The New Zealand Tablet THURSDAY, MARCH 11, 1909. M. LOISY'S APPOINTMENT

New Zealand Tablet, Volume 11, Issue 10, 11 March 1909, Page 381

The New Zealand Tablet THURSDAY, MARCH 11, 1909. M. LOISY'S APPOINTMENT

fHE submarine cable conveyed -to these ends of the earth during the past week the intimation that the French Government had appointed the Abbe Loisy — who was' finally , -gpr- excommunicated by the Pope more than a •dsJW%[pg£v year ago — to the Chair of History and ReP JsferjF ligion at the College of France. The cablegP* man furthermore sent the additional announcement that ' the Roman Catholic world is perturbed ' over the fact. The appointment is signing cant, for reasons which we shall presently mention; but" there is nothing in it to excite surprise, much less - ' perturbation,' amongst even the most timid-minded members of 'the Catholic world. 5 '■ This addendum is, in fact, one of the ' gags ' so often indulged in on his own account by the cable-man. The College of " France is a purely State institution, and was specially designed 'to promote the_ more advanced tendencies of the time and to counteract the scholasticism of the University. 3 M. Loisy, by his rational- . istic writings, expressly and definitely cut himself adrift from supernatural Christianity. And if an avowedly and even aggressively anti-religious Government ijc-w finds- itself in a position to bestow its favors upon him, the man who has most cause to be ' perturbed ' is the unhappy ' Abbe ' himself. For Catholics the appointment is mainly signifi-' cant as furnishing a fresh and vivid illustration of the now undoubted fact that it has become part of the settled and systematic policy of the Clemenceau Government to punish and penalise all servants of the State who show any respect or love for religion, and to heap preferment and promotion on those who are disloyal to the Christian faith. Whether it be in the army -or in the navy, in the municipal departments or in" the scholastic world, thereis the same tale to tell: men have had to suffer because they were, even suspected of "being faithful to the practices of their religion, or they have been honored and rewarded because they have openly and blatantly flouted the ancient Faith. „ ' ~ .'

It would be easy .to multiply instances of the odious tyranny and determined -intolerance with which this new, ' Kultuxkampf ' of aggressive atheism is being worked out, but we content ourselves with qtioting two or three of themost recent cases in point, which are at the same time absolutely typical. Let us take the army first. There - is, to begin with, the affair at Laon, when, a few weeks ago, five officers were punished because, whilst attending Mass, they had heard the Bishop of Soissons preach a sermon on the text, ' The,;truth shall make you free.' The preacher made no reference to officials or to the Government, nor did he allude "in any way to the law or the - Republic. The Prefect, however, did not approve of the Bishop's use of the word" 'liberty,' and of the five officers who had committed the ,' crime ' of being present, one (a colonel) was deprived of liis command, and the other four

were removed into other regiments. A still more infamous instance of petty tyranny occurred about the same time in connection with the funeral of the late Archbishop of Bordeaux, Cardinal Lecot. The late Cardinal -was an immensely popular prelate, and it was- estimated that one hundred and fifty thousand people lined the streets as the funeral cortege passed. It was at this solemn- moment that the mounted troops received orders to turn the tails of their horses towards the hearse — a practice followed at executions — and thus insult the mortal remains of this Prince of the Church, and evade the usual military saluta to the dead. - Officers in uniform who lined the route were ordered sto leave the procession, and local officers so attired were forbidden to take part. In the navy a sensation has just, been caused by the sudden dismissal of Admiral Germinet, ostensibly for repeating to a journalist what he had been saying to the Minister of Marine for years—^hat the men-of-war were not adequately equipped with^am- - munition. The real reason, however, is disclosed more clearly in an outspoken Government journal. The Dipeche de Toulouse, the ablest Ministerial organ in the South cf France, says that 'he was a noted Clerical. M. Malvy accuses him of being a reactionary. . . . ~ He was also accused of having attended the religibus service which was held for the sailors who were killed on board the Jena.' So Admiral Germinet had to go. The attitude of the Government in municipal matters is sufficiently indicated by the following incident. The Laval correspondent of Le Temps writes that the Mayor of Ooudray has just been dismissed and four other mayors have been -suspended. Of these five men, four had had the religious emblems that were taken from the public schools replaced in them; and one had had a cross painted on the wall in place of the crucifix which had been removed. The administration had immediately taken pains to have this painting covered up with a map.

