Current Topics

New Zealand Tablet, Volume XXXVII, Issue 11, 18 March 1909, Page 409

Current Topics

Bogus ♦Catholic' Criminals - The manufacture of "' Catholic ' criminals by the simple process making lying statements to arresting officers is an industry which has often received attention in tlaese columns. The business will probably nourish and require notice so long as crime statistics continue to be compiled on the present lax basis. In one of our recent articles on the' education question we dealt somewhat fully with the whdle- question of tho relation of .Catholics 1o crime, and showed the utter uselessness of ordinary crime ' statistics ' for purposes of information and comparison by reason of the enormous extent to which the returns are swollen by these fictitious 'Catholics.' In j-elation to this matter it is important that Catholic priests and papers should promptly put on record specific examples which come under their notice, for nothing so effectually clinches the Catholic contention as actual, definite, concrete cases in point. In this connection we note that our able and alert contemporary, the Brisbane Age, has just been switching . on the electric light to a very glaring case in point. A" local pawnbroker, when arrested for receiving stolen goods, had calmly given his religion as ' Roman Catholic, 5 though . he was not then, and never had be.en, in any sense a Catholic. The full facts are given in the latest issue (March 6) of our esteemed contemporary. We quote as follows,: ' At the Criminal Sittings of the Supreme Coiirt held in Brisbane last week, Adolphus James, pawnbroker, on a charge of receiving stolen goods, was sentenced to five years' imprisonment. James, when arrested, gave his religion as 'Roman Catholic' Now, as a matter of fact, James/ was not a Catholic, though he occasionally attended the evening devotions at St. Stephen's Cathedral, as many nonCatholics do. When . James's premises were searched by the detectives, among _pther things brought to light' were documents and a certificate of membership in a Masonic lodge. Yet when the next prison returns are compiled James will figure as a Catholic, simply because he chooses to "give" his religion as "Catholic." Some time back a case was brought under our notice where a young man was awarded twelve months' gaol for a serious offence. This young man gave his religion as "Roman Catholic," yet his parents, brothers, and sisters attend the Church of England; in fact, some of the children are receiving their education at the Church of England school. Another example, some couple of years ago, in' Brisbane: a Swede was locked up on the charge of drunkenness. In the watchhouse he gave his religion as Catholic. To the watchhouse keeper this appeared ridiculous, so he insisted on the man stating his religion correctly. He then admitted he was not a Catholic' ' These are just-^a few examples,' continues our contemporary, 'of the multitude of similar cases that occur every year, but which escape detection and public exposure wherein criminals as well as mere petty offenders falsely state that they are Catholics — or "Roman" Catholics, in order as one such falsifier admitted when challenged, "to save bringing discredit on his church." In this manner the police court and higher criminal courts statistical returns are unjustly crammed with fictitiously large numbers of " Catholic " offenders. It should also be known to non- " Catholics that those offenders who really are Catholics cannot adopt this lying and unjust method of shirking whatever discredit they are to" the Catholic body. For a Catholic •to deny his religion, even mider such circumstances, would not only be the sin of lying, but would also make him guilty of the grave sin of denying his Faith. It is a pity that the law does not provide any punishment for those who make these false statements of their religion.' Burial and Sentiment We are often told by would-be Social reformers th.it there ought to be no such thing as sentiment in relation to place or manner of burial. But that such sentiment exists, and that it. is very tenacious, is admirably illustrated by a story told by the late Dean Hole. A clergyman whose graveyard was sadly "overcrowded, except on the north side of his church — which, being damp and drear, was ' not used for sepulture — went to a woman who was very old arid ill, and having explained -to her that the dislike to" the shady side was a mere fancy and superstition, asked ■ her as a favor,- and for the example of others, to give directions that her interment should take place in the vacant portion of the ground. The old lady took a few moments for consideration, and then made answer: 'Well,

