Current Topics AT HOME AND ABROAD.

New Zealand Tablet, Volume XXVIII, Issue 26, 28 June 1900, Page 1

Current Topics AT HOME AND ABROAD.

According to the Australian Sentinel (the * the most Orange organ), 'Mr Slattery's agent says rome-rulbd that Tasmania is the most Rome-ruled place place.' he ever struck !' His employer will long retain a sobering recollection of his visit to that tight little island, and of the circumstances which led to his hurried departure therefrom. But we may remark, in passing, that ' the most Rome-ruled place ' on earth is not Tasmania, but that lone isle of death, Molokai, where great numbers of hapless lepets are tenderly cared for, without fee or reward, by self-exiled priests and nuns, whose noble selfsacrifice Slattery and his female impostor find it harder to imitate than to vituperate to the barn-stormers' tune of ' front seats one shilling, back seats sixpence.' The following editorial paragraph occupies A good the place of honor in last week's Outlook — example for the official organ of the Presbyterian and the Congregational Churches of New Zealand : — f N.Z. guardian.' ' In our issue a fortnight ago we printed in Table Talk an extract from the N.Z. Guardian relative to the Slatterys, and what was called the gagging of the Press by Roman Catholic influence. We gave the extract mainly as news. We were not prepared to endorse all the statements made in it. We differ from our contemporary regarding the Slatterys. Without pronouncing any final judgment on their bona fides, we had reasons which satisfied us that we should take no notice of their propaganda in the Outlook. We have seen nothing that would induce us to alter that decision, but much to confirm it. We have no intention of opening the question relating to them now. Several correspondents have, however, drawn our attention to the seriousness of the charges made in the Guardian— -directly or indirectly — against the Press in Dunedin. We did not ourselves, when printing the extract, fully perceive the significance of what was involved in these references. Among the letters received was a courteous one from the Editor of the N.Z. Tablet. Along with his letter he sent a pamphlet dealing with the Slatterys. [The pamphlet here referred to is a reprint of our article of May 17, dealing with the Guardian's charges against the " Romanists " of Dunedin of gagging, threatening and terrorising the local Press, and with its statements as to the constitution and work of Slattery's Dunedin committee. — Ed. N.Z.T.] As we have said, we do not intend to permit any discussion on that point. But in this pamphlet the following letters appear. It is only simple justice to all concerned that these replies to the charges of the Guardian should have the same publicity in our columns. No one who knows the gentlemen whose names are attached to the letters below would charge them with being gagged by Rome, and, as a matter of fact, it is very gratifying to know that no such attempt was made by any Catholic authority.' The editor of the Outlook then inserts in full the indignant denials of the Guardian's foolish charges by the Managing Directors of the two Dunedin dailies. We commend the honorable and straightforward action of the Outlook to the attention of the editor of our Anglican contemporary.

