Current Topics

New Zealand Tablet, Volume XV, Issue 22, 23 September 1887, Page 1

C urrent Topics

|rr*ni Cop g- AT HOME AND ABROAD.

TBUK FBiJBr TO IRELaHJ

Lord Denbigh, as we ccc from the report given by the London Tablet of a speech made in the House of Lords by his Lordship on the Crimes Bill, is also one of those who may be looked upon as the fervent adm|»B and most Bincere friends of the Irish people. There are a number^f good folk who might be mistaken by the uninitiated or the prejudiced as unfriendly to Ireland, but these who know better can tell us, as they constantly do, that these good folk are Ireland's best friends. They say the prettiest things imaginable concerning the Irißh people. They acknowledge their sufferings in the past, their steadfastness to the faith, heir amiable nature, and predict for them the brightest possible future. But the Ireland and the Irish people they allude to are not exactly those that really exist, but those that may come into existence by-and-bywhen the conditions proposed either openly or in secret by these good folk have been brought into play. Lord Denbigh is one of these good folk, and they are numerous among the party to which be belongs. The Duke of Norfolk is one of them, and so, most probably, is the Bishop of Salford, and many others. There is, perhaps, no determined enemy of the Irish race among this tribe from whose lips some pretty remark relating to tbe Irish people might not be quoted. Lord Denbigh, nevertheless, would like to see a little change worked among the Irish people Interesting though they be, according to bis Lordship, and steadfast to the letter of the Catholic faith, for of its spirit, it would seem, they know very little, they are a people, says he, who need to be restrained by the provisions of a Coercion Act, as ordinary people need to be controlled by the provisions of tbe Decalogue. But they are a peopl.e nevertheless, more:sinued against than sinning. They are the victims of emissaries from their countrymen in America who persuade them that by repudiating their debts they can recover the lands of which their forefathers were cruelly despoiled. And none is more ready to acknowledge the cruelty in question than Lord Denbigh himself, who, like all his party, dearly loves in his heart the poor Irish Catholic, and would deliver him from the deceiver, whether he will or no. There are, it seems, even a number of the Irish Bishops and superior clergy whom his Lordship is able conscientiously to exclude from that charge lately brought rather recklessly against their whole body of conniving with assassination and murder. But he has lately made personal enquiries and has found that there is quite a large body of these ecclesiastics who, in their connivance, are the slaves rather than the leaders of a criminal population, and who would gladly receive assistance from without. Some slight addition however, ai his Lordship thinks, might be made to coercion. He would have the Coercion Act amended by one in favour of Catholic Education. He would educate the people to bear their sufferingi more i Gently and to give the landlord all his rapacious demands without I , ,c least remonstrance. Catholic education in Ireland as administered by Lord Denbigh and his clique, in short, would be a most conservative measure, and Lord Denbigh is able to quote passages from the Encyclicals of the Pope that bear out all his views, just as if he were an Evangelical parson quoting from the Bible in support of his private interpretation. Lord Denbigh, by means of education, would make Catholic Irishmen," and not « Irish Catholics," and there is a great difference between the two. The difference, moreover is one that it is most important for us to learn in colonies where Lord Denbigh's Catholicism is now in the ascendant, and the plans his Lordship lays down are likely to be closely followed up. But here is the passage in which, according to the Table?, report Lord Denbigh drew his distinction :-" He drew great distinction between an Irish Catholic and a Catholic Irishman The first would square his religion to his politics : it was an accident of his birth. The other had his religion as his guide and the orincipleof his actions, and his p litics must not transgress it " *The Catholic Irishman would, in short, be ai Irishman, if he could be called so, who would be spiritually terrorised into submission to any ill-treatment that a hostile government might impose on him. But Lord Denbigh does not see what Irishmen have to do at all with politics. They should be forced to give them up altogether, he

thinks, as matters most harmful to them. The Irish people, h« thinks, have a natural taste for oppression, and politics simply play the mischief with them.— « There was no people on the face of the earth," said his Lordship, " that more valued a strong Government than the Irish if it were just. ... The Irish nature, when not excited by drink or politics was a generous, kind, and sympathetic one." The stage Irishman is bad enough. It might be thought that when that blustering, blundering, coarse, though humorous and ridiculous, fool had been represented as typical of the nation the extreme insult had been reached. But it remained for those English Catholics of whom Lord Denbigh is a mouthpiece, and whom, with the exception of a very small minority, lay and clerical, he thoroughly represents, to invent and celebrate the Catholic criminal, steadfast through ages of persecution to the faith, and yet worse than a renegade or heathen, a robber, a scoundrel and an idiot, riotons and morally drunken, if claiming to manage his own affairs, but crouch. ing| willingly under the iron hand of oppression and like the traditional whipped hound turning to lick it. This is the picture of the Irishman that Lord Denbigh gives to the House of Lords, and which the Bishop of Salford publishes to the world in his journal the London Tablet. But Lord Denbigh and the Bishop of Salford, like otben that we know of, have still much that is kind and sympathetic to lay of the Irish people— when it suits their purpose.

