CLERGY AND THE BALLOT

Southland Times, Issue 17967, 7 March 1917, Page 5

CLERGY AND THE BALLOT

STATUS OF SALVATION ARMY. (Per United Press Association.) AUCKLAND, March 6. The first meeting of the Salvation Army North Island Congress was held to-night, and was of a social nature. The delegates were welcomed by Sir Jas. Allen and the Deputy Maori Minister. In the course of a speech, Sir Jas. Allen stated that acting upon information as to the practice in Britain full accredited officers of the Salvation Army would be considered as ordained clergy under the Military Service Act, and if the head of their organisation asked for certificates of exemption on their behalf, such would be forwarded to the Military Service Boards, as in the case of other denominations. THE ROMAN CATHOLIC CASE, STATED BY REV. FATHER O’NEILL.

Speaking as the proposer of the “Army and Navy" toast at the farewell to Mr Chas. Lewis last evening, the Rev. Father O’Neill touched briefly on the question of the conscription of the clergy which is so much before the public eye at present. The Rev. Father said;—“ I can’t help thinking that the gentleman who had the arrangement of the toast to-night is a bit of a wag since he put down a Catholic priest to propose the toast of the ‘Army and Navy.’ You are all aware that the question of compulsory enrolment of Catholic priests and teaching brothers is very much debated at the present time throughout the Dominion. The married clergy who form the overwhelming majority of the ministers of religion in New Zealand and who are not to be called upon till the second reserves are balloted, are making strenuous efforts to force the Government to admit of no exemptions. From their point of view it looks logical enough, but they overlook the fact that there is a slight difference between the duties they are called on to perform and those which the Catholic priest has to discharge. The sacred offices of the Catholic Church can be attended to only by the priest, and a layman would be of no use. A famous Oxford convert when asked by a friend, a clergyman of the established Church in England, what the functions of the laity were in the Catholic Church replied: 'The duty of the laity is to feed the clergy.’ Now if the priests of New Zealand were compelled to abandon their parishes for the front it would mean the closing of the churches and the cessation of religious ordinances. I need not tell you, gentlemen, that the Catholic iaity of New Zealand have proved and are proving constantly that they set the highest value on the services of their clergy, and would regard conscription of their priests as persecution pure and simple. You may say that the French priests have given heroic examples of devotion and bravery in the field as common soldiers. I admit it, and am proud of it. But the French clergy have been treated for years by an infidel government as enemies to their country. They were fined and imprisoned on flimsy pretexts and hosts of them were banished from the land they loved so well. When war broke out these socalled enemies returned from the ends of the earth to give their services in any capacity in which they could be useful. Permission was given to them by the Holy See, as the lesser of two evils, to don the soldiers’ garb and to help in every way, short of actual killing. As chaplains, as stretcher-bearers, as ministers of the Red Cross Association they have done splendid service, and many, very many of them, gave their lives for the cause which was dear to them. Doubtless, too, in the heat of conflict when their blood was up, and they saw their comrades wounded and dying round them, they often gave more effective help to win victory over an inhuman and brutalised enemy. But the Church’s law made many hundreds of years ago remains unchanged, and he who devotes himself to the ministry of peace is excluded from the profession of arms. Now it is a remarkable thing that no other belligerent nation has compelled the Catholic priest to turn soldier. Bad as the Huns are, they have not followed France's example in this point. And throughout the vast domain of the British Empire only one, far away dominion has been found to try to compel the priests to go out to slay their fellow man. On the face of it we might well ask what appreciable effect on the war can the compulsory enrolment of less than a hundred men have, compared with the benefit which this discharge of duty at home will have at a time of great excitement, like the present. it is not cowardice that causes them to protest against the violation of their liberty and rights. The Catholic chaplains from New Zealand have already given ample proof of their bravery under lire in rescuing the wounded and lending the dying, as the honours bestowed on some of them amply prove; and if more chaplains be required there are numbers ready to go, and I venture to assert their record will not be one whit less honourable than that of those who have gone before them.”