AUCKLAND CATHOLICS; THE MAORIES ; MR. SWANSON.

New Zealand Tablet, Volume VI, Issue 289, 15 November 1878, Page 17

AUCKLAND CATHOLICS; THE MAORIES ; MR. SWANSON.

Ihat among the Catholic laity of Auckland tlierc ddes prevail much religious indifferent? c— far too much, I think, is unhappily true, buch a state of things must be unfavourable to a high standard of moralLy. Yiet at Ike same time there exists among them a great and «tn lntreasf ttg amount of Christian piety and goodness, more especially afifcott* U\c your.? of both sexes, such as might rejoice tbe heart of tt « . lumsclf t0 s co, if he had an opportunity of witnessing it. tins -we have under God to thank our priests, schoolmasters, and nuns. I heir unwearied exertions are being crowned with success in spue of the many and great difficulties and discour.igcmer.ts with which they have to coi»teod; NOt the least of these difficulties is the «bsenco cf Episcopal authority in its ordinary form among us. Why me fiurcpeftn. and native liock of this diocese should have been' ltft Wf tilout a bishop for the space of four years is a mystery to us. It must, I presume, be a punishment for our sins. If, however, we are not so good as we should be. that, one would suppose, is the very reason we ought to have a bishop to keep us well in hand. As an advocate of discipline and subordination I am one of those who think tnat it becomes not the laity either to censure or to praise their ecclesiastical superiors. Our business is to obey them " man was born to adore and obey." f*ome may think tliat this is a slavish sentiment unworthy of freemen, rind that it sanctions " priestly domination" in us worst form, No, lam no advocate of priestly domination, as Vrotcstxlnts understand tbe expression, and ac some mis-guided Catholics understand it. By priestly domination I understand an attempt on the part of a priest to force our judgment or coerce us in our actions in matters purely of a secular kind. But education for example is not exclusively a secular affair. It is one essentially of a religious character, and therefore falls under priestly authority from the very nature of things. The Catholic school stands in relation to the church as the outworks of a fortress to the fortress itself. If any one in a fort would assist the enemy to weaken or destroy the outworks, secretly or openly, he is neither more nor less than a traitor, and no true man. Air. Sheehan s policy if carried out to the full would destroy every Catholic school in the country, or impair their efficiency when it could not destroy them. How then is he loyal to the Church, whose authority he professes to respect 1 How are his Auckland followers loyal to it ? I am well aware that it is sometimes difficult to decide what things are purely or exclusively secular, and what are not. In those cases a Catholic of good will and a religious mind would consult his spiritual guide. Prudence requires as much at his hands. Of course a proud and self sufficient Catholic would not do this. He would speak about his conscience, and about liberty, as Protestants do, not reflecting that conscience often when loft to itself leads men into error and sin. All the enemies of the Catholic Church— the "leading" Protestants in particular in the press and political circles, are overjoyed when they see any signs of division among Catholics. A man like Mr. Sheehan who would foment such divisions is a hero in their eyes. They speak of him with enthusiasm. He is a kind of Luther in a small way. Luther shook the world by his defying the Church ; Mr. Shcjhan shakes New Zealand by his fulminations. against her clergy. Luther's object, as he himself tells us, was to '-spite the Pope." Mr. Sheehan, J think, would rather like to spite Dr. Moran and the Tablet by his policy. They represent the Pope. The Catholics of Auckland must have been vastly entertained of late by seeing the flattering incense offered to Mr. Sheehan in the columns of the Ih-rald and Star. What would the papers be without excitement. Yet it is wholesome too. It is quite possible for Catholics and Protestants to discuss their respective principles and policy in the press without any sacrifice of mutual respect, even though they may at times use strong language. Catholics have no antipathy to their Protestaut neighbours. They would be false to their creed if they voluntarily indulged any such feeling-. For my part I always rejoice to see Protestant zeal however warm if tempered with charity, because it is from the ranks of religious and fervent Protestants that the Catholic Church is now being so largely recruited, nothing is so injurious to the Catholic cause as religious indifference, if we except perhaps a furious and uncharitable religious enthusiasm, — whether in Catholics or Protestants. Yet Saul of Tarsus was a furious and heartless bigot too at one time. What cannot the grace of God do. If Oliver Cromwell had not steeled his heart against the grace of God, he too might like the great doctor of the gentiles have become a true Christian, and ceased to be a remorseless sanguinary bigot. If I had access to His Holiness Pope Leo XIII, I should venture humbly and reverently to represent to him the grief and concern felt by the Catholics, European and Native, of this diocese at being so long deprived of the usual episcopal authority and supervision. The native race as we learn from the authority of the Native Minister is fast disappearing, dying out. The only hope in my opinion of saving the small remnant of the Maori race lies in the influence of the Catholic Church over it. There is abundant Protestant testimouy to shew that the Maori respected and trusted the Catholic clergy, so long as they saw that the Catholic Church as their spiritual mother cared for them, and sent them priests. The Maori now see that the Church, their spiritual parent, has cast them off and left them as a prey to their dishonour. I know not who may be to blame for this, and I censure no one. I merely state the naked fact. It was for the benefit of the Native race originally that Catholic missions were sent here at all by the Holy See ; and it is a race which in spite of all its faults was well worth caring for. It had many virtues, not among the least conspicuous of thefeewerepatrotism, courage, and hospitality, with an aptitude for receiving religious impressions. That such a race should be made or allowed to die out I maintain is a scandal to the British Government and people, and in some sense to the Catholic authorities themselves. The Catholic Church and she alone can civilize a heathen people, and in the Christian sense of the word civilize, other so called churches with the best of intentions can demoralise or destroy them, or assist in doing so, — what barbarous nation has ever yet been brought within the pale of Christian civilization except by the agency of the Roman Catholic Church, The pagan ancestors of the English, Irish, and Scotch renounced their paganism