PBOTESTANT OPINION.

The following article from the Evening Bell was telegraphed to the Dunedin Evening Herald on Thursday, the 15th inst. by its Auckland correspondent :— " Every man that has a respect for true manliness of character, wherever found, will be gratified to learn that a movement is actively on foot for the presentation of a testimonial to the Right Reverend Dr. Moran, Catholic Bishop of Dunedin. In the days of weak-kneed principle, and when timeserving is so commonly m»de the • Open Sesame ' to success, there is something invigorating in contemplating the character of a man of staunch and unwavering adherence to conviction ; and probably there is not in all New Zealand another man who has exhibited this character so consistently as the able and eloquent Catholic Bishop of Dunedin. It does not reqaire that we should agree with all the principles that a man holds to admire his holding them firmly, and there are thousands of Protestants in this Colony who differ in matters of faith from Dr. Moran as wide as the poles asunder, who chivalrously give the meed of praise to the Romish prelate, who through good report or bad report stands up for his convictions in preference to men who have their convictions on them as loosely as their clothes, and can put on or put off to order. Dr. Moran occupies a position that would have been peculiarly tempting to a man of softer nature. He has been long at the head of a church in his district, the proportion of which is alien in race as well as in creed, and a very large population of whom are influenced by an instinctive and ignorant bigotry that prompts them to hate his church and to regard his race as inferior. In such circumstances a man of different fibre would have sought by sycophancy to ingratiate himself with the dominant numbers by humbly insinuating himself into their good graces, making concessions to their prejudices, and winning their co-.fidence by passing in their estimation as " not a bit like a Catholic." But Dr. Moran is proud of his religion, and he is proud of his race, and he never once attempts to veil his pride in either ; and we do not hesitate to say with every Englishman and Scotchman in the district, who is a true man, the Catholic prelate is honoured for it. Dr. Moran, as the greatest and ablest, and moat distinguished defender of the interests of the Catholic faith in New Zealand, has only too good reason for resentment at the injustice with which it is treated, and he does not conceal his resentment. In the matter of education we do to the Catholics of New Zealand what the Governments of France and Belgium — two countries in which our co-religionists are in an insignificant minority— never dream of doing to Protestants. We force from them taxes which we apply to a system of education in which they cannot and will not share, except in violation of creed and conscience, and while we make a proud boast of liberty of conscience, we say that it is me and not they that should be the judges of what their consciences should accept. Disguise it as we may, there is a wanton and disgraceful outrage perpetrated on the Catholics of New Zealand, and Dr. Moran has ntn >t ceased to denounce the wrong as a freeman an<J

a Christian. But it is for Ms pride of race that the Bißhop stands pre-eminent. An Englishman jußtly loves his grand old native land, and his blood is stirred with the remembrance of her glories ; and it is with a straightening of the back and a proud curl of the lip that he says 'lam an Englishman.' To a Scotchman the very patois of his country is dear, and he justly regards with scorn ' a man with eoul so dead, who never to himself hath sairi, this is my own my native land; whose heart within him has not bumeJ,' aad he rightly judges that his countryman is to be distrusted who does not love the very hills of ' bonnie Scotland.' Bat it is a crime to love Ireland ; it is a shame to speak lovingly of an Irishman's native land because she is suffering. Dr. Moran does not feel so. Better perhaps for his political preferment if ho did ; for then the English Catholic noblemen, who are conspiring to make Irishmen forget their native land, would not have registered a black mark to his name. However, Dr. Moran lives in the hearts of his fellow-countrymen, and he lives in the high esteem ot every New Zealander who is intelligent enough and free enough from prejudice to admire sterling and fearless adherence to principles and convictions wherever it is found. We have seen it stated that when this able prelate was passing through South Africa revisiting the scenes of his former ministrations, the bells of the Ang.ican churches pealed out in honour to him and in welcome ; and we feel confident that on this occasion when it is deemed fitting to make demonstration of esteem and respect to the eminent and able Bishop of Dunedin, it will bear with it the hearty sympathy of thousands in New Zealand who do not belong to his Communion."

SAVE US FROM OUB FBI ENDS.