Th c discussion on the proposed introduction of scripture Scripture lessons into the State schools of lessons in state Victoria wags wearily on. A Commission schools. has been for some time past wrestling valiantly with the problem. But the Catholic body declined to be represented on the Commission ; the Congregationalist Union is strongly opposed to it ; a section of the Church of England — who have introduced and are preparing to extend the system of parochial schools — are giving it the icy shoulder; the Jewish representative, Dr. Abrahams, has withdrawn from it ; and the Commission now consists exclusively of a number of Protestant clergymen who are engaged, in the face of dire discouragement, in the intricate task of formulating Scripture lessons for use in the State schools. The Southern Cross, the organ of the Presbyterian and Congregationalist Churches in Victoria, gives ' the most unkindest cut of all ' to the Commission and its labours. In a recent editorial, it says : — ' The Commission still spends unprofitable time over a scheme for Bible lessons for State schools. We say " unprofitable " because of our firm conviction that the energy displayed by the Bible in State Schools League is entirely misdirected. Infinite harm to the cause of religion would be done by placing Bible lessons in the hands of irreverent or unscrupulous teachers. Better far would it be for English Churchmen to agitate for the New South Wales system ; or, nobler still would it bo for us to lay to heart the recent solemn confession of the Bishop of Ballarat, and endeavour, by the displ iy ot self-sacrifice, to establish Church Day Schools. Establish our schools and the churches wi I come : neglect our schools and Nemesis will soon overtake us. l * * * * The advocacy of Church Day Schools marks the return to sane thinking on the education difficulty. We have many a time stated our conviction that if the example of the Catholic body in this matter were extensively followed by even one of the larger and more wealthy denominations in these Colonies, the education puzzle would soon furnish its own solution. The only other practical alternatives are two : (i) the introduction of some scheme of Scripture lessons, and (2) leaving our systems of primary public instruction to stew on indefinitely in the rancid juice of its present secularism. As to the first mentioned alternative ; Dr. Bevan (Congregationalist and member of the Commission) said last year to an Outlook interviewer that the proposal of the Bible-in. Schools League, if adopted, would ' become an opiate to the conscience of the Churches,' but ' would never be a very effective religious education'; it would, as we have repeatedly shown, be equivalent to the Protestantising ot the State schools — so much so, that Dr. Bevan on the same occasion said : ' If we satisfy the Protestant conscience in this way, we should have to satisfy the Roman Catholic conscience also. If, therefore, we have Bible reading and Bible lessons in the schools given by the State, I do not see how we can resist the claims of our Roman Catholic fellow-citizens.' As to the continuance of the rank secularism of the ' system ' : its exclusion of all religious tenets is, iv Daniel Webster's words, equivalent to the teaching of deism and infidelity ; it would neglect the cultivation of the heart and soul ; it would foster the drift towards rank materialism which, as the Chicago Times-Herald recently pointed out, ' is one of the most marked tendencies of modern State educational endeavor ' ; it ' would place the type-writer and the cash register

on the top of the educational pinnacle,' and make the be-all and the end-all of school work mere sordid money-getting. The Catholic Church objects, on the one hand, to the Protestantising of the State schools. She protests, on the other hand, against that lop-sided sort of misnamed ' education ' which cuts off from the child, at the most impressionable period of its life, all notions of God, of moral duty, and of personal responsibility — a system which is promoting scepticism and hard materialism, dpnnHinjr the h^nch^s of non-C\ithnlir churches, raising a wail from the denominations as to their lessening hold upon the masses, and, in due course, will, unless the remedy comes in time, produce a crop of evils which will threaten the stability of society itself. The inconvenience of the supremacy of a lay lay tribunal in a Church is curiously illustrated supremacy, in the following paragraph from the London Tablet : ' A characteristic story is told of Lord Morris in connection with a case that concerned some intricacy of the Anglican Church. Turning to his English and Scottish colleagues, the Irish Lord of Appeal said : " One of us is a Jew; another is a Presbyterian; and I, a Roman Catholic, yield to none of your lordships in my ignorance of the matter in hand." ' In Sydney in the convict days, and in TasPERSBCUtion mania as late as 1839 — 10 years after the UP passing of the Emancipation Act — the Stateto date, supported public orphanages were great proselytising institutions in which Catholic children were compelled to abandon the principles and practice of their religion, and from which the priest was usually as rigorously excluded as if he were stricken with the plague. Some such rags and tatters of penal legislation still cling to British official life — as the discarded bark of the blue-gum clings sometimes for years about its branches. It will, for instance, be news to many of our readers to learn that a provision somewhat similar to that which prevailed in the orphanages in the convict days is in force to this very hour in the first line of England's defences, and that some of the rulers of the Queen's na-vee have about as much idea of religious toleration as — in Sir Arthur Help's words — Queen Elizabeth's ministers had of Professor Wheatstone's telegraph. Only Church of England chaplains are appointed to the navy, and Catholics in the British nayy — and they are pretty numerous — are not afforded an opportunity of receiving the ministrations of their clergy except when they are in ports where there are priests who attend to this branch of missionary work. Worse still : When on the high seas, both Catholics and Dissenters are compelled to be present at the Anglican service on board — a regulation which, by the way, was likewise enforced on the convict ships in the days of transportation to Botany Bay, Van Diemen's Land, and Norfolk Island. But, perhaps, the climax is put upon the intolerant spirit that is at work in the navy by the regulation — sanctioned, presumably, by the Admiralty — which turns the training-ships into so many proselytising institutions in the interests of the Established Church. The following letter in point appeared in the London Standard some weeks ago :—: — Sir, — Those who are interested in the training of boys for the Royal Navy will reac 1 with deep interest and pleasure the suggestion of your correspondent that there should be a training ship for Kingstown, which will admit Catholic boys. 1 have applied to the Warspite, the Formidable, and other training ships for a Catholic boy to be admitted ; but the rule of all is that the boys should attend the Church of England service, and this the mother and the priest object to, to the boy is not eligible. If a training ship were stationed in Kingstown Harbor which admitted both Catholic and Protestant boys, or, at all events, provided religious privileges for both, how many promising young sailors we might add to the Navy. — I am, sir, your obedient Bervant, Alice Cadogan Woodlands, Alveston, Stratford-on-Avon. With Acts of Parliament excluding Catholics from certain appointments under the State and outlawing great numbers of our clergy, and navy regulations for robbing our children of the faith, it is well that we are occasionally reminded by Press and pulpit of the ' religious equality ' and the ' equal laws ' that are said to prevail in the British dominions. Without such reminders there are times when we might forget — we might forget. Calumny and superstition die hard. But 'ritual when a calumny has grown into a superstiMURDER ' : nail- tion it usually has both a long life and a slow ing the agony. Such is the case with the calumnycalumny. superstition which imputes the ' blood accusation'or 'ritual murder ' to the Jews. It has lived on for centuries. Its utter falsehood and crying injustice have been demonstrated time and again. Yet it still endures. The most recent charge of 'ritual murder' — to which we several times made editorial reference — was laid in Bohemia. It has been thoroughly sifted, and, as usual, discovered to be utterly

