"PROHIBITION AND CATHOLICS."

NZ Truth, Issue 755, 6 December 1919, Page 13

"PROHIBITION AND CATHOLICS."

The section of the community most , mtagonistiq to Prohibition constitute | -he adherents of the Catholic Church, I lespite the fact that the majority of I Catholics are temperate, and belong to temperance unions. The main reason for the hostility displayed by priests •and people of the Catholic Communion is due to the fanaticism displayed ,)y some bigots m the Prohibition \:amp towards the great central act of Catholic worship— the Mass. There ire bigots on the beer side, too, ' who certainly play upon the religious fears of Catholics, ?nd endeavor to condemn Prohibition as if this movement were cursed by His Holiness, "from the chair." But, just as during the war, the Pope dared not be on the : 7nili'tant side, and only blessed Peace, .go, while not inculcating Prohibitiofi he cannot, and dnre not, champion beer: he blesses Temperance, leaving the individual Catholic conscience en^ tirely free m the matter, as m all other matters. A healthy conscience is the surest guide— but one must have a healthy conscience.' There, are so many people who have a sick or weak conscience, or no conscience at aIL

Despite all the noise on "beer or no beer," Catholics have a perfectly free conscience to act as the inner light solely dictates. Ngt . only that, they are actually encpiir&ged by the Pope toi do so. In 1914 a huge pilgrimage of Catholics visited the chair of Peter, aJhd Pope Pius X, through Cardinal Merry De Val, gave a letter to the head of the pilgrimage, wherein he hoped that Catholics everywhere, particularly the clergy, might be I "in the very van of the movement against alcohol." The majority of R.C. bishops m America are against liquor; the ma-; jority of the bishops m New Zealand^ are against Prohibition. Dr. Cleary, of Auckland, plays a lone hand for Prohibition. Hence the lay Catholic conscience is considerably bamboozled; though the intelligent Catholic knows — ior should know — he is absolutely free to vote as his conscience dictates, and should certainly uphold his conscience m the matter. The fanatical few among the Prohibition element m their intolerance towards Catholic worship, have naturally aroused the fear's of Catholics; hence the Catholic vote against Prohibition will and must be solid. The great majority of ~ther.clergy, unlike their brethren m j America, are absolutely against Pro- • ,hibij:ion, for the reasons already sta;tedj/ :^":"1 '""■'• ■ '-'■■■:-■■> .