Current Topics

New Zealand Tablet, Volume XIX, Issue 13, 26 December 1890, Page 1

Current Topics

AT HOME AND ABROAD.

We do not know what may be the full moaning or

IMPORTANT, the full mini! of Mr. ,J. L. Gillies, Chairman cf THOUGH BATHER the Union Street School Committee, Dunedin,but, hazy. in presiding at the breaking-up ceremony of the

school the other day, he spoke at least a word or two that reads like common sense. Mr. Gillies, for example, condemned the Bible-in-sch ,ols folk, though not exactly in so many words, as a lot of humbugs, wbcse sincerity was doubtful, and who were doing more harm than good by the fuss they maae. Mr. Gillies, however, holds very heretical notions as to the education of the period which, according to an authority quoted by him, is not only ineffectual in itself, but calculated alßo to produce deleterious effects. Its fruits are " Musicians who cannot play, and artists who cannot draw ; linguists who are ignorant of thiir own language, and can read and write no other ; a taste for the meretricious in art the chimerical in science, and the sensational in literature ; « constant yearning after luxury and pleasure, and a eowaidiy shrinking from self-denial and pain ; in abort, an abandonment of the old paths trodden by the great and goon for new ways that only lead into cloud-land and confusion. I '— Mr. Gillies, in fact, would have education made religious, although he does not adopt the present platf mi of the Bible-in-fchools party. " The mere reading of the Bible in the schools," he eaya, " will not supply the religious education that i=i necessary to turn out good men and true, according to my estimation. '—Air. Uilhcs, Levertbele^s, though he Bhows some common s< nse in dealing with the defects <f the system, dots, not seem to us vtrv cU'ai in his notions as to how they are to be amended. His ideas ar<' cuitainly hazy as to Chiistian teachers to whom he would assign the task of maintaining for the children a healthy religious a'mosphere where their hearts and souls would receive true (. hnstian teaching, and to whom he would still forbid theological teaching. '• The less of that," he cays, '• per Laps the better, et-pecially the human or man-made side of it." — But to teach religion without the aid of theology might seem a requirement somewhat of the nature of that traditional one of making bricks without straw. — The Christian religion, it will be admitted by all who believe in it, is founded on Divine revelation, and what is theology unless the explanation of what that revelation contains ? That the explanation is given by means of men, moreover, seems but consistent since, in fact, the ievelation itself was so made. We really do not gee how Mr. Gillies is to escape from theology of one kind or another, supposing Christian teaching or influence to be brought in any way to besr. It is, however, the especial penalty of private interpretation, on which Mr. Gillies seems in an extreme measure to rely, that, while it makes its boast of avoiding what Mi, Gillies calls the human or man made side of theology, it depends upon that side to the full extent possible, bringing it into play in an unauthorised, incapable, and uninstructed form — with the necessary results. So much, however, it is important to note, that Mr. Gillie?, the chairman of a school committee, testifies to the inefficiency of the secular system, and pronounces strongly in favour cf a religious education.

Our heading is a strong one, but it is not stronger

AN than the circumstances warrant. A correspondent ABOMINABLE has sent us a paragraph containing a story of senlie. sational horror that has been going the rounds of

the Press regarding a convent known as that of the Sepolte Vive, or Buried Alive, at Naples. It is "alleged in th s paragraph that, in consequence of complaints made by the parents of a young gul who I ad bf eu placed by them in the convent allucUd to, on account of a love affair which was objectionable to them, the Minister of Justice ordered the convent to be opened, and that when the order was obeyed sixteen nunß were found in a condition hardly human,- half-starved, more than half-insane, filthy, and, in some ios'ances, having lost the use of their tongues. Now it is quite true