It has always been the fortune or the misfortune of Ireland to he dealt with by her friends. When Henry 11. undertook the improvement of the country in the first instance, it was not out of malevolence or ill feeling towards it that he did so. The state of the country, he declared, had become very bad, ard a friendly hand was needed to bring it back to a proper condition, and so he obtained, or pretended to obtain, his Bull from Pope Adrian IV., and entered on his proposed course. Very possibly no one who ever bad anything to do in following up Henry ll.'s proceeding differed much from him in his object. No mere mercenary conquest was the end at any time, but the amelioration of a country that really had great capacities for good if only it were properly managed. And the proper management consisted in that which recommended itself to the invader, whether it were Queen Elizabeth, or Cromwell, or King William of Orange. Cromwell, for example, found everyone who wore the ecclesiastical habit of the Catholic Church and was an emissary from the Pope, as pestilent a fellow as Lord Denbigh now finds the emissary who, he says, brings over the remembrance of hatred and the temptation to robbery from the United States— and to promote the peace and welfare of the country he knocked on the head every priest or friar he could come across. His exploits at Droned* and Wexford and other places were also undertaken for a like philanthropic or godly end, and if the will is to betaken for the deed Cromwell must be looked upon as a great benefactor of the country— Lord Dep.bigh and his party to-day must be considered as no less. And, indeed, we occasionally find that we are expected so to regard them. Everyone who would Dot starve, or banish, or imprison Irishmen for the meie sake of doing so, is to be accepted as their friend, and we are to be held as the most ungrateful of all men if we do not look upon him as such. A great example, again, is placed before us in the career of Mr. Gladstone. There is a man, we are told, who acted at one time a* the most pronounced opponent of Irish interests. But, behold, bow bold and perfect was his change. May not those who now oppose the Irish cause be excused on this plea, and considered at one with the Great Old Man in the possibilities before them. But, to the credit of the Irish people be it said, when Mr. Gladstone opposed lhem they resisted Lira tooth and nail, and their successful resistance it was, as he himse.f in effect acknowledges, which greatly helped to bring about his change, if it did not wholly accomplish it. We aye afraid, then, in the interests of charity, that it is encumbent on Irishmen to disregard the motives of those who are in opposition to them. Queen Elizabeth or Cromwell might desire to knock the Popery out of them and to place them in such a position as that they might become a docile Protestant people. Lord Denbigh may desire to give them such a measure of Catholic teaching as may lead them to abhor the drunkenness of politics aa conducive to even a further journey than the most protracted one through the realms of Purgatory, and his Lordship, as well as other people, may desire so to conduct them as that by becoming, as he says, " Catholic Irishmen " they may cease to be Irish Catholics or Irish at all— and all may be done with the best motives possible, and to make them all that would be most praiseworthy in the eyes of those who thus adopt the cause of their amendment. But, unless Irishmen disregard these bettor motives and look upon those who oppose the ends they themselves have determined on as their genuine adversaries, without any exception, they must make up their minds to fail and suffer. If ever there waß a people on whom it devolved of necessity not only to pray to be saved fiom their friends but to adopt energetic means for their

own salvation from them, and to be constantly on the alert against them, it id the Irish people. From Henry 11. to Lord Denbigh and his allies, they never yet had an enemy who was not their most devoted friend.

EMPTY HON6UBS.

According to the London Times, it is difficult to see what advantage the Pope has to gain from the establishment of diplomatic relations between his Holiness and the British Government — a step to which many people are now anxiously looking forward, and to which also Lord Denbigh made allusion in the speech that we have referred to. The only service, so far as it is easy to judge, that the British Government could render the Pope would be in the direction of helping to restore to him the Temporal Power. But the Times, in referring to the letter written by his Holiness last Jane to Cardinal Bampolla and more recently published, not only lays it down with all the authority of the laws of the Medes and Persians that such a step is impossible, but actually goes a good deal further, and gives us to understand that the Pope, in declaring that territorial sovereignty is necessary to the welfare of the Church and that he will never relax his claim to it, iB making mere empty professions. The Times gives us to understand that the Pope is now more powerful than ever he has been in modern times, and that the cause of bis increased power is the spoliation that he has undergone. It declares, moreover, that his Holiness is possibly aware of this fact, and that he has no real desire that the demand he makes should be granted. Were the Temporal Power, indeed, to be restored in a spontaneous manner, he would be glad to accept it, but he would do nothing involving extremes to regain it. — The interpretation, however, given of the Pope's mind by the Times may pass for what it iB worth. Those who look upon his Holiness with more reverential eyes, and consider more gravely his personal character as well aa the position filled by him, will hardly agree that he gives forth to the world opinions which he regards as light or makes reiterated and earnest claims which he looks upon as insignificant. But the Times mo^t probably makes us acquainted with what the Pope has to expect from an alliance with England. There would be nothing for him to gain more than he now possesses. The freedom that Catholics enjoy in the British Empire has been the fruits of their own efforts, and what is still wanting to them their own efforts must acquire. Representations made by the Pope would but little affect the course of British legislature, and what is stilll needful to secure to them the full measure of justice in education — which is the only matter still needing amendment — must follow with the success of the Irish demands. The bargain, then, that those who are clamouring for the establishment of diplomatic relations with the Vatican would make it a very one-sided one. All the power of the Papacy should be placed at the disposal of the Government to subdue the Catholic population so as that they might submit without complaint to the perpetuation of injustice, and all that would be given in return would be the recognition of his Holiness's position as a despoiled sovereign. The proposal, according to what we gather' frem the Times, in short — and we probably obtain a true view of the case — is presumptuous and impudent.

