Volume XVI, Issue 5649, 24 December 1879, Page 4

The presence in our midst of Bishop Steins is a matter of public importance. It was fitting that so hijjli an ecclesiastical dignitary should be accorded an adequate reception by tho religious denomination over which he is to preside and over which he will exercise so large and serious an influence. No ecclesiastic of any other denomination wields the same power with regard to his flock which will

be exercised by the new Roman CaHi r Bishop of Auckland. To the momhet !f the Church in which ho occupies so h;, t and important a position he is m,;? counsellor, and friend in an oiceiiir i degree, and tlierc will be a diep'ositioT the part of all sects to treat him 'J'£ the respect due to his position ,„*} his high personal attainments. CijiiciV' tion and moderation are understioil T be the policy of the able successor of t i° deceased Pope, and we have no douV that this policy will find a satiafactor- ' ponent in the ecclesastic on whom h has devolved the anxious duties of t ! diocese. Wo trust that the adiiref delivered Inst night by the liish .p . those who assembled to welcome hiili . •' his arrival, may be taken as an oinen'r f that desire to promote harmony appears the foremost wish of the !•?,-'* head of the Church. If the age of bw(,j r " v " has not altogether passed, its asperit=,-? have been much moderated, ami s!w ,;,i the conscientious discharge of his d v [C provoke opposition or comment, we --» sure that Bishop Steins will "' B \ treated with all the consideration t" which he is entitled. The time his passed when the Roman Catholics we're subject to insolent disabilities which th ev bo justly resented. In this country "Ji denominations stand on an eq'ial fouti l -, and none has any just grievance, is the wish of all public men who h;i ve proper appreciation of their responsibility that tlio diverse nationalities should ie welded into one homogeneous whole. v,ith a similarity of hopes and aspirations, a-jj with a staunch loyalty to the eo!.,V v to the empire of which it forms ;\ nnd the crowned head of the State wlu'ie beneficent discharge of her high duties has won for her such sober respect ,->inl sound affection.

In what they deem, we must presume, the conscientious discliarco of their duties, the ecclesiastical ""*■!:■ »ni_ taries of the Roman Catholic Church have felt it incumbent on tho::i strenuously to oppose the system of secular education which the will nf t; le representatives of the people has made the law of the land. Whilst in Victoria this opposition has been given a i\,rce which it would be impertinent in thuse who regret to resent, it has assume! a violence in New South Wales for which there can be no justification, provocative of bitter retaliation, and therefore as dangerous as unwise. The policy of the Church, denunciatory of secular education, must, of course, find an exponent in Bishop Steins, but wo trust we may accept his moderation of last night as a proof of his doing his spiriting with a gentleness that will in nothing detract from its effectiveness. As regards secular education the colony has nailed m colours to the mast, and it is incumbent on all it matters not what their position, or how high—to abstain from language wanting in that respect for the public will, which all are bound to recognise as the supreme law. The system of secular education which has been adopted is the result of no desire to extrude religious instruction from the State schools, but of an imperious necessity and of a large experience. If, io-rnorrow, some superior sagacity should discover the means of recoiicilinj; the differences of the various ChurJies with regard to religious instruction su as to admit of its being imparted in ihesa schools, Parliament would not only vn\lingly but eagerly adopt it. We trust that Bishop Status's administration oi the affairs of his diocese may be as wise and beneficent as we are sure it is his earnest wish it should be, ami that nothing may occur to disturb thoseamenities, which, religious dilleronci-s notwithstanding, are inseparably connected with the teaching of all those why near the clerical habit.