Notes

New Zealand Tablet, Volume XXXV, Issue 36, 5 September 1907, Page 22

Notes

The Syllabus * ~ The long-expected syllabus of modern errors has" come to hand by this week's mails. We publish a first - instalment of an English translation of the doru- 1 ment • in" this issue. It is- a clear, precise,"" - plain" statement 'and condemnation of nSw arid strange opinions that- have been ventilated from time Ho time by a' few Catholic ' writers who were drifting towards a theological lee shore.- The document (says an -English contemporary) has .not indeed beeri' ' promulgated with all those solemn forms by which the Holy Father makes a pronouncement of this kind personally his own, " and lifts it to the eminence of an . infallible utterance.' But it is in every- sense a remarkabledocument. ' ' Rome ' says regarding it :— . ' The" document constitutes a marvellous synthesis' of,, the errors of the day, put in such clear language that a child may understand it. Whatever criticisms may be passed on the -Syllabus by the modernist school, nobody -is likely to tax it with ambiguity or to deny that it reflects with" absolute accuracy the false teachings of the hour.' * The London ' Tablet ' roughly reduces the errors, as ~ ■ given in the propositions of the decree, to the following: six classes. These are errors with regard to : ' "(i.)- The respect and obedience due to the authority of the Church (propositions i— viii) ; ' (ii.) Holy Scripture, ' inspiration, exegesis, criticisms, etc. (propositions ix— xix) ; ' (iii.) Revelation and .dogma (some propositions; intimately,, connected with those included in (2) (pro- . positions xx— -xxvi).; 1 (iv.) The Person, Knowledge, Divinity, Resurrection of our Lord (propositions" xxvii—xxxviii)- '" (v.) The origin and .nature *of the Sacraments; (propositions xxxix— li) ; " 1 (vi.) The evolution of the Church and the development of dogma (propositions lii— lxv).' The new syllabus (says the' ' Catholic Times ') ' is', exactly what is wanted at the present day.' It even; makes bold to affirm that : ' Amongst non-Catholic Christians a great number will hail this Roman pronouncement with sincere satisfaction. In every country for years past attackshave constantly been made upon the Sacred Scriptures, and authors have rivalled one another in the boldness and ingenuity with which they have rejected - old doctrinal standards. Outside the Catholic Church they have created appalling confusion, and -the "influence of their writings has had unhappy effects even within the Church. The' new .Syllabus leaves no room for misgiving. Catholics are reminded that they cannot swerve even by a hair's breadth from the old standards, 1 and to non-Catholics who believe in Christianity is, as it were, held up a beacon showing a brilliant light amidst the darkness. Nowhere else save in . the Catholic Church are to be found, such a definiteness of doctrine and such a clear-cut - appreciation of the dangers that beset it.' Loyal Catholics will joyfully accept this clear and " luminous condemnation* of mostly ancient errors that have been revamped and tricked out with the , gew- •- gaws of a pretended modernity and a pseudo-scientific lore. Even orthodox Protestants will, we believe, generally welcome this strong "and authoritative defence of the divine truth that was ' once delivered to the saints.' • - .