devoid of foundation. This time the refutation of the senseless tale is contained in a report recently published by the Medical Faculty of Prague as to the death of the girl Agnes Hruza. 'It will be remembered,' says the London Tablet, ' that the anti* Semites of Bohemia confidently asserted that this w^s a case of " ritual murder," and that the Jews were subjected to persecution and ill-treatment in consequence. The Medical Faculty of Prague have now published their report, which is to the effert that it was j'ist an ordinary case of murder and outrage.' There is a triumphant look about the figures how published in a recent pastoral letterof the' it Most Rev. Archbishop Corrigan, of New has grown. York, which reminds one of the pent-up energy that lies in long lines of regiments standing ' dressed ' and under arms at a review. Referring to the progress of the Church in the archdiocese of New York, he says: ' Casting a glance at the work accomplished in the past 10 years, one's heart, dear brethren, Is filled with gratitude to God, first of all, for His superabundant graces, and nex,t to the clergy of the diocese, secular and regular, as well as to the devoted religious communities of both sexes, for their selfsacrificing labors, their intelligent and untiring zeal. To form some idea of their work it will suffice to say, without entering into details, that every 15 days during the past 10 years the diocese was enriched with a new church 01 school, rectory, convent, or other pious institution. In fact, the total number of such new buildings exceeds 250.' The number of communions administered in New York in a single year — from February 1, 1898, to February 1, 1899 — was 2>23r>947<2 > 2 3 r >947< an( * in the whole archdiocese, 3,090,430. During the past 10 years there were 330,434 baptisms in the archdiocese — an increase of 83,813 on the previous decennium ; 75,142 marriages — showing a gain of 17,066 on the preceding decate; 136,823 children and adults were confirmed ; 504 missions were given at which 1,320,029 confessions were heard ; over 68,000 children are at the present time receiving education in the Catholic schools : and the total Catholic population of the archdiocese is estimated at 1,209,000- • • • To all this we may add the result of a recent religious census which shows that the Catholics are far in the lead of any denomination in the Quaker City, Philadelphia. Says the New York Freeman's Journal : — Records taken of the leading denominations in Philadelphia are: Catholic. 60.04 ~> ; Methodist Episcopal, 33,451 ; Protestant Episcopal. 25.51)3; Presbyterian*. 2.">.5<)0 ; Baptist, 25,187 ; Lutheran, 17.827 ; Hebrew. .">,228 ; Reformed. 5.482 ; Methodist Protestant, 2.4 70; Friend*. 1,814; Reformed Presbyterian, 1,980; tongregationahst. 1.042. As these statistics represent families and not individuals, the Catholics, properly speaking, are further in the lead than the figures indicate, as Catholics as a general rule have larger families than those of other religions. A recent number of the Missionary has the following paragraph, which will be of interest in this connection :—: — The Catholic population of the country is put at 10,129,077 by the Catholic directory for 1900. How many of these are converts? Cardinal Gibbons estimated some years ago that the yearly crop of converts is 30,000. This was before the convert movement took definite shape. It is perfectly safe to say that the movement of 10 years ago has so increased in numbers that twice that number, or 00,000, may well represent it. Even this is a very conservative statement, as 60,000 converts in a year mean, on an average, only sir to every church in the country. Samson took honey out of the lion's mouth. Divine Providence has brought untold good out of the teeth of the great famine which sent Westward ho! the great tide of the Irish exodus. The growth of the Church in the United States is, to a great extent, one of its results. And it is a mighty growth indeed ! Semper florcat ! At the census of 1896 there were 289 Mormons, doesn't or ' Latter Day Saints,' in New Zealand — a tempt numeral increase of 86 persons on the returns them. of this strange denomination as given in the census of 1 89 1. According to a recent newspaper paragraph, they are at present engaged in a quiet but special propaganda of their peculiar tenets in the South Island— we do not know with what result. But we can pretty confidently foretell that their failure to impress the Catholic womanhood of this Colony will be as conspicuous as it has been with their sisters in the faith whose home is in the United States. For some time past the Mormon missionaries have been winning great numbers of domestic servants to their ranks in the eastern cities. But in a recent article referring in detail to their achievements in this direction, the New York Sun paid this splendid tribute to the sturdy faith of Catholic girls : • In no instance yet heard of has a Catholic been influenced, even by the glowing promises of an independent home and a husband.' This objection to a polygamous creed is, of course, to be expected in the members of a Church who are well-grounded in their religion— a religion

