Current Topics

New Zealand Tablet, 17 November 1910, Page 1875

Current Topics

The Jesuits in South America : An interesting Tribute A fortnight ago we quoted in these columnsfor the purpose of ridiculing it—a childish ' snake-yarn ' which had appeared in our local Presbyterian contemporary, the Outlook, to the effect that a Presbyterian missionary in Caracas, Venezuela, had stated that 'half. the families of Caracas do not have more than one good meal a day '; ana that this was due to 'Jesuit casuistry, which has seared the conscience of a whole people.' ' Where there is no honesty ' — ran the paragraph —' there cannot be commercial credit and flourishing industry.' A very different, and much more trustworthy, account of tho state of things in Latin America, and of the effect of Jesuit influence there, is given in a series of articles, entitled ' Some Thoughts on South America,' which are being contributed by the Anglican Dean of Manchester to the Manchester Guardian. The outlook in the South American Continent is, according to the Dean, one of singular promise for the Latin races. With the Spanish element indefinitely increasing—its population is already estimated at 40,000,000 souls —it is not difficult to accept the writer's conclusion that ' South America is destined to becomo an incalculable factor in the world's history.'

In the course of his first article, the Dean, after referring to the religious spirit of the people generally, pays the following unqualified tribute of admiration to the work accomplished by the Jesuit missions, not only in Paraguay, but in the other regions of the Western World where the influence of tho Fathers has been exercised. We quote from the Manchester Guardian of September 26: —'Perhaps no characteristic of the country will at first impress him (the English visitor) more forcibly than the way in which its religious history is written upon its local names. Where else in the world would it be possible to come upon such a number of towns as Santos, Santa Fe, Santiago, Conception, and Asuncion; bays like St. Catharina and Bahia, which is properly Bahia de Todos los.Santos, "The Bay of All the Saints"; or rivers like Magdalena and Mad re de Dios? Even Buenos Ayres, which sounds so secular amidst the wealth of religious appellations, was originally called Santa Maria de Buenos Ayres. It was a matter of deep regret to me that I was unable to visit the remains of the famous Jesuit missions in Paraguay. But I hope it may be permitted me to pay my tribute of respect to the civilising and Christianising work of the Society of Jesus in South America. Voltaire himself could not help speaking of that work as a "triumph of humanity." I have never understood why the Society was expelled from South America. For not in Paraguay alone but in many regions of the Western World, where the land has been scientifically cultivated, where the native Indians have been morally elevated, and where heathenism has yielded place to Christianity, it is still possible to trace the abiding influence of the Jesuit Fathers.' The Envoys in America It is gratifying to note. that—in spite of regrettable but not very considerable differences in the ranks of the Party at Home—the American visit of Messrs. Redmond, Connor, Devlin, and Boyle, both as regards financial results and in respect to the expressions of enthusiastic loyalty to the cause which it elicited, has been a pronounced success. The attendance of U.I.L. delegates at the great Convention at Buffalo was 885— largest gathering at a National Convention since the first Home Rule year in 1886. The Bishop of Buffalo (Right Rev. Chas. H. Colton, D.D.), the Right Rev. Dr. Fallon, Bishop of London, Ontario, Canada, and Right Rev. T. F. Hickev, Bishop of Rochester, New York, were present, and they spoke for his Eminence Cardinal Gibbons, and for several other Bishops whose sympathy with the work of the Irish Party has been frequently expressed, and who sent telegrams of congratulation to the Convention. Other telegrams read included many from Governors of States and Mayors of "cities. One of the most striking figures of the Convention was that of the Hon. John Costigan, formerly member of the Dominion Cabinet in'Canada and now member of the Senate who carried the first resolution in favor of Home Rule for Ireland in the Canadian Parliament as far back as the year 1882. 'Tremendous enthusiasm,' savs the special correspondent of the Dublin Freeman, marked the whole of the Convention proceedings. The delegates again and again all rose to their feet and, in American style, cheered for several minutes. So successful a day makes everybody mwm m declaring %t to-day the Irish movant in