that the convent in question was tnte. .by forc3-as was also another convent known as thitof the Trent tra Cappucine. or Thirtythree Capuchin Nuns. It is, however, ulso that the motive was complaints maele by tho parents of a young giil who had been incarcerated there, lhemniive, as explained by a prominent Neapolitan clergyman, the Rev. P. Clemente M. Piscitelli, a Uarnabite Father, and rector of the Church of Santa Maiia di Caravaggio, at Naples, in a letter to the Liverpool Catholic Tunes, was that the promoters of irreligion in the city might " show once more their hatred against religion and politically reanimate their party in Naples for the next election." The nuns were subjected to insult and to violence, the veil being torn by the Prefect himself from the head of one of them. Two of ttum, also, ladies of advanced age, who were confined to bed by illness, were obliged to rise and come forward for examination. The motives and discoveries alleged are false then, but the outrage and violeuce are true. Nor is it true, as alleged. that the convent is known as that of the Sepolte Vive, or Buried Alive, because the nuns on entering it have the burial service read over them. It is so called because the nuns who enter there are said in a phrase by no means uncommon, to be dead to the world. They are, besides, for the most part the members of families of high position, who could not be ill-treated with impunity The Catholic papeiq have published a full and complete contradiction cf the calumniep. But especially the livoipool <'atlmhi Timm, in reply to the London /Ja/li/ ( hitmuh ba« pnb'iahcd the letter from Father Piscitelh to which we have reft 1 red, and the Ihuhj ( hroidch- admits that the leport was •• highly exaggeiatod," The Liverpool Ttmt\ farther publishes the fo lowing letter received by, it from another Neapolitan correspondent, Professor E.torc tie Angehs :— " The report enclosed in yout letter is true as to ihe violent visit to (he nunnery of the Buried Alive ; is false, thoroughly false, a« to the 'shocking discoveries.' What are tLcse discoveries ' Every Italian man knew the statutes of that community. Where aie these shocking discoveries ? All that is said in the report of the sixteen nuns found within in a state boideiing on msanity is a back, abominable calumny. So is what is added of their clothes, of then demeanour, and what is seriously said, and is yet so unlikely, of their having, many of them, forgotten how to speak. On the contrary, Father Mascia, Ecclesiastical Superior of that hermitage, is witness of the fact that all theautholitus present wondeied at seeing the robust heal h of the nuns." We have, meantime, merely another instance of the virtual alliance existing between Continental atheists and English Protestants.— Hatred against all aspects of Christianity was the motive of tho attack on the convent, and hatred of Catholicism ob'ained for it the support of the English non-catholic Press. And yet it nvght have been thought that, of itbelf alone, the reputation of Cardinal Ban Felice, the Archbishop of Naples, under whose control the convents in queßticn are, would have been sufficient to ensure more consideration on the part of Enghth editors and journalists generally. A prelate who, when the call comes, as it came to Car, inal San Felice a few jcars ago during the time the cholera raged in the city, is found ready for e'eeds ot self-sacrifice and devotion amounting tj heroism, is not one in cold blood, to sanction such airocious horrors as ihoee lwngly reported of the fcepolte Vive. Cardiual San Felice, in fact, hbs publicly protested against the outrage that his been committed, and, in caße justice is sought in vain by him from the earthly authorities, he solemnly makes his appeal to Almighty God. On the partiof the nuns, however, the case »ill be brought into court and .then the truth will be made undeniable. Is it too much to expect that colonial editors who have r n prcduced and identified themselves with the abominable lie will h»ve the comncon honesty to reproduce its refutation .'

This week, on the day we go to pre«F, terminates A word OR two the 15th yarduiup which th<; li'eraiy department i or OITESE.LVES of the Nmv Zeai.am) Tablet has undegune no AND fou some- alteration in its personnel. We d > n)t care to blow body else our own trumpet too louJly, but still we may yenBtslDiS. ture to speak a word or two by way of reminder to

our readers. We do not by any means claim to have attained at any time to perfection. We are, m fact, conscious of

shortcomings. But some good we believe we have done. Our object has been all along to publish first of all, and above all, a thoroughly Catholic papjr. So-called Catholic papers there have been, and still there doubtless are, whose more fitting epithet must be non-Catholic or even anti-Catholic. To such a class of papers, for instance, reference was made by the Utc Catholic Congress in America, aod where Freethought publications, assuming the title of Catholic, and degrading and rendering it ridiculous by their assumption of it, were condemned. Such papers, however, are easily detected. Their tone is unbecoming, or even at times unseemly. Everything in their columns yields to levity, and to be what ib expressively called " flash," seems to form all their ambition. It appears to us that tbe word Catholic might be written with as much propriety over the door of a music hall or a dancing-saloon as on their title page.

