Mr M'Carthy on " Frients and People in Ireland."

Otago Witness, Issue 2546, 31 December 1902, Page 27

Mr M'Carthy on " Frients and People in Ireland."

TO THE EDITOE. Sib, — " I am a Catholic ; I am an Irishman ; I have a right to speakl" These words are quoted as striking the key-note to the work ou "Priests and People in .Ireland" by Michael J. M'Carthy, in the review of the work reprinted by you in your yesterday's issue from the columns of the Melbourne Age. They do strike the keynote to the work in. this .sense : that if the book exerts any influence "or carries' any weight whatever, it will be because its contents are taken as the utterance of a Catholic speaking of Catholic affairs from within, and not attacking them from -without. A 6 the Teview referred to expressly disclaimed any intention of discussing the truth or otherwise- of Mr M'Carthy's statements, I do not propose now to enter on that question, but I content myself with bringing* evidence from the book itself to show that. Mr M'Carthy is 1 no Catholic, and 'that ih\parading himself as such he is playing with words, and practising^ gross deception on the Protestant public. ~" To -begin with, Mr.' M'Carthjr spent, three years of ',hi» education at Midieton Protes--rant School, and after tfiat four years at (Protestant) Trinity College. That", -of course, in itself proves- nothing ;' but'he goes on to tell us that "If I now happen to know anything, if I have travelled any distance, however short, on the road to truth, I owe it, in common with the entire civilised world, mairily to association with ..Protestants and to the principles of Protestantism " (p. 565). He also tells \is that England, Scotland, the United States, Germany, Holland, Scandinavia, Switzerland, and other Protestant lands have also listened to the voice of Divine truth, and have thus been saved from the barren oppressor (p. 575). He maintains that the Papacy was founded, not by Christ, but by a decree of the Emperor Phocus (p. 592} ; that the sacramental system of the Catholic Church (which is, of course, an absolutely essential part of the teaching of the Church) kills off all practice of real virtue, sets a premium on vice, encourages superstition, and extirpates self-respect ; that it is a gospel preached by pagan priests centuries before the Papacy — a gospel rejected by all civilisation and the better half of humanity; that it explains why the 'moral system of Catholic Ireland, resting upon a foundation of such blasphemous fallacies, is a failure and a fraud (p. 592). In the same portion of his book he describes a lecture on the evidences of transubstantiation as " such unnecessaryand thread-bare trash." There is a great deal more in the book to the same effect, but I have given sufficient for my purpose. Michael J. M'Carthy is, of course, entitled to his own. opinion on these doctrines and practices, and -has a perfect right to condemn them if he chooses, but to write as he has dune and at the same time to pose as " a Catholic." " a good Catholic," " a Roman Catholic," etc., is simply an elaborate attempt to gull the public and make his book sell. As you have given' so much -space to Mr McCarthy's views, I am sure you will, in fairness^ to the other side, find room for a. few verses (which I subjoin) "irom the " Soggarth Aroon " — i.c , dear priest, — a poem by the noble and scholarly John Banim, in which the relations of priest and people in Ireland are truly and faithfully described. — 1 am, etc., December 19. A Catholic Latmax. Soggarth Aroon. Loyal and brnve to you, • n| Soggarth aroon, I Yet be no slave to you, Soggarth aroon, — Nor, out of fear to you, Stand up so near to you — Och! out of fear to you! Soggarth aroon! Who in the winter's night, Soggarth aroon, When the cowld blast did bite, Soggarth aroon, Came to my cabin-door, And on my earthern-flure Knelt by me, sick and poor, Soggarth aroon? "Who, on the marriage day, Soggaith aroon, Made the poor cabin gay, Soggarth aroon, And did both laugh and sing, "Making out hearts tc ring, At the poor christening, Soggarth aroon? TThe, as friend only mot, .Soggarth aroon, 2s ever did flout me yet, Soggarth aroon ? And when my hearth was dim, Gave, while his eye did bilm, What I should give to LiiiiSoggarth aroon?