and began to practice the virtues of Christianity at the teaching of the Roman Catholic Church. When St. Augustine -with his small company of monies lauded on the coast of Kent he found the Saxons in England almost if not quite as bad pagans as the Maori. In one respect they Were eVert worse) yet he converted them, and turned their vices into virtues. How did he do tills / Not as the missionaries have vainly sought to convert Maoris, lie converted them by example fully as much as by precept, or rather more. His pious, humble, self-denying life, even more than his preaching, induced tbe barbarous but noble Saxon race to submit to the light yoke of Christianity, and practice his divine preepts. Up to a certain point the Protestant missionaries have benefited the Maori ; beyond that they have clone them a great, and, I fear, irreparable injury. This was the opinion of one" of the rtblest and most experienced statesman. The Catholic Church I regret to see is thus throwing away a fine opportunity of bringing within its pale as noble and chivalrous and uncivilized pagan race, I believe, as any to be found in the world, either in ancient or modern times. I know the prejudice which exist against the Maori in many quarters now, and how they are evil spoken of as an ungrateful and unimprovcable race. But the missionaries, both Protestant and Catholic, and the original European settlers who knew them best speak most highly of them ere they were contaminated by the evil communications of the white men, who have managed by hook or by ci-ook to get hold of their best land, and push them into a corner as a sort of nuisance. Englishmen came here originally as missionaries to the Maori. They are now the conqueror of the Maori, and confiscators of his land. Need we wonder that the Maori look with aversion on English Christianity. In the course of this somewhat discursive letter, there is one point of some consequence that I have overlooked. Some here are scandalized at the freedom of your remarks on Mr. Swanson in connection with the fact of the religious Protestants of this city having intrusted to him their petition against Mr. Curtis' Bill. J)e gustibwt non d i sputa nd tun. There is no accounting for tastes. If the opponents of that Bill found Mr. W. Swanson to their taste, wh3 r not select him to speak for them. Suppose he did not believe in the Christian religion, what then? He might for all that have a very sound judgment from a Protestant point of view on the education question. He is, as we all know, a sensible, plain, blunt man, and I am very certain that the Catholic body here generally, altogether irrespective of religion, have a very great respect for the hon. gentleman. An honest man is God's noblest work, and both the Catholics and Protestants of Auckland I am sure are disposed to regard Mr. W. Swanson as an honest man. You do not know him as well as ho is known here. I do not know if we have any right to inquire into his religious sentiments ; whatever they be he does not obtrude them on public notice. Possibly he may not be very clear about them himself. If it be a fact that like his amiable and distinguished countryman, David Ihimc, he rejects Christianity, and all other creeds as " living prisons" that may be from his misfortune, and not his fault — God the omniscient searcher of all hearts and judge of all men alone can tell which : it is not for us to judge him. ,T, Wood.