COLONIAL CATHOLICISM.

New Zealand Tablet, Volume XV, Issue 22, 23 September 1887, Page 7

COLONIAL CATHOLICISM.

(Fiom the Nation, July 30.) Thk recent election of new Catholic sees in Australia and New Zealand, and the reference of the Pope to the great development of Catholicism in the British Empire in his letter to Cardinal Rampolla, have attracted considerable attention to the nature and causes of that immense development, and to the methods by which the practical enthusiasm of the pioneers of the faith may be preserved for still greater work. Tbeie can h.irdly be a doubt as to the cause of that development in the Southern Colonies. It is the work of the Irißh exile. Over 90 per cent, of the Catholic population of Australia and New Zealand is Irish. To the tenacity with which the Irishman clings to his beliefs and principles is it owing that this Old- World creed has been carried into new dominions and given a new empire. The Australian Church is the creation, not of a missionary priesthood, but of a missionary people. Pope Leo seems to recognise this, and his recognition of the fact is seen in the appointments he has recently made to the Australian sees. Cardinal Moran and Archbishop C*rr have been chosen from the ranks of the Irish bishops and appointed to the vacant archiepiscopal sees of Sydney and Melbourne. In the selection of bishops for the new sees the same ideas have governed the Propaganda. Dr. Doyle, the Bishop of Grafton, is a native of Cork and a student of All Hallows ; Dr. Dunne, Bishop of Wilcannia, is a native of the King's County and a student of Carlow ; Dr. O'Reilly, Bishop of Port Augusta, is a native of the City of Kilkenny and a student of All Hallows ; and the other bishops are nearly all Irish, or of Irish parentage. This most formal and effective recognition of the relatiou of the Church in the Southern Colonies to the Church established by St. Patrick cannot be taken otherwise than as the expression of a desire on the part of the Holy See that the natural relationship should be everywhere recognised, and that the traditions, labours, and glories of Irish Catholicity should become the heritage of the new-born but fast-developing Church unier the Southern Cross. We have not far to seek for a reason to justify this wisb on the part of Pope Leo. He is the head of an institution that draws its present strength from the glorious achievements of the past. In every letter that issues from his pen on the position of the Papacy, he refers to history in answer to the lying attacks of the enemies of the Church on the tendencies of that institution. Manifestly he feels what a great thing it is for a community or a people to have a noble past to appeal to, to be true to, to rival. And it is his most wise wish that the new Church of the South should not begin its career in the nakedness and awkwardness of a thing of yesterday ; but that it 9hould go forth on its mission glorified and sustained by the inspiriting memories that are the inheritance of every Irish Catholic. It is often the misfortune of newly-founded colonies that in the new conditions of life they cast off old manners and customs, and witn these too often disappear old habits of thought, old feelings of reverence, old ideas of morality. The vulgarity of the novus homo often characterises the nova natio ; unless, unlike the former, the latter can claim an inheritance of noble tradition. And that vulgarity of new nations is often deepened and intensified by an utter indifference to the spiritual. But with the records of Irish history for their own, the Catholics of the South will be a new and vigorous branch of an ancient nation, and they will be free from those defects that are so often the curse of colonies even in the midst of prosperity. It is satisfactory to find that almost all the authorities of the Australian Church act in the spirit of these Papal manifestations. Cardinal Moran, though preaching to his Irish flock a steady loyalty to the interests of their new home, still encourages them to look back to their mother land, and ponder on and admire the history of Irish Catholicity We regret to have to write " almost all." A letter recently appeared in our columns setting forth the discouragement with which all attempts to maintain characteristic Irish sentiment meet from a certain section of the episcopacy in New Zealand. We have before us several copies of our excellent contemporary, the N.Z. Tablet, a journal doing much in its sphere to maintain, strengthen, and extend the empire of Irish thought and feeling. These papers contain the account of the proceedings in connection with Dr. Redwood's elevation to thearchiepifccopate,and a long and interesting correspondence on the teaching of Irish history in the Catholic schools. In Dr. Redwood's reply to the address of his flock, there is not a single word as to the share borne by Irishmen in the work of founding the Church in New Zealand. He takes his elevation as a compliment to the Society of which he is a distinguished member, and which is certainly foremost among the labourers in the Pacific. He dwells, also, with a not unreasonable pride, on the fact that he is a native-born colonist. All that is well ; but it is not well to totally ignore that connection which his Holiness Pope Leo has so formally recognised. Dr. Redwood has thereby deeply wounded sentiments as justifiable as his own ; and it is not in the interest of Catholicity that he should try to rob his Church of a character which ought to be the source of its greatest strength, the character of being a people's work. It consoles us to find that a different estimate is formed of his position by the venerable Bishop of Dunedin, Dr. Morar. Replying to a series of addresses which were presented to him on the occasion of the fortieth anniversary of his ordination, his Lordship said : '■ The union and mutual love of priest and people, which have under Providence been one of the chief means of preserving the faith and nationality of an ancient and illustrious race, will secure a continuance of these blessings to their children in all lands where they may fix their homes. See, my dear friends that you neglect no opportunity of instilling a love of Holy Church and reverence for faithful Ireland iuto the hearts and minds of your children, and reject with abhorrence not only all systems of godless education, but also all systems of education that would ignore the hifitory of the Irish rac» and nation, and endeavour to make them forget that they are the children of Irish fathers and mothers. Bear in mind that the man who ignores, or forgets, or despises the race and nation from which

Ihe sprung is ignohle and base." These are golden words, and they ought to be made a golden rule by those whose work it is to watch over the spiritual interests of Irishmen. They are, m >reover, conceive li v what we believe to bo the spirit of the policy of the present illustrious ruler of the Church. We hope that, for the sake of Catholicity in those promisinß Southern lands, the sentiments of the Bishop of Dunediu may continue until that Church has built up a record for itself as glorious a 9 that which it shares in being the child of the Church of Ireland.