Clerical 'Gimblets'

New Zealand Tablet, 18 October 1906, Page 10

Clerical 'Gimblets'

'With few. exceptions,' said the. Bishop of Sandhurst (Victoria) in a, recent >discourse, ♦ the clergy :iot other 'denominations are earnest, learned * men 7 -_ and 1 honestly devoted to /their work; but- a few of themseem to have only one object in life— to -draw their " salaries, and abuse, vilify, and calumniate the. •• SCath-' olios. They are unwilling to make any sacrifice to educate , their children in their own faith, and to provide for the orphan, the aged, ..the sick, or the way- ; ward of" their flock, and they seek to 'divert the-atten- . " tion of • the people Jrom their heartless negligence byobstructing the Catholics in the carrying out of - their charitable undertakings.' - Bishop Revillo refers to the noisy group of clerical'idlers who iill in their long leisure hours with" sfiriek=" -ing fee-faw-fum romances havitog' for their Mihject to dis-~ credit the noble worts of charity in Which -Catholics easily take the lead in Victoria, Envy -is easief^lian sacrifice, and easy-chair and platform calumny moire comfortable than the imitation of an example of noble-hearted charity that is hard to flesh and blood— and especially to flesh and blood that loves its leisure. To this class only we would apply the following extract from a series of articles that have lately appeared in the columns of an American Congregationalist organ, the 'Advocate', on ''The Temptations of Ministers, By One of 'em ' :— * ' First is the temptation of laziness, I verily beleve that laziness is the besetting sin of the ministry How many ministers have " no regular hours "of study, no system of pastoral visitation ! The time they spend among their books is wasted in desultory reading, and there is no growth of mind or soul no intellectual or spiritual uplift in the sermons. I 'seldom hear a sermon, but most of those 1 read are dull enough. In theory, we are all breaking down from overwork. As. a matter of fact, however, when a.man leaves the ministry and goes to selling life insurance he commonly follows a customer early and late and with an energy far ; greater than thit he displayed when merely trying to save his soul. .It would be far better for at least half the ministers I know to P^whffttg^l.^ m ° rninS ' ami .^aiittle•ltVhot work that breaks men down/ adds • One ' of 'cm.' Chesterfield tells of a man who hanged. hin> ' self from the ennui ©f insufficient . -occupation^ from sheer weariness of putting on and pulling^ off his shoes, and stockings - every day. Satan finds some mis- - chief stiJl for idle, minds to do.- It gives those " envious enthusiasts; (so to speak) the rinderpest to" wit ness and daily hear ; the praises, of, the .vast and steadily growing, works of. Catholic charity whioh they: ' are unwilling and unable to^ emulate. ' Oft fhVdav that Aristides the Just was to" "be banished' ' fro! ' Athens he. met ih. the street a ma^ who' 'did n£ - know him. The , man carried in his .hand a." shell" th ' > ballot ' paper ' of his day and country. H* was Jlfit -crate So he asked - Aristides to write upon it a vote for the -banishment of the great Greci7ri statesman - and commander whom he was, unknown to 'biinseH ' addressing But,' Aristides asked, « what has £<£ ' to you that you should wish him to " be banished V

' Oh, 1 said the free and independent elector, 'I am tired of. hearing him called the Just.' -Calumny is the natural corollary of envy. And- the Athenian Philistine of Aristide's day has his counterpart in the knot of Orange clerical fanatics who have lately been spending their over-abundant leisure in the . ignoble - occupation of , harrying pious and noble-hearted women, whose virtues,they are tired "of hearing praised, and the . latohets of whose shoes they are not worthy to loose. • - ' ' ■'. ■• .'-Awl kinds of bores, 'says the Philosopher of the Sandwich Islands, ' are ' a nuisance; - but it is better to be bored with a- two-inch auger than a gimblet.'Disraeli would even tolerate an anonymous scribbler if he displayed intellectual power. The only power! displayed by the ' yellow ' anti-convent, brigade in "Victoria ami New South Wales is wind power. They are men' of neglected-, education— mere mental ' gimblets ' and far from .being fair samples of the Protestant clergy. And their moral principles and their social antecedents may be sufficiently judged by the total lack of shame with which they receive the prompt, public, and overwhelming exposures that (as. our news columns have lately shown) have in every case followed their evil tales. ' If, ' said Father Yorke in his demolition of Dr." Wendte, 4 there were anything which would knit papistry " into my bones, it is the methods used by those who fessail us. They cannot v meet us- with the truth. . .• They dare not let their congregation see the Church as she is— the King's daughter, without spot or blemish. Like Cinderella, they hurry her into the kitchen, and make her sit among the ashes, and defile her face with grime. But all in vain. Her beauty cannot be hid. Maltreat her how they will, the true heart discerns her comeliness. Sick and tired of systems and " theories .and half-truths and~equivocations, the souls of the people look toward the . mountain whence^their help is to come. Let them once see the Church in her reality, no power on earth can keep them from joining themselves unto her.' And so they seek" with the din of clamorous calumny to close the eyes and harden the hearts of the diminishing flocks in their conventicles, lest these should see with their eyes and with their ears- and understand with their hearts, ami turn to the faith of their fathers.