The examples just quoted have all been cases in which men who were faithful to their religion have been punished and persecuted for their fidelity. We now present a case of the converse order, and one which furnishes a glaring example of the length to which the Government are prepared to go in their policy of condoning, and even rewarding, offences against religion and morality and the teaching of the Church. We refer to the now famous Morizot case, references to which have appeared even in the New Zealand dailies. A teacher of a communal school, named Morizot, was proceeded against by M. Girodet, father of one of his pupils, for having, in a mixed class of children, given utterance to anti-religious," anti-patriotic, and grossly immoral teaching. The teacher had (among other things) told the children in class tha.t French soldiers were blackguards and cowards,- that the Germans, in 1870, did well to kill children in the cradle j that believers in God were imbeciles; that the true God was a well-filled purse; that confession was all foolery, and . would ,be better made to the person offended than to the- priest; and that there was no difference between man and a cow — and other things of a nature wholly unfit for publication. After much obstruction, delay, and expense, M. Girodet at last obtained a final judgment from the Dijon C«urt_ of Appeal.- The Court found that Morizot's ' insults against the army, his attacks on the religious beliefs of his scholars and their parents, and his obscene allusions in open class ... . . are certainly of a sort to have caused disturbing impressions on their young minds, the consequences of which may be serious,' and it declared that the parents were fully justified in demanding reparation. The six charges against Morizot were adjudged all fully proved, and he was fined £8 and costs — the smallness of the fine being largely due to the speech made by the Advocate-General, who urged, as extenuating circumstances, that Morizot was a mere ignoramus — ' a miserable creature whose place is not in the ranks of the teachers.' In any well-regulated community an offender of this sort would have been incontinently ejected from the profession -which he had disgraced ; in France his exposure has only leen the signal for immediate advancement ! The Government have, without delay, appointed this miserable and blasphemous corruptor of youth to another teaching post in the lay schools of the French Republic, to which a higher salary is attached! The mayors and military and naval officers who were loyal to the dictates of their conscience and the teachings of their Church were promptly penalised; the brutalised corrupter of youthful innocence, the ignorant and ribald blasphemer of the Supreme Being, is immediately honored and promoted. * In view of these significant indications of the general attitude and actions of the French Government in all matters under its control affecting religion and the Church, it is possible to see the Abbe Loiay's appointment in its true perspective, and to realise precisely how much and

how-little it means to ' the Roman -Catholic world.' It /s a studied insult to the Church, of. course; but af teethe last few years of savage anti-clericalism an insult, more .or less, is a very small affair. ' Facilis descensus Averni,' says the well-worn old proverb; which, being, translated, means that when a man starts to go down hill he generally finds the track sand-papered and greased for the occasion. Iwo years ago M. Loisy — who, by the way., is said to bear a very remarkable facial resemblance' to Voltaire — deliberately rejected the -teaching authority of the Church, and, m principle at least, ranged himself on the side of the freethinkers ; and if to-day he finds himself taken to the bosom of an avowedly anti>Chfistian Government he is — a little more rapidly than usual — only coming to his own. But the idea that the dubious honor conferred on M. Loisy should be an occasion for grave alarm to ' the Catholic world' is only amusing. He is too vacillating, too undecided, too much of an intellectual invertebrate, to be a 1 serious menace. As Matthew Arnold puts it : ' The gods laugh in their sleeve To watch man doubt and feai, • - Who knows not what to believe, Since he sees nothing clear, And dares stamp nothing false where he finds nothing sure.' The Church has had many such c shocks ' as the defection of the Abbe Loisy, and they have .had no more effect on her triumphant course than an egg .against an ironclad. The Barque of Peter is infinitely safer than the tubs of which she is surrounded, and the Catholics of Trance can still- confidently address to her the serene words of Longfellow : 'In spite of rock and tempest roar, - • In spite of false lights on the shore, Sail on, nor fear to. breast the sea.! Our-hearts, our hopes, otir prayers, our tjears, Our faith triumphant o'er our fears, Are all with thee, are all with thee!'