CATHOLICISM IN ITALY AND ENGLAND.

New Zealand Tablet, Volume I, Issue 53, 2 May 1874, Page 9

CATHOLICISM IN ITALY AND ENGLAND.

THE following is from Dr. Newman on the above topic :—: — " Has Protestantism, that bitter enemy of the Holy See, harmed the Holy See ? Why there never was a time since tho first age of t.he Church, when rhere has been such a succession of Holy Popes, as since, the Reformation. ... I know well that, when Catholics are good in Italy, they are very good. I would not deny that they attain there to a height and force of saintliness, of which we Beem to have no specimens in England. But, looking at Italian and English Catholics externally, and m their length and breadth, I may leave any Protestant to decide in which of the two there is at this moment a more demonstrated faith, a more impressive religiousness, a more generous piety, a more steady adherence to the cause of the Holy Father. The Jinglish are multiplying religious houses, decorating churches, endowing monasteries, educating, preaching and converting, and carrying oft 1 in the current of their enthusiasm numbers of those who are external to the Church ; while the Italian Statesmen, on the contrary, imprison and exile the Bishops and Clergy, leave the flocks without shepherds, confiscate the Church revenues, and expose religion herself, Btript and bleeding in every limb — the Catholic religion — in her sacraments, in the person of her ministers and mosc devoted members, to bo objoets of profane and blasphemous ridicule. At the end of three centuries, Protestant England contains more Catholics who are loyal and energetic, in word and deed, than Catholic Italy. So harmless has been tho violence of the Reformation, that professed to eliminate from the Church doctrinal corruptions! It has failed both as to what it lias done, and as to what it has not done. It has bred infidels to its confusion ; and to its dismay it has succeeded in strengthening and purifying Catholic communities." It appears from this that'En^land is at present th<» most Catholic because the most free country in Christendom ; and that genuinei liberty and Catholicism go hand in hand. Well may tyrants and unjust men everywhere dread ihe present advance of the Catholic Church. Purified and strengthened by past chastisements, she will now stand forth as the defender of justice in every land. Justice is the very essence of Catholicism. Injustice is the pillar and ground of heresy. Imperial Rome seems to have bequeathed the Sovereignty of the world to England, and it is fitting that she should stand forward as the first protector of the Catholic religion, which is to subdue and purify the hearts of all men, and turn the.tt to justice. We see that at, present violence, fraud, and selfishness rule the world ; both tho Christian and non-Christian portion of it. These can only be put down by Catholic powers — or other powers ruling in a genuine Catholic spirit Among these England — practically the most Catholic of them all — must take the precedence at no distant day. But she will not engage in or encourage a religious war — the most odious of all wars. God forbid she should. To put it in another form — England has a m'ssion — and a njble one. It is to rule the world in Justine ; not by herself, but in conjunction wi4i the Catholic Church, and the Catholic G-overnments of Christendom. Non-interference is now being regarded as a mistake and an abandoning of the weak as a prey to the strong. It is a policy of selfishness and cowardice, unbecoming a great and Catholic power like England. It may seem ridiculous to call England a Catholic power, as yet at least. Bat she possesses more of a Catholic epirit than some countries professing to be Catholic, and with a majority of the people Catholics. Ireland has acted as her Catholic tutor, aud under Q-od is leading her into the Church. But Ireland is, and ever will be, an integral part of England. The two will triumph. — W.