AN UNFAIR ATTACK.

New Zealand Tablet, Volume XX, Issue 16, 5 February 1892, Page 27

AN UNFAIR ATTACK.

(Otago Daily Times, January 28.) I* a recent sermon preached on tha occasion of the opening of a new Roman Catholic Church at Milton, Bishop Moran devoted himself to the task of attacking the education system of the colony. That task must be to him a somewat wearisome one, and if not so to him, it can scarcely fail to be so to hearers and readers. We have not felt calltd upon to publish the sermon, because— aud we are sorry to be compelled to say it— it really was not worthy of the space. It was almost from beginning to end a tirade of abuse of the existing system of education, of those who uphold it, and generally of every person who does not bappeD to fall in with the views of the Bishop upon this particular question. He never for a moment managed to get out of the o!d and well-worn ruts. The schools were " godless "; Catholics were defrauded, and something worse than defrauded in being compelled, to support them ; they must " wring " justice from their oppressors by the use of the only weapon likely to ba any avail— the block vote. Wholly ignoring every other question, however important, this vote should be given to the candidate who would premise a sectarian grant of public money. Where all the candidates were opposed to such a grant, Catholics should abstain from voting altogether. This was the sum and substance of what the Bishop had tosßy and to advise oq the education question.

It seems odd that a man of the intellectual calibre of Bishop Moran should not be able to recognise that if our school system is to be altered it must be as the result of arguments addr. siedto the intelligence of the community, and not by raving? which would scarcely be creditable to a third-rate politician in the heat of a general election. It is certainly surprising, too, that tbe Bishop should overlook the fact that gross and palpable exaggeration of statement is calculated to destroy all confidence in his judgment, and by bo doing, defeat the end he has ia view. Take as a specimen tbe Bishop's statement of the position of the contending candidates at the recent Wellington election. In that contest he sayf-, " the pitiable scene was presented of some Catholics voting on one side and some on the other. Both candidates were pledged against them ; both were declared enemies. Both candidates said in effect : 'We will 'ake your money in spite of you and and spend it on educating other people's children.' Both said : 'We have our heels on jour necks and will keep them there.' Both said : 'We will spurn you like spaniels.' Both said : 'We will spit m your face ; we have not common respect for you.' " It would Burely astonish and alarm Messrs M'Lean and Bell, the candidates at the election in question, to know that " in effjet " they were so narrow, so intolerant, so malicious, and so intensely vulgar. Is it then not possible fc one m.m & differ from another without ia effect " putting hio heel on his neck an 1 spitting in his face?" What the Wellington c^nddates really did in effect say was that there was a difference of opinijn on the subject of aid to denominati ual schools, and that they themselves were among those who thought no such aij should be given. Surely it is not too much to ask that towards the close of the nineteenth -entury a man should be allowed to make a simple statement of the Kind without calling down upon his head such a shower of clerical billingsgate as Bishop Moraa appears to keep in stock for those who

differ from him in opinion. The reason why New Zealand adheres to the secular system of education ia because a majority of the people are of that way of thinking. Bishop Moran ia of another way ol thinking. Let him convert the minority into a majority by all means ; bnt in order to do so it is essential that he should use tha weapons of modern civilisation, which he will find much more potent in his hands than the shillelah-like rhetoric of Donnybrook Pair. As a means of securing aid to the Catholic schools the advioe given by the Bishop to the Catholics of New Zealand is as mischievous aa it is ineffective. The block vote is to be given to those who are prepared to grant denominational aid, and against such as refuse it ; while Catholics are urged to abstain from voting where in this particular they have nothing to expect from any candidate. The conduct of such as voted at the Wellington election v denounced as " unworthy of men." For the mere act of voting they are stigmatised as lacking in " manliness " and " self-respect." It seems to us that the very spirit of manliness and self-respect is calculated to revolt again9t such offensive dictation as this. To teach people that there is only one q uention within the whole domain of the policy of a nation worth considering, and that if they cannot have their own way in that they are to deliberately disfranchise themselves, is surely a doctrine against which common sense as well as self-interest must revolt. The Catholic Church is in the very forefront of those who do battle against the doctrines of the new Socialism. Does Bishop Moran really mean that Catholics are to stand by with their hands in their pockets while the advocates of Buch doctrines are endeavouring to foist them upon the community ? And if he would not urge such a line of conduct iv the face of a superior, how can it be a right or just one in view of an inferior, evil ? And if the Bishop thus hastily and thoughtlessly tenders such advice upon one point of policy, how can he expect to be regarded as a safe or prudent guide upon others f As for the block vote, it is just as likely to prove as ineffective as it is unjustifiable. If it is so very powerful a weapon on one Bide it must be the same on the other, so that the whole question resolves itself into one of majorities. It is leading Catholics very much astray to teach them that they are the only persons who have to suffer under a forced contribution to a system of which they do not approve or which they violently dislike. A State system of education of any kind whatever has got its opponents, but they are compelled to contribute to its support. Persons who have no children to educate must support education. Freetraders have to suffer under the yoke of a Protectionist policy, and Protectionists under that of Freetrade. Minorities have to bear the coat of a representative system which leaves them, as they consider, practically disfranchised. All these could sulk in their homes during an election as Achilles sulked in his tent, but by lefusing to fight they only injure their own cause and assist the enemy. It is just as well that Bishop Moran has spoken his mind so freely. The fact can scarcely fail to force the Catholics of Otago to ask themselves the question whether it is consistent with their political and social independence that they should be for ever assumed to be under priestly dictation. That question is now being asked from one end of Ireland to the other, and if it extends to this colony it must be held to be largely due to the intemperate ntterances of Bishop Moran.