SAUCE FOB THE GOOSE IS SAUCE FOR THE ©AN DEB.

We see that in some quarters it is denounced as an ur -Christian thing, an un-Catholic action, a work of heresy and schism, and almost a pagan undertaking to hint or suggest that the Pope might be influenced in ecclesiastical appointments or other matters of the kind by persons interested in destroying the national spirit of the Iri&h people. But who was it, let us ask, that first made this accusation, and published to the world that it was a matter of strong probability and, according to their notions, of hope approaching to certainty .' Neither they who are un-Catholic nor un-Christian, nor heretic, nor schismatic, nor pagan in any degree. It was ecclesiastics and noblemen, and gentlemen, whose reputation as Catholics and Christians is beyond all suspicion, who are foremost in the works of charity and religion, and who are frequently in personal communication with the Pope himself. Is Dr.Vaughan, Bishop ■ of Salford, and proprietor of the London Tablet, an ecclesiastic whose practices, or even whose tendencies, are un-Uatholic and un-Christian f , schismatic, heretic, or almost pagan? Surely not. In politics we are ourselves opposed to Dr. Vaughan, as day is to night, but yet we have no doubt, not the least, and we should be the first to denounce' such a doubt, that he is a most pious and excellent Catholic ecclesi--astic, following up in everything as his conscience directs him the 1 teaching of the Catholic Church . Is Mr. Cox, moreover, the editor of the Tablet, an un-Catholic or an un-Christian editor 1 Perish the thought. Mr. Cox can give orthodox instructions to the whole world, of journalism, and we are convinced Pope Leo XIII has no more* faithful a follower, ac, indeed, the Catholic Press, apart from all Irish or Liberal questions, has no more respectable i*or more estimable amember. Again, as ajtype of the English Catuoiic nobility, take: Lord Denbigh. Is not his Lordship the very picture of a brave and faithful Catholic ? Is he not the source, the fons et origo, of that bold claim, "I am a Catholic first and then an Englishmaa ? " But tho=

Bishop of Salford, in his paper, the London Tablet, and Mr. Cox, in the same paper, tell us plainly and openly that mines and countermines are spread abroad beneath the Vatican, that there is constant intriguing goiDg on with the object of influencing the Pope in ecclesiastical matters and ecclesiastical appointments, and they simply propose as a remedy that a regular system of carrying on such an influence may be established. Lord Denbigh is still bolder ; he declares openly in the House of Lords that he has the pledged word of Pope Leo himseli that his Holiness is ready to be influenced in each matters, Lord Denbigh, in speaking on the Crimes Bill in the House of Lords on July 15, is thus reported by the London Tablet : "Some priests had purposely joined the councils of the National League in their own parishes in order to control their actions and minimise the evil ; but many, instead of exercising control, themselves had been carried away and com promised by the movement. It was chiefly the younger and more ardent curates that had figured moit in the Nationalist ranks. The parish priest as a rule kept quiet or stood aloof altogether. He had touched on the past unjust behaviour of England towards her Catholic subjects in order that he might have the safsfaction of bearing witness to her present fairness and consideration for them. He was encouraged the more in this by the testimony of the reigning Pontiff, Leo XIII, who in an audience which he granted him four years ago, expressed himself to the following effect : ' 1 am so sensible of the justice of England towards her Catholic subjects and of the liberty which they enjoy under her rule— a liberty greater than in any other part of the world — that I wish to mark my gratitude by aiding England to maintain order, peace, loyalty, and good government, as far as my influence can extend throughout the world. I can help her not only in Ireland, but in India and in her colonies. To do this, however, I must know what she wants and must have accurate and official information as to the state of things." Can we doubt as to what are the hopes that Lord Denbigh places upon these words of the Pope's which he has quoted ? Are they not plainly that his Holiness might be influenced by an English representative at the Vatican to control the Irish Catholics of the Empire at large in accordance with the des'res of a Tory Government ?— But Lord Denbigh holdß communication with the Pope face to face.— The Bishop of Salford constantly enjoys the same privilege. Have Irish Catholics, therefore, no grounds to fear that for which these personages—who possess so great advantages for forming a judgmentexpress so strong a hope, and which they openly advocate. — If there be heresy and schism and almost paganism in fearing that the Pope may be influenced against the claims of Irish nationalism, are they not also to be found in the hopes that he may be so influenced ?— Or does the difference consist in the fact that the hopes of such an influence are entertained by powerful English Catholic ncblemen and gentlemen, while tb c fears of it exist only on the part of the mere Irish ? — To state, however, that influence has been brought to bear on the appointment of ecclesiastics so as to repress the growth of Irish nationalism, as has undoubtedly been the case, is by no means to accuse the Boly Father of a desire to see this done— or even to accredit Propaganda with such a design.— The exalted personages bringing their influence to bear would very well know how to promote their ends without exposing their motives. — Lord Denbigh, for example, would not do away altogether wiih ail Irish characteristicsHe would only change " Irish Catholics " into " Catholic Irishmen." But, we Bay again, the denunciation of those who express a faar of such an influeace at Borne — cannot justly or consistently be made until they also are denounced who openly express their hopes, and boast publicly of their prospects, of establishing such an influence as a regular and fully recognised system. If the N.Z. Tablet be justly denounced it must be in the company of Lord Denbigh, the Bishop of Salford and Mr. Cox.