" Life is real ; life is earnest," earnestly exclaims a non-Catholic poet. Surely the Catholic writer who bat to do with life and to bring it under tbe serious consideration of Catholic readers does ill, and betrays the place he fills, by endeavouring to pander to or create a ta9tethat, if it already existed.it should be his ta9k to cjrrect or eradicate. It is the duty of the Catholic journalist to maintain the eelf-respect of the Catholic body. But how shall he do that if befi»ure9 as a light-headed, loose-tongued mountebank in the face of the public ? One thing of which we may be convinced is that such journalism is not that to which (he Vicar of Christ has given his approval, and for whoee extension throughout the world he has expressed himself anxious. Catholic journalism moreover, should be in tone Catholic. Not the false woman herself whom Tennyson denounces, as allowed to go abroad undiscovered, could do more to " poison half the young " than the insincere, dishonest journalist, presuming to counterfeit a failb he despises, or, it may be, that in his heart he detests. The Catholic journalist, again, should be single-minded. His ends must be Catholic. No private spite or grudge must embitter his dealings with the subjects chosen by him. More especially, such motives must not induce him to drag individuals forward for caatigation. This is anti-Catholic in the extreme, and wholly out of keeping with the spirit of the Catholic Church. Still less should it be possible for the Catholic journalist to r>lay a double part and act treacherously. If, while pretending to advocate some measure of great conseqnence to the Catholic community, and to sup port men giving their aid to such a measure, he adopts methods that he knows must injure those men, and consequently hinder the measure, what shall be said of him ? He deserves, indeed, the name of doubledyed traitor. Such a part, besides, would be consistent with the character of an emissary of the secret societies r- such, for example, as the professional atheist generally is. We can say for ourselves at least that we have avoided all this ; we have not pandered or endeavoured to create low tastes by making our columns a shabby imitation of a comic paper. We have honestly believed the creed we preferred, and our first object wai to be true to it, in thought and tone, as well as in word We have been sincere in our advocacy and defence of the Irish cause, not giviog it a half-hearted and shallow patronage, to obtain other ends, and cloak a sinidter intention . We have been constant to the cause of Catholic education — consistently standing by the men who gave us their assistance in the matter, and honestly helping them, so far as in us lay. We have endeavoured to maintain the selfrespect of the Catho'ic people, and we have done all in our power to make them respected by their non-Catholic fellow-colonists, We have not thought it incumbent on us, or necessary to gain their favour and support, to degrade them in the public eye by assuming the tone of what is, for instance, called Donnybrook fair — and which is by Borne supposed to characterise the Irish Catholic people. Nor failing a capability to play the part of Donnybrook fair, have we' thought to recommend ourselves to them or others by taking up the air of " high jinks "in slums on the other side of the Channel. For Donnybrook, in eootb, is not the only place in the United Kingdom where fun and frolic of a certain kind have had their hey-day. We have deali with the Irish Catholic people of the Colony as if they were, what in fact they are, a serious people, possessed of no Jobs common sense than their neighbours, and only to be truly represented by a paper dealing earnestly, honestly, and sincerely, with important matters. A comic paper we did not, and do not, think that, as a Catholic people, they needed— much less a " flash " paper, much less a double dealmg, dishonest, paper, demoralising in its tendency and infidel in :ts toDe. inreed the existence of such a paper could only be accounted for by a thorough contempt felt for the Catholic Press by its promoters — a contempt, perhaps, arising from jealousy as not Dnfiequently happen?. It, theTtfore, we cannot take credit to ourpelves for anything more than that, onr negaiive virtues must at least shine by contrast. So much we have to say for ourselves, cow, after fifteen years constant and unbroken work in the service of tbe Catholics, the Irish Catholics especially, cf New ZealandLet us hope that they anl cjibera ui&y pruliL by wbal we say fo them