Qcht you, and only you, . Soggarth aioon! And "for this I wis true to jot», • ■ Soggarth -aroon ; In love they'll never' shake, "VVhen for ould Ireland!s sake *\Yp a^irue part did take, Soggarth ajroonl Jomr Banim; • TO THE EDITOB. Sir, — One Mr Michael M'Carthy has if.- , I cently "'devoted upwards of 600 pages of letterpress to the above-mentioned subject."' A few days ago a lengthy criticism of the book was taken over to your columns from the Melbourne Age. The writer, whilst professing himself a Catholic, has« made a ferocious attack upon the bishop 3 - and priests of Ireland. Of. Mr M'Cajrthy's . book the Protestant Daily Express cf Dublin writes: "If written by ay. Protestant, the v book would be set- down as an emanation"' of bigotry of the worst type; but" Mr M'Carthy repeatedly lays stress on his own. Catholicism, and for this reason his sweeping criticism of that Church cannot fail to command a share, of public interest." The Age critic attaches' special .value to the book because, it has been written by. -" a patriotic Irishman, who is also a Catholic.'' ".How anyone .a little acquainted with, the- contej;* of the book could lo'ok^upon Mr_M'Cartliy ■as a Citholic'it ia not "easy" to understand, - That Mr' M'Carthy should try- to-gire point" 1 and pungency to 'his work" by "proclaiming ■ himself ;-a- Catholic is/mor;3 easily- under- • Btood/ w 'Oßvibusly7 he., aims, at "a" special " clientele. "What constitutes" a Catholic is - j the belief and profession of , the- doctrines of the Catholic Church and the observanc* of its , precepts. That is plain -enough to, anyone. But this writer's book 'reeks 'with the most virulent attacks upon the defined doctrines and the most cherished -practices * of the Church to which he claims to belong ! So the English Guardian (Protestant) declares, that . Mr M'Carthy has proved himself by his book to be. not a not even a Christian!, No .wonder the Church Commonwealth (Anglican) says of Mr M'Carthy's book: "It is as virulently Orange as any Protestant Defence Associationist could ever wish.- Protestantism is all light and all lovely, whilst Catholicism is as black as Erebus, and reeks with rottenness. Yet Mr M'Carthy without a smile claims to, be-- a devout- son of the Pope! "We should advise this gentleman ,to ascertain soon his; proper religiousf^home. - An honest controversialist is worthy of respect. . . Mr M'Carthy's attack is not honest." Here I might call attention to , the facfc y that Mr M'Carthy's education has beetf Protestant. He received his early .training at f the Middleton Protestant Grammar School. ■ After that lre~v graduated at- tErn Orange-tinged. College .of Trinity at Dab--3in—indeed j. he .tells us in his book,. "If I ! < happen to* know- anything I-W it mainly to associatipn' with Prptestants and to tho prin\£ples:©f,P,roteßtantism.ll ' . -. "^ . . It is rather comical, that- Mr MJCarthyv not ashamed, , to try tdT.jSawn himself off as a Catholic,, hopes he shall noV be seen/ through, actually succeeds-" with the Melbourne' Age/ and, is puffed up by it a* one whose ■ fervently Irish and : Catholic soul" is deeply grieved by the: abuses- around— one who writes under stress" of strong emotion',, which occasionally < reaches a* high % pitch\ — one, alas! whose work, after afi, ' may be only a sporadic outburst of individual feel-v ing, and may exercise only a' transitory influence on the minds of the Catholic laity of Great Britain-and Ireland! It is difficult to read stuff and nonsense like, this without a very, very broad smile indeed. But the Age critic represents a class, ancl Mr M'Carthy knows the mental u-eskness of that c'ass. 1

So little has been the influence of this bolt from the true blue of Mr M'Carthy'a fervent Catholicism that Catholic newspapers and magazines have hardly noticed it; whilst the notice it has received from influential Protestant papers is not of a very encouraging kind. Thus the London, Times : '• Mr M'Carthy's is an untidy and clumsily composed volume; its style ispooc and pretentious." . The .-Dublin! Daily Express (Protestant and Conservative) calls., the book " a monument of special pleading . . , a work which obviously' requires the correction ' of a strong antidote ... a distortion in many instances of the facts . .' . leading tp' some extraordinary and paradoxical conclusions." " How," asks the Express, " can an author who rushes into such wild extremes of leniency or severity, according as a layman or a priest is the subject of his notice, bo■accepted -as a writer of .balanced judgment? " > 'Rather poor patronage this for ■" -Mr • M'Carthy's new effort! ' • ~ "\ r Catholics have, for the most part/tr^atecl the book with silent contempt, _wnilsfc";discrimin'ating of Protestant opinion • have given it a very equivocal re-ception. But still there remains a vast number I ; ',of „ people, like the critic of the Age v whose credulity is something immense when''' the >""' Catholic Church is the object of attack, .and who " will, 'no doubt, remunerate Mr M'Carfhy for this effort to gratify a highly developed, if peculiar, mental twist. Mr M'Carthy is not altogether a fool. Though he has overshot the mark with intelligent minds, still he knows that his dish, though "clumsy," "extraordinary," " not honest," will not be too much for the swallowing capacity of many of the British public.

I should not consider Mr Michael M'Carthy and his book worth troubling you with had I not heard some people talking in a puzzled way over your extract from the Age. Hence my reason an' apology for this letter. — I am, etc., William Burse.

Invercargill, December 23.

— Wa&te paper is one of the Salvation Army factors in the regeneration of waste humanity. No less ihan 5700 tone of waste paper alone 13 collected and sorted every year in connection with the city colony, which affords constant labour for 360 men. Nearly 3000 business houses are called upon weekly for their waste paper. London i« divided into a munbei of districts, and paper-sorting works have been established at eeveral places for the purpose of tapping the various localities.

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