Current Topics AT HOME AND ABROAD.

New Zealand Tablet, Volume XXIV, Issue 23, 2 October 1896, Page 1

Current Topics AT HOME AND ABROAD.

Harrowing accounts of Turkish atrocities come TURKISH daily to hand. A priest in Crete was mutilated atrocities, by the loss of his nose and ears, then burnt alive A priest over a fire made of sacred pictures. A number burned alive, of churches, St. John Panagia, Prophet Elias, Archangelos. were desecrated and plundered. In the district of Heracleion six villages were sacked and burned. Christian priests and people were slaughtered. One women was slain after seeing both her children butchered on her knees. Ineffectual protest is made by humane individuals, but professedly Christian nations still allow the wretched Sultan to reign and degrade humanity. Truly the days of crusaders and Catholic Europe have passed away.

The Right Rev. Dr. Ryle, Anglican Bishop of " confession " Liverpool, does not believe in confession. His among Lordship recently denounced the practice which^ ANGLICANS, according to the Anglican Vicar of St. Peter's Dock Church, is on the increase in London. Three thousand two hundred and fifty " confessions " were heard in the parish of the latter last year as against 312(5 during the previous year. Dr. Ryle. who is evidently ignorant or crassly heedless of the exhortations in the Book of Common Prayer, said recently in the course of a sermon at Liverpool :: — '• We have fallen on days when people thought the way to heaven was to go and confess their sins to a priest. He was not referring to Roman Catholics but to the mischievous habit of certain clergymen, and that in Liverpool, of encouraging young men and women, and even children, to confess to them, and of giving absolution after they had confessed. It was utterly contrary to the Word of God, he believed, and he was quite sure that it was not in accordance with the Prayer Book. Above all. there was the foolishness and silliness of it. It was amazing to him that men and women could think that it would do them any good to go and confess to a priest and get absolution." We often find among Anglicans themselves downright ignorance of what is clearly laid down in their official manual of prayers and ordinances. In the " Visitation of the Sick " it is prescribed " that the sick person shall be moved to make a special confession of his sins . . after which the priest shall absolve him after this sort :: — * Our Lord Jesus Christ. Who hath left power to His Church to absolve all sinners who truly repent and believe in Him. of His great mercy forgive thee thine offences : And by His authority, committed to me, I absolve thee from all thy sins. In the name of the Father, and of the Son. and of the Holy Gho^t. Amen.' " The point of death is not the only time at which confession and the seeking of absolution are recommended. Before the administration of Communion the minister gives the following warning :: — ■• If there be any of you who cannot quiet his own conscience ... let him come to me or to some other discreet or learned minister of God's Word and open his grief that ... he may receive the benefit of absolution, together with ghostly counsel and advice." How is it that intelligent Anglicans " though so near " are "3 r et so far" from the Church of their fathers .'

Dr. Ryle. of Liverpool, does not believe in confesconfession IN sion for those whom Prior Vaughan called the THE SOUTH " home heathen."' Mr. Louis Becke. the charming SEA islands, novelist, whose works on the " sweet islands of the Pacific " have attracted so much attention, is a believer in the practice of Confession for the thorough reclaiming of the " dark heathen. To a London Chronicle reporter he referred in t3^e course of an interview to the missionary question :: — •• The islanfls are practically missionaries' colonies, are they not .' "' asked the interviewer. " Yes," sighed Mr Becke, •• they are, unfortunatelyI use the word unfortunately advisedly, for Christianity, especially

in Tonga, has changed a fine warlike race into a set of oily, grovelling hypocrites. Of course there are missionaries and missionaries, and the individual in these elements is everything. The Roman Catholic priests do magnificent "woi'k and their system of confession more than anything else keeps the native converts in the right path." The " dark heathen " has learned much in the way of crime from the " white heathen." Human nature is much the same the world over. What is a good remedial agent abroad should be effective at home.