sir, as you say that one part's as good as another, and that its of no consequence whatever where we're put, P raps you'll gie 11s a lead.' ~_, „ - A Fight to a Finish The French Government have entered on what is evidently meant to be a fight" to "a* finish in the campaign they are carrying on with such relentless bitterness against the right of parents to protect the faith and morals of their children. We referred last week to the infamous Morizot case, in which a French parent, M. Girodet, succeeded, after an immense amount of trouble, delay, and expense, in obtaining from the Court of Appeal at Dijon nominal damages against a teacher— a moral degeneratein the State school for atheism, anti-patriotism, and .unprintable indecency to the hapless pupils confided to nis care. Instead of being unceremoniously ejected from the profession which he had disgraced, this moral leper and assassin was promptly promoted and appointed to another teaching post to which a higher salary was attached ! * And "now the Government have gone one step further in their war on religion. Seeing that earnest parents were growing restive under the aggressive irreligiousness or the State teachers, and were, beginning to organise themselves for the defence of their - children, the Government determined to take drastic measures to immediately nip this movement in the bud. -Accordingly, two bills were tabled m jfnick succession, and- have now been finally adopted .by the Committee on Education in the French Chamber of Deputies. The first bill punishes with imprisonment up to two years any parent who prevents his children from attending, school, or receiving instruction m obligatory subjects, or using the authorised text-books (however anti-Christian they may be). It further prescribes the same penalties for any person who shall incite to disobedience of this law. Thus a journalist or priest who pointed out the danger to children's morals contained in any objectionable lesson in the authorised texfcboolss would be held to be ' inciting ' to a breach •of the foregoing regulations, and would become immediately liable to fine and imprisonment.. The second bill" enacts that r the civil responsibility of the State is substituted for that of the members of the public teaching body for "the acts performed by them to the prejudice of the scholars during school hours.' That is, a parent will no longer be allowed to sue a teacher for irreligious -fa immoral teaching; he must' take legal action against the Education authorities, represented in this instance by the autocrat and Grand Panjandrum of French provincial life, the Prefect of the Department. The meaning of all this is so clear that he who runs may read. M. Girodet, in his efforts to secure redress for the blackguard Morizot' s misdoings, appealed to the Education officials again and again — and they, in every case, did nothing hut attempt to whitewash the ruffianly offender. And when at last the Dijon Court of Appeal gave a. final judgment against Morizot, the departmental authorities showed their sense of the fitness of things by at once transferring and promoting this human jackal. What the new bill means, therefore, is this: parents have now practically no redress against irreligious and immoral — or even blasphemous and indecent — teachers; their most sacred and inalienable rights as parents are being takon away, and their children are being gradually confiscated _to the State. It is not to be supposed • that religious-minded parents will remain like passive doormats under such tyranny, and wheii the inevitable reaction comes, and a Government friendly to religion is returned, it is consoling to think that the anti-clericals will be ' hoist with thoir own petard,' and that the powers they have so generously conferred on themselves may be used with very telling and deadly effect against them. The ♦ N.Z. Times ' Again Quantum mutatus ab illo'l' 1 What malignant microbe lias invaded the office of the once able, scholarly, and reputable New Zealand Times? , This paper; at one time in the forefront of New Zealand dailies, has of late been going steadily down hill, and is being dragged, by callow and slovenly editing, from the high and honored position it once occupied down to a level approaching that of a glitter journal. A few weeks ago -the Rev. Father Hickson, S.M., had occasion to impeach it for - publishing a coarse and bitter attack by a non-Christian on Christian faith and sentiment. His timely and temperate protest' .was approved and endorsed by some of the most powerful secular papers in the Dominion.' Father Hickson's protost evoked from the " Managing Editor a declaration of ' principles ' which, if pushed to their logical conclusion in the columns of the New Zealand Times, would lead to energetic action under the libel and slander laws and

