IRISH CLERICALISM.

New Zealand Tablet, Volume XX, Issue 44, 19 August 1892, Page 20

IRISH CLERICALISM.

The following letter has been written to the editor of the London Times by the Bey Professor of Modern Languages at Maynooth :— Sir,— l have read with a certain amount of interest the papers on 11 Irish Clericalism " which bare appeared in the Times within the past few days. Knowing that this attack on tho body to which I have the honour to belong is mainly political, and that it is made at the present time with a direct political object in view, I am not inclined to attach to it the importance it might otherwise claim. It is perfectly plain to anyone acquainted with Irish clerical life that the burden of the indictment is founded on baseless assumption or on false interpretations of facts. It is in every detail, almost in every line, hopelessly prejudiced, uncharitable, and unjust. Engaged, as I am, daring these days at examinations under the Board of Intermediate Education, I regret that I have not time to discuss the many blunders which the writer of these articles has managed to compress into bo small a apace. There is one, however, which concerns me, more or ' less directly, and which, I feel sure, you will not refuse me an opportunity to correct. In the first paper of the series your contributor, speaking of the general education of the Irish clergy, commits himself to the following assertion :— •' Modern languages areußeful, and, indeed, almost indispensable, to the advanced student of Roman Catholic theology ; but it is perhaps, needless to say that their acqnisitioi forms no part of the ordinary education of the Irish priesthood." As Professor of Modern Languages and Literatnre in Maynooth College, I am in a position to inform you that this statement is absolutely false. In the Faculty of Arts in this college the students are trained in modern languages for two years. They are also made acquainted with the modern classic authors of several European countries and have to pass examinations in modern literature at the end of each term of two years. Tnese classes and examinations are by no means optional ; they are part of the ordinary course and are obligatory on all the students. Those who are promoted to the Dunboyne establishment when their ordinary course is finished receive a moie advanced course of instruction, particularly in the German language and literature, which most of them study with the greatest avidity. la this way a large number of young priests leave our college each year who have opened up to them the oet p-:rt of the " philosophy and the poatry, of the oraory and his'.ory of the world." I believe there is no institution of its kind that gives a better allround literary education to its etud<nts than Maynootb, and I am convinced, moreover, that there ia nothiug more calculated to intensify their love fur the Catholic faith thm a deep and extensive acquaintance with the literature of Italy and France, of Germany and Spain. Tour contributor also finds fault with the general conditions and surroundings of the education of an Irish priest. He says:-" The studies and discipline of tne seminary are not of a kind to enlarge his mental vision, to sober and expand his judgment, to cultivate his taste, to refine his manners, to widen his grasp of the realities of life. . . . The variety of interests, the play of opinions, the wide liberty of choice ia studies, in amusements, and in companionship, which form not the least valuable part of University education, do not enter into his life. The ' sweetness and light ' that come of such things are shut out from him." All this is far from being true. It is altogether a preconceived notion of the conditions of clerical life in college. But, supposing we grant it all. Where are we to send our young men, or even the more promising amongst them, for the full advantages of University life ? Is it to Trinity College, with a Protestant clergyman at its he»d and a Protestant official chapel at its heart ? Is it to the Queen's Colleges, from which the very name of God is officially excluded? We are anxious that our young men should receive the highest possible intellectual development. The more fully they are educated, the better for us. We are anxious that they should be in a position to test every objection to their faith, whether it comes from philology or religious science, such bs it is strictly understood, or from modern philosophical theories, or from physical or moral laws or from criticism in its technical an i most far-reaching sense. We are not afraid of truth in any shape whatever. We do not fear science or knowledga of any kind. There are none more curious than we are or more anxious to fiad out how the discoveries of the century and the progress of thought affects the great religious problems with which we are wholly occupied. It i 9 not of auythir gof this kind we are afraid. What we dread for our youth is the social influence and the prestige of error and false methods of m,soriiQg and superficial treatment of questions which affect us ia belief, in history, aad in conduct, by hostile or prejudiced witnesses. It wad an old trick, but not a nice one, to deprive us of the means of acquiring knowledge and then to tax us with ignorance. May we not hope that such methods have seen their day and that some benign influence, from whatever quarter it may proceed, may appease ihe wrath of the Times towards Iceland and the Irish? I am, Sir, yours faithfully, J. F. HOGAN, St Patrick's College, Maynooth, July 1.