DISTINCTIONS TO BE MADE.

New Zealand Tablet, Volume XV, Issue 13, 22 July 1887, Page 13

DISTINCTIONS TO BE MADE.

TO THE EDITOB N. Z. TABLET. Sib,— Your correspondents " Cormac " and "A. C. Nottingham " seem to me rather to misapprehend the scope of the correspondence in your columns re the late ecclesiastical arrangements in New Zealand. They seem to me to confound persons with principles and historical facts. This is a great mistake, which unthinking people are always making. It would be a great mistake to confound, say, an institution with a person; ior example, the College of the Apostles with Judas Iscanot, or the Papacy with Aletander VI. It would be a mistake to hold institutions responsible for persons belonging to them, say, to hold the Catholic Church responsible for the queer scandalous members of her fold. It would be a mistake to confound' persons with principles, cay, the eligibility of some English Bishop with the question whether an Irißh flock should be better directed by an Irishman or by an Englishman ; or the piety of some foreign priest with the question, whether or not it would advance the faith and virtue of tde Irish people in exile to forget their history and national ways, and become completely merged in the peoplesamong whom they reside-become, say, Anglicised in manners and ways of thinking. There may be a great difference between al 1 the local clergyman says, and the Refined doctrines of the Church. There is a great difference between ' the learning and qualifications of said clergyman and the nature of the tenure of the local church property. There is a wide distinction to be made between the decrees of the Sacred Congregation at Koine, and the actions of other combinations, even though these consisted of respectable and devout people. Such are a few of the many distincnona which good, well-meaning people do not always see : hence bo much confusion and misapprehension. I think that the discussion of the state of religion in the Colony, and of principles having a bearing on the future of Catholicity in New Zealand, is very suited to the pages of the N.Z. TaBLET I think it is generally admitted, at the present day, that discussion is one of the best means for coming at B ound principles and rejecting bad ones In these times of democracy, debating societies, clubs, and stump, orators, there is certainly little use in trying to put a stop to it Discussion of religion and things connected with it cannot be shut out. Discussion is found to be of use in this department of mundane concerns as well as in any other. It would be worse than foolish for you to exclude it from } our columns. Incidentally, expressions used may seem to bear bard upon individuals ; but honesty and justice are nevpr timid or shrinking. V Vhy should tbey? "Be just and fear not says the motto. Straightfowardness does not dread the ligbt. The language used in your columns may appear strong to some ; but since it is not meant to be personal, and Bince it is used in the discussion of matters of deep concern to the Catholics of this Colony, . it shows, not the absence ot charity, but the presence of strong feeling

and lively interest. Strong language in the'discaseion of public qnes. tions does not necessarily imply uncharitableneas. I have often heart a fond mother direct very strong epithets to her darling son. I once heard a learned lecturer say of St. Jerome that he, in the heat of argument, called Pelagius something like a bloated boor filled with Scotch gruel ! In disputing tbe meaning of tha passage in St. Paul with St. Augustine, the same St. Jerome not obscurely hinted that the great Bishop of Hippo was a thickskulled African unacquainted with Greek I Now who would pronounce St. Jerome wanting in Christian charity t who would think the less of him for his strong language, which merely showed the ardour, directness, and firm convictions, of the man? When " Cormac " and "A. U.; Nottingham" have studied the commandments of God as well as Sti Jerome, and when they hgve observed them as faithfully-I speak with all def^rence-they shall bo better qualified to teach the catechism. Also, when they have given a little more attention to the nature of the correspondence occurring in your columns they shall be better fitted to lecture your correspond dents on their want of Christian charity. I think, sir, your correa* pondents are moderate in their language. Tbey appear to me to bs trying to say less than they feel— to be putting a curb upon their pen*, It is good to see the laity taking an interest in the affairs of tho Church. The laity belong to the Church as well aa tho clergy. It is they who build churches and schools. It is they who fill them. Bishops and priests are for the laity, and not the laity for bishops and priests. Why try to silence and shut them out, then, as if they were so many schismatics and heretics ? Formerly, the laity had a part even in the election of bishops and popes. lam sure, na matter what I may hear to the contrary, that the wisdom of the chief authorities in the Church does not disregard the voice of the laity ia these matters at the present day. Anyone with a glimmer of reason in bis head can see that. Why, then, try to keep them in the dark f Why conceal matters from them as if tbey were rebels or traitors f Why should anyone attempt to lead and drive them, as if they were so many cattle or brainless automatons 7 Why, growl at them, if they venture to speak, as a bullock-puncher would at his team? The times are passed away when the lucky digger, here to-day and away to-morrow, certain it would be well administered but careless aa to the mode, threw down his easily got gold to the passing priest. It is a sign and the natural result of steady, settled colonisation that people are beginning to look out for the future, and to study and discuss all matters, even ecclesiastical.— l am. etc Z July 18. ...