CHURCH AND SOCIALISM

Otago Daily Times, Issue 21356, 9 June 1931, Page 11

CHURCH AND SOCIALISM

AUSTRALIAN PRIEST’S CASTIGATION.

The Sydney Daily Telegraph of May 18 states that there is great interest in northern New South Wales in the fight being put up by the various churches against the Communists in the Labour Movement. At the Catholic Church at Cessnock the previous day a strong attack on what he termed “ Pagan Seer tarians ” in the Labour movement was made by the Rev. Father Davoren, many non-Catholics attending to hear the address.

“ It is morally certain that the present and immediate objective of Pagan Sectarianism in Australia is the material impoverishment and utter moral degradation of the worker,” said Father Davoren. “ The pagan sectarian will tell you that he has devoted his life to the uplift of the worker. How does he uphold his claim? “He does so by constantly fomenting strikes, irrespective of the justice or otherwise of the worker’s claim, irrespective of the probable success or failure of a strike, and irrespective of whether an abortive strike docs not leave the workers’ state more impoverished than before. If such sectarian devotion to the workers’ cause be persisted in, it must, as a logical consequence, succeed in making the worker materially and morally the poorer. “ Moreover, how can the dignity of the '-worker, or respect for his just rights, be maintained by such a ruthless policy? It is impossible, for even his best friends must look askance at him. How long, therefore, will Labour men of spirit tolerate this studied pauperisation of their families, this degradation of their manhood, and this debasement of their just rights at the hands of these sectarians? Not for long 1 hope. Who should believe or trust in these" Mad Mullahs, when_ even the school child is aware that their intemperate and nauseating zeal for the worker and his cause is but merely a: veil to mask their innate insincerity. MORAL DEGRADATION.

“ Nowhere, perhaps is the debased cunning of these ingrates displayed to such effect as in their shameless attempt to bring about the utter moral degradation 1 of the worker. To this end they dangle before 'his eyes a state of prosperity, purely material, which begins and ends with the earth, a state where the worker shall live in the lap of luxury, and where but a modicum of labour shall suffice to maintain it. They call it, I think, the ‘ Millennium.’ As you see, it is nothing more than a degrading appeal to the mere animal instincts in man. - Christianity, by the very, essence of its message, must be completely and thoroughly opposed to it.

“ Knowing this, the sectarians inform us that before the worker can even remotely appreciate this millennium of theirs, enticing as it is, it is imperative that his mind be thoroughly expurgated of what they term that ‘ colossal and superstitions fallacy ’ known as Christianity. “ Hence tliese voracious monsters, with the low cunning of the rodent, strive to gnaw into the very vitals of the worker’s religious> belief, that thus having robbed him, he shall be as clay in the potter’s hands to be shaped in accordance with the desires of their purely animal instincts and outlook. Stripped of its camouflage, their attack on the worker’s religion may justly be expressed as follows:

“ A personal God Who will reward the good and punish the wicked simply does not exist, or if He does He is merely a jest, therefore, so far as He is concerned, why should the worker worry about - the performance of good works, or why should he refrain from the perpetration of evil deeds? No need whatever, imply the sectarians. Again, these sectarians inform us that man does not possess an immortal soul. His life, as is the case with the beast, ends with the grave. Therefore, as God does not count, why, so far as He is con cerned, may the worker not adopt the tactics of the criminal and indulge in the morality of the fowlyard? No reason whatever why he may not, again cunningly imply the sectarians. “ It is self-evident that this irreligious teaching is pre-eminently calculated to beget the complete moral ruin of the worker. Surely you will not take , this debasing treatment lying down. Surely you will rid your great movement of this the most blighting curse that has overtaken the human family.” ARCHBISHOP’S WARNING. Speaking at the annual Communion breakfast of the Catholic Daughters of Australia on Sunday, May 17, Archbishop Duhig, -of Brisbane, said that Communism was a terrible menace, not only to the peace and order of society, but to their faith and principles of life. Before it was too late the Government should insist that Communism got no footing in Australia. That the days of persecution were not over had been shown by repent events in Mexico and Spain. If the occasion arose here there were people in Australia who would willingly persecute Catholics and drive the Church out of the country. He was grateful to the Anglican community for its expression of sympathy about the tragic events in Spain. The previous week he received a letter from Archbishop Sharp, conveying regret from the Anglican Diocesan Synod.