THE WHITE CROSS SOCIETY.

New Zealand Tablet, Volume XIII, Issue 27, 30 October 1885, Page 15

THE WHITE CROSS SOCIETY.

f^HIS society has been established in Dunedin, or, y at all events, a public meeting having for its object the establishment of such a society has been held. ± Mr. E. B. Cargill presided at this meeting and V made an admirable speech, full of good sense and good feeling. There were also several other good speeches. The object of this society is to promote purity of life in word and deed by creating a healthy public opinion on the subject and bringing it to bear on individuals. The object is good, the means are good so far a Ba B they go, but the all important question is— Are they adequate? The power of religious faith and practice was at least ignored We are not blaming the promoters of the meeting for this, and readily concede that the important omission arose from a desire to bring together men of all denominations. We wish the society every success amongst those whom it purposes to teach : and although we entertain little hopes of its being able to effect mucb good, we think it is capable of effecting some. It can, if energetically worked, produce a great change in the public mind in reference to filthy speech, which is simply only low ruffianism, and it can also bring about a great change as regards the sale of improper publications and pictures. It may also create such a general detestation of vice as 'may make men ashamed of that of which many of them do not now appear to be at all ashamed. But that it can do that which is of all the most important as being at the foundation of true purity, viz., purify the mind, the feelings, the imagination, we greatly doubt. It is only the teaching the practices and the habits instilled by religion that can bring this about! On this subject we confess we arc not free from a certain doubt, as to the sincerity of some. Will all these advocates of the White Cross Society absent themselves from the meetings of such men as Chiniquy; and such women as the li scaped Nun, who has been brought out here by ultra-Protestants to throw dirtjat Catholics, and to spit filthy calumnies in their face ? Ihe future will answer this question, and if we shall see some of these promoters of the White Cross on platforms adorned by such pure lights, we shall take leave to doubt the sincerity of such promoters. There never has existed in the world a society that has taken so much pains to teach and promote purity as the Catholic Church ; and, nevertheless, no society has been so vilified, as if she were guilty of the opposite vice, as Catholics have been by their Protestant neighbours. Of course Catholics fully appreciate all this, and are accordingly indifferent. We know that these calumnies are spread abroad simply to cause us pain, because the propagators of them well know how intense is our love of purity, and how anxiously we labour for its possession. Hence, when our enemies wish to wound us they are at no loss as to where the blow can be most efficaciously struck. If they valued purity they would not act thus. We shall, therefore, await with some curiosity the

development of this delicate question. By their fruits we shall soon know how much value is to be placed on the zeal of the advocates of the White Cross Society, particularly on the advocates of the clerical profession. Will they be able to keep away from the '• Escaped Nun " and her filthy charges and muendos. If they can we shall say they are in earnest ; if not then we shall not hesitate to call them that which our Blessed Lord called the Pharisees.