A DUNEDIN CONTROVERSY. REV. W. SAUNDERS DECLINES THE CHALLENGE.

New Zealand Tablet, Volume XXVI, Issue 2, 13 May 1898, Page 27

A DUNEDIN CONTROVERSY. REV. W. SAUNDERS DECLINES THE CHALLENGE.

We referred last week to the attack on the Catholic Church made by Rev. W. Saunders, in which he asserted that the teaching of the Catholic Church inevitably produced national decay, as in the case of Spain, and that the present war between Spain and America was in reality a struggle between Catholicism and Protestantism. The following: letters explain themselves and show of precisely what &tuff the Rev. W. Sannder* i« made. The following letter appeared under the heading, " The Rev. \Y. Saunders and fep lin ": — Sib, — I have read with deep pain the discourse of the Rev. W. Saunders which appeared in your columns under the heading " Spain and America in Relation to the Kingdom of God." It is a typical string of wild no-Popery generalities, and the SpanishAmerican war served merely as a convenient hook to hang it on. There was no necessity, no provocation for such a theological philippic. It was a wanton outrage on fact and on the most cherished sentiments of the Catholic body. lam glad to be able to btate that many Protestants deplore the utterance of such an illtimed discourse. It would be a libel on the people of Dunedin to suppose that any considerable section of them are in sympathy with it. I venture to hope that the speaker is himself ashamed of his baleful assertion that the present war is not one between two nations, but between two Churches — between Protestantism and Catholicism. A pretty dish for the Rev. W. Saunders to serve up at the tea tables of Dunedin Catholics I Most of us are aware that Catholics took a leading part in the War of Independence ; that their names figure conspicuously on the Declaration of Independence ; that they bled for their country from the days of " Saucy Jack Barry," the first American commodore, down to '• fighting Phil Sheridan " ; that they fought against Catholic Mexico ; that a big proportion of the victims of the Maine bore Irish Catholic names ; and that Catholics are, perhaps, numerically the largest undivided denomination in the lUnited States. We may safely assume that they will do their part in the present war, at least as well as the members of any other of the several hundred Christian denominations that live under the Stars and Stripes. So much in passing. I will not pause to deal with the Rev. W. Saunders's wild travesty of Catholic doctrine. My chief object in writing this letter is to focus public attention on the contention which runs through a great part of his discourse : that the teachings of the Catholic Church produce national decay. Spain is evidently regarded aa the melancholy example in point. To limit the field of discussion I give the contention a blank denial as regards Spain. To clear the atmosphere of discussion, I may state that national decay may bet in on three chief lines :—: — 1. There may be (as in the case of families) a loss of wealth without a loss of either virtue or of self-respect. 2. The decay may be both material and moral. 3. A growth in wealth and material prosperity may be accompanied by that worst form of national decay, a moral dry rot - an increase in political jobbery, in divorce, suicide, insanity, infidelity, crime, etc., which saps the foundations of social and religious lite, and which even the almighty mouey-bags cannot cure. The Rev. W. Saunders will probably hear enough of this worst form of national decay before this discussion is ended. I will save trouble by at once agreeing that Spain has lost her chief colonies, lost her old wealth and influence. I deny that thia loss of material prosperity is the result of the teachings of the Catholic Church. The burden of proving the opposite statement now falls upon the Rev. W. Sauudeis. 1 invite him to take it up. And let me state in advance that 1 will take nothing for granted, and will grant nothing but what be proves. 1 shall insist on proven facts, and on the most rigid logical deduction from them. When he has finished his line of direct proof I shall place him face to face with a series of sober but cantankerous facts in histoiy, and let him fit his theory to them as best he can. If he cannot, then so much the worse for his theory. The question of comparative moral decay (marked 2 and 3 above) will crop up in good time. The Rev. W. Sauuders apparently speaks of Spain and the Spaniards at second-hand, and chiefly from sources which are interested in blackening the national character. I happen to have lived among the Spaniards in their own land. I have sojourned under many flags, but 1 have yet to learn that there is among any people more of gentle courtesy, more of open-hearted hospitality, more of an easy-going sense of equality among persons of various social positions, more of honesty among the masses, or a sweeter home life, or a keener relish for simple enjoyments, than among the very people whom the Rev. W. Saunders has set up as a melancholy example of what men of his type are accustomed to term " the abominations of Rome." We shall seb more of this as we proceed. Ait rucoir. — I am, etc., Dunedin, May 2. Editor N.Z. Tablet. The Rev. Mr. Saunders wrote declining controversy on the ground that it " could do no good," in answer to which there appeared the following reply :—: — Sir, — In my last letter I invited the Rev. Mr. Saunders to sustain with adequate proof his unsupported contention that the teaching of the Catholic Church produce national decay, with special reference to Spain. The rev. gentleman has not done so. He has not even so much as hinted at the specific issue which I raised. Instead, he has referred me to his concluding address, which, he gives me to understand, is yet to appear in your columns. According to a statement made in his previous discourse, his concluding address deals with " the effect on the Kingdom of God of the triumph of America." In that case it is not likely to contain anything to substantiate the specific contention which I have taken in hand. However, I am content to wait — and hope.

imnn?!f tl "l""^ 8 has flunjr an im PP u tation of the gravest wholP rnfl r k ' C C^ Ur 1 h and ' by neces «ary implication, at the whole Catholic body. He has done this, too, with a wealth of stinging epithets such a*, I have been assured, has been seMom or never inflicted on the public of Dunedin for the past 40 years. One *ho publicly flings such a serious charge as I have taken ewptin,, to at the vast majority of his fellow-Christians should be ready with vS,Fp r °«°*n iII V forthGomin £ in the promised discou.^, their fSher word 3 to'ay!^ *"«** '' " *" nOt ' * W a brief I am in cordial agreement with the Rev. W. Saunders in dishkmg controversy but those who dislike it do well not to provoke it. But the Rev. W. Saunders charge is of far too serious a nature to be either passed over or to be let rest where it now b t.mdb— l am, etc., ■n , ,T, T , Editor '-N.Z Tablet." Dunedin, May 4.