Among the more horrible productions of the times, FBTJIT6 of we may reckon tbe juvenile suicide. The character secularism, in question seems to be the special creation of god-

lesaness and " cram." The child of slow intellect, for instance, unable to keep pace with his class and having no fear of God, no knowledge perhaps of God, or o! arjother life, seeks the shortest way that appears to offer itself to him of putting an end to his troubles, and consequently kills himself. Suicide, however, in the world of to-day has takan a different meaning from what it bori of old. Time was when no crime was considered more odious ; the memory of the self-murderer was held ia malediction, and the dishonour with which his lifeless body was treated testified to the feeling his deed inspired. To-day we are more lenient. In some instances, in fact, suicide has been glorified. Men of the atheistic school have seen in it the fruit of exalted heroism, ani have painted in glowing colours the character of those who were guilty of it. Even many of those not sharing their opinions have still been indulgent and the stereotyped verdict of temporary insanity has been arrived at. It should, however, be a matter of congratulation to us that, as a rule, Catholic communities are comparatively free from the peculiar form of madness which has such results. Here, then, is a paragraph taken from a letter from Vienna published in a recent number of the Matin, a French revolutionary organ :— As in preceding years, the reopening of the schools has, this year also been marked by some attempts at suicide on the part of pupils who had not been able to pass the examinations mecessary for promotion to a higher class. Om attendant at a lyceum wounded himself Beriously with a revolver another shot himself dead. — Such therefore, is the regular course of things that marks the years, evidently proceeding from the educational system that, as some people would persuade us, is to work out the perfection of the world. Nevertheless we do not suppose that such a state of things will be generally pronounced desirable.

It is worthy of remark that in some respects the A contßASt fob move ment known by the pseudonym of the the pebiod. " Reformation," and that which we know as tba

Revolution, have been very similar in their effects. Nor, in fact, is this a matter for surprise, both movements being closely connected, as parent and child or as cause and effect. Under the circumstances of the times, however, it seems especially opportune to recall one particular point in which the movements referred to coincided, that is, the manner in which |they affected the position of tbe workingman by breaking up and forbidding his right of association. Tbe movement in England under King Henry VIII., completed its plunder of the poor, which was, in truth, what the plunder of the monasteries meant, by its plunder of the guilds. And the Revolution, in turn, by a law passed on tbe Bth of June, 1791, and known as the Lot Chapelicr, forbade association under penalty of death. How different, meantime, has been tbe action of Catholicism, the great*object of tbe attack made by the Reformation first, and alterwards by its offspring, the Revolution. The Paris Figaro, of a recent date, a newspaper by no means Catholic in its proclivities very effectively Enables us to draw the contrast. Alluding to the late congress of workingmen's associations, the Figaro testifies as follows to tbe spirit that is at work :— Springing back to its origin, it says, modern Catholicism sought its inspiration from Christ Himself. It asked itself what He would be at the end of tbe nineteenth century Who bad driven the money changers from the Temple. Generous philanthropists have already founded Catholic working men's circles. Count de Mun, in giving these very in teresting bodies an energetic impulse, augmented, developed and reconstituted them. He daily strive?, more and more, to protect the Christian masses against the insufficient organisation of labour. The Catholics have done belter. Gpided by the Count de Mun, they entered boldly twenty years ago on practical ground. They established between contractors and workrmn, between the wealthy classes and the masses a fraternal association, destined to maintain harmony between lhcm, and to make the latter partake legitimately of the advantages of the former. Wishing to reconstitute the old corpora" tions, they began by creating woikingmen's Catholic circles, whose number is now about five hundred. Each circle contains members who are capitalists, or who belong to the masses, All the masters and woikmen belonging to the same callings will not delay about reconstituting tbe old corporations, those in which they stood shoulder to shoulder, where mutual aid was given, where all disputes were Bettlcd by committees of arbitration, composed of men notoriously devoted to tbe labouring classes. In how many degrees does not snch a work wisely managed and charitably applied, exceed the vain attempts of revo lutionaiy pretenders, wbo bare talked a great deal but been able to organiGe nothing ?— The Figaro decidedly enables us to contrast the fruits of the Reformation and the Revolution with those produced by the teaching of the Catholic Church. It also points out to us where the true solution of the labour question of the day is to be found — not in the fond imaginations of Socialists, but in Catholic iuititutioue,