THE BEDEMPTORISTS IN AMERICA.

The following article taken from the Boston Pilot will interest many of our readers, who have reason to be thankful that the Redemptorist Fathers have also made a foundation in Australia, where we hope, as we believe they are destined to extend thei r Order as widely as in America : — August 2, 1887, is the centenary of the death of St. Alphonsus Liguori, Bishop and Doctor of the Church, and founder of the Missionary Congregation of the Holy Bedeemer, whose members are familiarly known as Redemptorists. The celebration, which will be on a magnificent scale, will be of especial interest to Catholics in America, as the Redemptorists are well known h&re, having permanent establishments in 15 dioceses of the United States and 3 in Canada. They have also during their 50 years in this country given missions in all ita chief cities and towns. They made their first beginnings in the United States, in the diocese of Cincinnati in 1832, but they can hardly be said to have taken root here as a community until 1839, the same year in which their founder was canonised. The Redemptoriats came hither from Austria, and at the desire of Archbishop Eccleston, then Archbishop of Baltimore, devoted themselves especially to the German element, already very strong in the United States. Their mission is

still largely to the Germans ; though they have mixed congregations in New York and New Orleans, and in their Boscon and Canadian congregations, the Irish- American element predominates. This missionary congregation, tbouuh one of the youngest, is among tie most flourishing in the Church ; and has already been fruitful in holy and learned men. It will doubtless have the h nour of giving to the Church in the United States its first canonised siint, in the person of J -hn Nepomucene Neumann, fourth bishop of Philadelphia, who was a Redemptorist, and who difd 27 years ago. The process of his beatificatien is proceeding at Rome. The present Archbishop of Oregon, the Most Rev. William Henry Gross, was also a Redemptorist. He is well remembered in Boston, having been for some years rector of the M ission Church, Roxbury. Notable among the Redemptorist writers in America are the Rev. Eugene Grimm, who recently edited the centenary edition of the works of St! Alphonsus ; and the Rev. Michael Mueller, author of many popular devotional works. St. Alphonsus was canonised just fifty-two years after his death. His nephew, a venerable soldier, carried the pennant of the saint in the magnificent ceremonies attendant on his canonization. His great theological works have made him master and model of spiritual directors the world over."

PERFECTLY CREDIBLE.

The following anecdote, far-fetched, as it might reasonably seem, is, nevertheless perfectly credible. Let ns not forget Lord Denbigh's receipt for the pacification of the Irish people :— '' We had never succeeded in converting them to Protestantism," said his Lordship, «' let them learn to be good Catholics " :— " It is related in Rome (says the special Rome correspondent of tbe Pilot) amongst those wellinformed on Vatican matters, that an English Bishop, received in audience by the Pope a short time ago, gave his account of the Irish question, and added that the only way, as he considered, to bring the Irish to a sense of their duty was to send Catholic priests to them. The Holy Father slowly and solemnly said :— 'l have believed always that the great majority of Catholic priests in England wera Irishmen ?' "