We have in New Zealand enthusiasts in the matter akin to of funeral reform— of "rational burial,"' as th»y cremation, term their fad. Without doubt money is uselessly squandered in the purchase of perishable wreatha. The pagan element, observable in the attempt to remove the gloom of the grave, and neutralise the sermon preached by death should be sedulously eliminated. Flowers are symbolical of joy and innocence, and are only rightly employed when children with the waters of baptism fresh on the brow, go, in the purity of untarnished sou], straight to the throne of God. Apart from the needless expenditure, modern customs are out of harmony with Christian feeling at the solemn hour. But misguided enthusiasts may go too far. The Sanitary Burial Association of London advoc tes a so-called re r ortn which fringes on the practice of cremation. Cremation, as our readers are aware, is strongly advocated by c<ntinental enemies of the Catholic Church. Reduce the body to dutt as soon as possible — away with Christian burial is their motto. The latter is not the aim of the sanitary burial associates. The former is thi ir avowed object, as the " exhibition of sanitary coffins " at Great Russell street, Bloomsbury, shows. A large number of clergymen and doctors visited the gruesome show. " The coffins exhibited," (says a Home paper), '• are of the ordinary size and shape, but are made of perishable material, and contain a specially-made powder, which acts as an immediate disinfectant and ultimate destroyer of the corpse. This method of burial, it is claimed, produces speedy dissolution of the body, and has been approved by the Church of England Burial Reform Association.

What did Cardinal Xewman think about the cardinal question o the validity of Anglican Orders .' He newman ON was a just adversary, and a man ever open to fair Anglican argument. His opinion should be of interest, at ordeks. all events, just now when High Church Anglicans are so much disturbed by the unfavourable disciission of Leo XIII. This is what the great writer and thinker says of the Anglican Communion :: — •• As to its possession of episcopal succession from the time of the Apostles, it may have it, and if the Holy See ever so decided, I will believe it as being a decision of a higher judgment than my own ; but for myself, I must have St. Philip's gift, who saw the sacerdotal character on the head of a gaily-attired youngster before I can by my own wit acquiesce in it.'" These words of a thoughtful writer whom Anglicans very generally admire, are specially interesting at the present moment.

Her Majesty Queen Victoria has entered upon the an unique sixtieth year of her reign. It was intended to anniversary, commemorate the event in a fitting manner on September 23, but at her Majesty's desire the celebration has been postponed. The Premier of this Colony has received intimation that while the Queen is much gratified to observe such general expressions of loyalty and affection towards her in regard to the fact that she will shortly have reigned for a longer period than any other British sovereign, it is her Majesty's wish that did she be spared to rule over her beloved subjects for such a period any recognition or celebration of that event should be reserved until she has acfaially completed a reign of sixty years. The sixtieth anniversary — an unique event in English history — will occur on June 21. Without doubt the celebration if her Majesty be spared, will be worthy of the occasion. Meantime congratulatory tele-

grams and cablegrams pour in from all quarters, and in these messages of felicitation all loyal subjects join.

We complain frequently of bad coal gas. Now it adulteration seems, at Home at all events, that adulterated gas everywhere, is not uncommon. The British Medical Journal has the following :—": — " At the annual meeting of the British Medical Association recently held at Carlisle. Dr. J. S. Haldane called attention to the fact which threatened to become a grave public danger — namely, that many gas companies now were adulterating their coal gas with water gas, so that the percentage of carbon monoxide in the mixture as supplied was often 18 to 22 instead of '5 to 6. The presence of the latter in such a large quantity constitutes a serious danger."

An infidel's test. — This story is told by the ODDS AND Bishop of Plymouth as an incident of the French ENDS. Revolution, when impiety ran riot : — Some young men having come into church and seeing people going to confession, it was suggested that one of their number should also go to confession. The idea was fully approved of and one was appointed. He knelt in the confessional and he commenced in this sort : — '• I have cursed God and will do so again. I have given up all religion and don't care a straw for all its teaching," etc., etc. The priest listened and then moved, one cannot help thinking, by the Holy Spirit, said : " For your penance, obtain a crucifix, place it on a table, kneel before it attentively for a minute look at it and then say, 'He died for me, and I don't care a straw for Him.' " The young man's friends were delighted and insisted on his doing his penance. They procured a crucifix, made him kneel as ordered and bade him repeat the words. He began, '• He died for me, and I " Here he stopped, but his friends urged his going on, He did so, but to their bewilderment it was to sayi (< Yes, He did die for me, and I will never sin against Him again." He then arose and rushed aAvay from his companions and never stopped till he knelt at the confessional, this time a sincere penitent.

