THURSDAY, JANUARY 19, 1905. A NEW CATHOLIC TRUTH SOCIETY

New Zealand Tablet, Volume XXXIII, Issue 3, 19 January 1905, Page 17

THURSDAY, JANUAR Y 19, 1905. A NEW CATHOLIC TRUTH SOCIETY

Isss ■ — * — M Jim HE -Australian Catholic Truth Society is, persP"!®< haps, the happiest of the recently accomPushed facts of the activities of the Old $y<-aftjl Church in these southern lands. It is one &&%<s& ° f thC first ~ laid Pians— one of the bencfif&7 cent outcomes of the Congress movement V^ that began under such happy auspices in Sydney four years ago and achieved so notable a siuccess in Melbourne during the month of October of ihe - year ttfiat has just gone ' afay in tlhe ewigjkeit.' ''lime, is precious,' said Di&rtaeli in one of his great speeches, ' but truth is more precious than time.' And the newly-formed Society has, we trust, entered upon a long and beneficent career of combating for that sacred cause of truth whioh, in (iod's good time —in the long run or in the short run— must prevail against error. The new Catholic Truth Society is intended to meet error which comes from two chief sources— from those who are in oanflict with all revealed religion, and from tihose who, professing a belief in divine revelation, nevertheless misrepresent and vilify the Church of Christ which is ' the -pillar and the gr.ound of truth.' The objects of the Society are comprehensively' set forth in the following paragraph of a circular which appears elsewhere in this issue : ' The objevts of the Society are the diffusion «.f Catholic truth, and correction of errors concerning It, by the dissemination of cheap literature broadcast throughout the land, and by the organisation of popular lectures. It is hoped by these means to supply an antidote U> the poiscn so widely spread abroad by infidel and anti-Catholic lecturers, and by the cheap pamphlets which is&.ue in soich vast numbers from the rational press. The Catholic publications of the Society will be designed both for the edification of the faithful, and for the removal of popular misconceptions from the minds of non-Catholics. It is intended, also, to publish bright, short treatises on science, philosophy, history, biography, etc., whenever these aPpear to be required by the times, as well as brief works of fiction of a healthy tone, and, by degrees, to circulate dheap reprints of Catholic classics in English.' * Our editorial columns have frequently voiced the crying need of such an association in these countries, but nelvor in such forcible and convincing speech as

marks the circular letter that appears in the early portion of our present issue. Against us there stand in hostile array the rank secularism of our public school system ; the 4 Load of trash ' under which the bookstalls groan ; the open and systematic campaign of associations such as the Rationalist Press Agency against supernatural religion ; and the overweening conceit of the man in the street who ' assumes that, he has not only a ritfht to express his opinion en everything in heaven or on earth,but tJhat his opinion is of equal value with that of a trained intellect who has studied the question with ripe judgment and mature powers. 1 To-day, as of old, it is the mental ripeness that is humble, and tlhe intellectual rawness that is proud. We are likewise face to face with the attacks of professing Christians wiho oppose us in mistaken good faith, and of those who regard us as outside the protection of the Ten Commandments. In these and other countries Catholics arc often pelted and stormed by enthusiasts of other faiths with weapons as coarse as the insane fabrications of Koussoau and in substance as venemous as the gibing and mendacity of Voltaire. Many of our opponemts are, no doubt, honest, but hot-headed, credulous, and unscholarly enthusiasts— not manufacturers, but retailers—and their hearts stand excused, although at the expense of their heads. As to certain otihers, it imflicts a strain upon common Christian charity to convince ones-self that— like Dr. Martin Luther and the RadicalSociali'ot defamers of French convents— they do riot deem any and every weapon lawful against ' Rome.' For all, however, the newly-founded Truth Society has only thoughts and feelings of the gentlest and most expansive charity. 'We shall always,' it says, ' strive to com<bat error in the spirit of charity, making every allowance for the man who errs, and treating him not only with justice, but with kindly consideration.'

We cardially wish the new Catholic Truth Society a full and flowing measure of usefulness and every blessing upon its noble and devoted work.