which elevated woman from being the mere chattel of man ; which laid, and stands by, that corner-stone of society, the unity of the marriage bond and its indissolubility except by death ; which renders absolute divorce impossible ; whose earliest legislation established the order of deaconesses, the first Sisters of Charity, whose first witnesses, messengers, and aids were holy women of the Gospel ; which, from its early day ( ; > held in the highest veneration its female martyr;, such as Agnes, Cecilia, Lucy, Agatha, Perpetua, Felicitas ; and which, as Dr. Shahan reminds us, produced, in the middle ages, that incomparable and still existent type of womanly perfection, such as we find in St. Catherine of Sienna, St. Hildegarde, St. Gertrude, St. Elizabeth of Hungary, St. Bridget of Sweden, St. Margaret of Scotland, St. Teresa of Spain, and many others whose personality ' left a remarkable impress on their own lands and time ; nor was their social activity decried or their merits suppressed.'

Some ten years ago a writer in the Aye Maria gave interesting glimpses of the relations that existed between the Mormons and the Catholic ' Gentiles ' in Salt Lake City several decades ago. ' The first priest,' he writes, who entered President Young's capital was threatened with death. He stayed, all the same. Brigham Young was a shrewd man ; he saw that if this priest were ' destroyed ' by one of the Mormon 'angels,' another would come in his place. He promptly declared himself the protector of the Catholtcs, and on many occasions expressed the opinion that Catholics would occupy in the Mormon paradise a second place. The ' Destroying Angel ' even sent his children to the school conducted by the Sisters of the Holy Cross. Whenever he wanted to see them, he would have them brought across the wide street. He would never enter the convent. ' Don't ask me,' he would say ; ' I am a bad man.' But the Mormon authorities, who knew well the value of early impressions, soon put a stop to the sending of Mormon children to Catholic schools.