Rotten Sticks

New Zealand Tablet, Volume XXXI, Issue 29, 16 July 1903, Page 2

Rotten Sticks

The assailant whose sole weapon is a rotten stick must be thankful if he comes out of the tussle with nothing woi se than a pair of black eyes and a new set of phrenological bumps. Now, the rotten stick is the customary argument of the more aggressive Protestant controversialist against the Catholic Church. Over and over again our columns have demonstrated that garbled extracts, misquotations, and even downright forgeries form the staple of the usual attacks upon the Catholic Church. Some weeks ago the ' Bombay Catholic Examiner ' exploded a hoax-letter which the ' Friend of Malabar ' had with an intolerable deal of parade and drumbeating, falsely attributed to Pope Julius 111. In the course of its remarks, our valued Bombay contemporary emphasises a point to which forcible reference has been made by us from time to time both in our own columns and in those of the secular press.

' The editor of the " Malabar Friend "'; says the ' Examiner,' ' seems to be entirely in good faith about the matter. That is in one way a good thing ; but in another that is just the worst of it. The Protestant journalist is victimised by the second or fifth-hand 6ourc*'s he uses , and he has no idea how Protestant controversialist literature is just as badly honeycombed — literally riddled — with false and garbled quotations and groundless canards, as a pine plank is honeycombed and uridled with white ants. As roon as you open it up and look inside you find it a hollow shell We ha\e been engaged in opening it out for some years now ; and so imariable i G the result that one can prophesy beforehand about it, just as we can calculate an eclipse. There seems to be a sort of fatality about it. 'J hei c aie plenty of nast\ tilings to be said about Catholic alTans which aie tine — as is natural wherever human beings arc conceined , and if these are bi ought forward they cannot be denied, but only explained or put m a reasonable light, or condemned by us as they are condemned by them But it seems as if Protestants never can get a grip of the pi oper story. Their feet always follow their hands in one way or another. They al\v.i\ s take hold of a false story instead of a true one Hence contro\eisv as a rule resolves itself into a sort of hunt, with a hoax at the end of it The constantly repeated publication of these bogus charges must be recognised by all honest iren as thi owing dust in the e\es of the public A Protestant may still think that the Catholic Church docs not treat the Bible fairly or according to its merits. But ll so, he surely wishes to base his position on facts, not on fictions Yet there is hardly a Protestant tontioversiahst who exercises the least discretion as to the data lie a\ers ; and in almost every case there is a manifest falsity either in the e\idence or in the interpretation of it Wo ha-se rot the least dislike for seeing a case made oi.t against us provided it is true and fair. We can accept the facts and explain ourselves to the best of our ability. But in the name of truth and fairness we do protest against the sort of thing which usually comes our way . and we are sure that if our " Friend of Malabar " realised the situation a little better he would begin to protest as loudly as we do.'