The Archbishop of Freiburg-in-Brisgau presided recently at a social reunion held in honour of thirty-three of his priests, who have just celebrated their silver jubilees. Of the thirty-three thirty were present.

THE BRETON FIBHER FOLK. (By M. Betham-Edwards.) Slowly the sea restored them one by one, Sweet babes, fair girls, sires, matrons in their prime, Bruised by the rocks, defaced by weed and slime, The tide bore back. Then tenderly was done All love could do, and each poor body drest In cerements quaint and fine, while many a prayer Was breathed for~those whose shipwrecked ones lay there Who might not even know their place of rest. Then with such pomp of seaboard circumstances As might be, they were buried by the waves, And priestly blessing fell on English graves, " Under the cross, in the dear land of France." May evermore the beauteous tale be read How Breton fishers cared for England's dead !

The following" paragraph, which we take from the Southern f'rogn, will be read with interest by members of Catholic choirs throughout New Zealand : — '" In a letter received by an Adelaide friend the pleasing announcement is made of the reception into the Catholic Church of Mrs. W. Neilson, the wife of the well-known member of the Royal Comic Opera Company. The reception took place at Wellington, New Zealand, July 25, the Rev. Father Devoy, S.M., officiating. The newly-made convert was presented with a lovely prayer book by Father Devoy, and a presentation of a relic mounted and fixed in a glass case with the Pope's seal attached, was made by Rev. Father Gregory, of Auckland. Mrs Neilson visited Adelaide with the company to which she belongs on several occasions and gave great assistance to our choirs. She was a very popular artiste, and made hosts of friends while in this city." The conversion is announced of Mrs. Bridgcr. wife of the wellknown Positivist writer. At a recent banquet at Blenheim Lord Glasgow, who shortly leaves New Zealand, made an amusing speech, in the course of which lie said :—": — " He thought he might admit so much — that he had not done anything, made no wrong steps which, on leaving the Colony. he would wish to withdraw (applause). At the same time it must be remembered that there was very little that a Governor could go wrong in (laughter). He had his advisers ; they put papers before him to sign. He must take off his hat to the people when they took off their hats (which was not often), be agreeable wherever he goes,

and tread, on nobody's toes (laughter). This conception of a Governor's position was not a very broad one, but it was consideration of it from only one point of view. In performance of his duties the Governor may have a very great influence on the welfare of the country. BEATI MISERICOKDES. Who showeth mercy, mercy shall he gain Perfect and plenteous in his time of need ; He that hath pity shall be blest indeed, And from the Fount of Pity shall obtain Endless compassion : surely not in vain The poor forgiveness He hath made the meed Whereby He shall forgive us, when we plead To Him for pardon. In thine hour of pain The mercy thou hast given He will give In fullest mea&ure. mercy all His own ; And He, the Lord of Love, in Whom we live, To Whom belongeth mercy, Who alone Hath pardon as His sole prerogative, Shall show to thee mercy thou hast shown. — Francis W. Grey in Catholic World. An article by the Rev. A. Downes-Shaw. in the August number of The Charity Organisation Review gives information which will astonish some persons who readily give nioney to the professional tramp. By a recognised code of signals these latter convey to each, other such information as might be found in the pages of a welledited Labour G-azette, notifying to their comrades the most likely houses for their purposes, and conversely the roads and quarters inhabited by hard-hearted and close-fisted individuals. Clothes and food are generally bestowed on them in kind, and money goes to pay for their lodging and to supply them with luxuries, such as beer, spirits or tobacco. One family was said by a speaker at the Birmingham Church Congress to be in receipt of an income of seven pounds a week, secured on the infinite gullibility of human nature. The father wrote begging letters, the mother did the pathetic dodge at street corners with a dummy baby and the chil dren earned a comfortable maintenance by street begging. A respectable girl, known to the writer of the article, married a professional beggar, or as she euphemistically termed it, "an asker,' and excused her descent in the social ccale by saying that it paid well. Her husband, she averred, could visit sixty streets in a day, " and it was a very bad street where he did not get a penny."

The Right Rev. Dr. Delany, Coadjutor-Bishop, has taken charge of St. Joseph's Church, Macquarie street, Hobart, in succession to the late Dean Woods.