y the Offensive Publications Act. For a time the plague was stayed; but like the retired tallow-chandler, who used to revisit the work's in orders to enjoy the old familiar „ smell, the Times could not long resist its new penchant for unsavoriness. In its issue of March 6 appears an article headed ' A Few Remarks,' by ' 149.' Whether this - is a prison-number or not, this deponent sayeth not, for the article is (for reasons -that will presently appear) not signed; so that the Times' s former ' flimsy pretext fpr publishing garbage is wanting in this case. The stuff here referred to is mere hod-man's work — written without brains, literary style, or ability of any sort. Its one outstanding characteristic is that, from the moral point of view, it is from first to last noisome and nauseous: the trail— or, rather, the very slime — of the serpent is over it all." After putting to one side the vague generalities, silly chatter, and long drawn-out irrelevancies of this journahstic hotch-potch, it is discovered to have a twofold trend or object : (1) It is a formal (though very feeble and futile) attack on Christian marriage; and (2) it contains a covert, though tantamount and unmistakable, assertion of the absolute natural right of man to commit certain crimes against the accepted canons of Christian morality. We have no idea of exaggerating in any way the tone ( and trend of that leprous production. For obvious reasons, however, outright and extended quotation is not possible in a journal of a religious character. We merely refer to the writer's assertion that ' God has never joined anybody ' ; that, not He, but ' man made marriages ' ; that c marriage is more physical than mental ' ; and that it is not the normal but the ' bent natural instincts ' of civilised life that have led man ' to see sin in following instinct au'l to accept punishment for it.' There is very much more Nlirect writing than this, but it is not properly quotable here. The upshot of all of which is sufficiently plain. We have no intention of arguing with ' 149 ' or his editor. The person who could indite or publish the stuff represented by that type of writing is beyond the reach of argument, and the ordinary readers for whom we write do not require it. But we do desire to express oxir profound regret that the New Zealand Times should have fallen so low, should have departed so far from the highest and best traditions of New Zealand journalism, as to have afforded the hospitality of its columns to such literary offal. This is the day of lax divorce laws, of loose ideas on the marriage relations, of rampant and increasing immorality. There never was a time when the young man who is honestly trying to avoid ' the primrose path of dalliance ' and to lead a clean and wholesome life had more temptations and allurements to sin. And the Netv Zealand Times has noiv. v apparently no higher conception of journalistic morality, or of the mission of the press than to permit an anonymous degenerate to say in effect to such an one : ' Don't be a fool. Follow your natural instinct. The man who tells you to keep straight is a crank. Throw the reins on the neck of your instincts and give them full play.' The writer who gives expression to sentiments such as these puts him- - self at once, morally and mentally, on a level with the supporters of social evil. Father Hickson' on a previous occasion rendered a distinct service to the community by his outspoken and manly protest; he will be amply warranted now in carrying that protest a step further. We cannot conceive that the directors of the Wellington paper can have any possible sympathy with this insinuated, and unwholcsomo attack on Christian marriage and common decency, and we are persuaded that an appeal to the directorate for protection and redress would not be made in vain. r In the meantime, for the benefit of (prison number?) ' 149 ' and any other members of the same fraternity whom theso lines may chance to reach, we reproduce certain eloquent words of Henry Ward Beecher on corrupters of youth. They were uttered .sixty years ago, but time has emphasised these weighty syllables : ' There is no such thing as good corrupters. We denounce them. The downfall of youth is our sorrow; but for. their destroyers, for the corrupters of youth, who practise the infernal chemistry of ruin and dissolve the young heart in vice, wo have neither tears, nor pleas, nor patience. We lift our licarts to Him who beareth the rod of vengeance and pray for the appointed time of judgment. Oh, thou ! corrupter of youth ! I would not take thy death for all the pleasure of .tliy guilty life a thousandfold. Thou shalt draw "near to the shadow of death. To the Christian these shades -are tho golden haze which Heaven's light makes when it meets tho earth and mingles with its shadows. But to thee these shall be shadows full of phantom shapes. Thou shalt not die unattended. Despair shall mock thee. Agony shall tender to thy parched lips the fiery cup. Remorse shall feel for thy heart and rend it open. " Good men shall breathe

freer at thy death and utter thanksgiving -when, thou art gone. Men shall place thy gravestone as a monument and testimony that a plague is stayed. No tear shall wet it, no mourners linger there. And as, borne on the blast, thy guilty spirit whistles toward the gate of hell, the hideous shrieks of those whom thy hand hath destroyed shall pierce thee^-hell's first welcome I In the bosom of that everlasting storm .which rains perpetual misery in hell shalt thou, corrwptcr of youth, be for ever hidden from our view ; and may God wipe out the- very thought of thee from our memory.' -