America received a second birth, and that the same gigantic results as in Parnell's time may be expected.' * At the second day's sitting of the Convention a pledge was submitted to raise 100,000 dollars within two years for the <*ause of Home Rule and the pledge, embodied in the report of the Committee of Ways and Means, was unanimously adopted. The report endorsed the great work clone for the amelioration of the lot of the Irish people within the last year by the Irish Parliamentary Party. It then continues: ' Believing that this work will be crowned in the near future by the realisation of the Irishman's fondest dream. Home Rule, and having the fullest confidence in the leadership of Mr. John Redmond, we pledge that one hundred thousand dollars will be raised before the next Convention. If this sum be insufficient, we feel sure that an . even larger amount will be forthcoming. We further recommend the adoption of a system of national organisers.' The amount promised this year is the same as that promised at the League's Convention at Boston in 1908 a promise which has been more than fulfilled. The immediate addition to the funds of the Irish Parliamentary Party as the result of the envoys' appeals totalled £45,000. It is evident that the confidence of Irish America, both in the cause and in the Party, remains unabated. The Insult to the Pope The week's cables intimate that a largely attended meeting of Christian Socialists, held at Vienna,. ' protested against Signor Nathan's (Mayor of Rome) recent utterances. Herr Porger (Vice-Burgomaster) declared that a grave wrong had been done the Holy See, when the Italian army found courage after the departure of the French troops to march through Poitapia into Rome. The occupation of Rome and the destruction of the temporal power of the Papacy constituted a shameful blot in the history both of those undertaking and of those tolerating it.' Both in its terms, and in the circumstances surrounding it, the insult offered to the Pope by Signor Nathan amply justified this vigorous protest. The Mayor of Rome may, for all we know, be a capable and business-like administrator; but that he lacks the courtesy, tact, and sense of the fitness of things, which are essential to the successful discharge of his high office has long been abundantly manifest. Nominally a Jew, he loses no opportunity—especially on the occasions in which he is called upon to take part in public functions—of reminding his hearers that he i 3 a Republican, Freemason, and Freethinker, and of heaping insult upon the religion of a large section of his fellowcitizens which as an Italian magistrate, he is under a strict obligation to respect. * ■- ; ', - September 20, being the fortieth anniversary of the Ganbaldian occupation of Rome, was an occasion on which the 1 ree-thinking Syndic apparently felt he could safely let himself go; and, speaking at the historic breach near the Porta Pia, he surpassed even his own lurid records tor virulent and blasphemous insult. In the course of Ins speech the Mayor invited his hearers to look back forty years, and then uttered the following false and . blasphemous sentences:— They, the faithful, came in pilgrimage to the Ecumenical Council to sanction the principle that the Pope, in direct representation and succession of Jesus should, like the Son, inherit omniscient, unlimited power over men, and withdraw his decrees from ail human criticism, in virtue of the infallibility there proclaimed, recognised, and accepted. It was the reverse of the Biblical revelation of the Son of God made man on earth; it was the son of man made God. on earth!' The Holy Father at once made a vigorous official protest against this outrageous utterance; and the press of the world, with the exception of a few purely partisan papers, have recognised the justice of the Pope's indignation. The following, from the Rome correspondent of the London Times, sufficiently indicates the general press attitude on the subject • 1 Notwithstanding the defence of the Radical and Socialist press, there can be (says the Times correspondent) no two opinions as to the extreme impropriety of the Syndic's utterances as a public official, since he went out of his way to indulge in a violent tirade against many of the doctrines of the Roman Catholic religion. But Rome, he adds has long ceased to take Signor Nathan and his speeches seriously, and except for some dignified rebuke in one or two moderate journals, tho matter might easily have been passed over in silence. It was, however, brought into grave prominence by the official publication of a letter addressed by the Pope to the Cardinal Vicar-General in which his Holiness protests in vigorous terms against an attack on the Roman Catholic Church and religion" oouohed Ml word? blasphemous as wej) as offensive, aud deliver^

by a public official in the performance of his duty. lie Pope calls upon the Catholics of Rome to take note of tie affront offered to their religion and of the circumstances in which it was offered. It is hardly likely, howovei, that anv official notice can be taken of this remonstrance, though “none of the principal Roman newspapers contest the justice of the Pope’s indignation. In vmiv of tie fact that certain sentences in Signor Nathans speech which was of course, delivered in his official capacity mt he regarded as contravening the Law of Guarantees of 1871 in accordance with which security was given tha the Pope would be protected from insult, it is possible pace the opinion of the correspondent just quoted—further action may be taken against the Mayoi. As a matter of fact, General Pelloux has already publicly declared his intention of raising the question in the Italian Senate, and of extracting from the Government its idea as to the interpretation of the Law of Guarantees.

An Anti-Denominational Body It is a striking commentary on the, unity which the non-Catholic bodies have not achieved on the education question that, while the Presbyterian Assembly in Auckland is coquetting with the Anglican proposal lor a referendum on the introduction of the New South Wales system into New Zealand, the Primitive Methodist Synod in Dunedin should be energetically opposing it. It is true that so far as numbers go, the latter body can not be regarded as an impressive gathering; but moral earnestness has to be reckoned with on whichever side it happens to be exercised; and the Primitive Methodist ministers—strangely enough—are even more earnest and whole-hearted in their opposition to denominationahsm than their 1 resbyterian brethren are in its support. It is due to the 'Primitives' to mention that they have come forward with a new scheme of their own—to be added to the long list of multitudinous and multifarious proposals that have at various times been put forward by the non-Catholic bodies .—as a settlement of the education problem. It is, that what is known as the Nelson system should be legalised—that is, the system whereby, when the authority of the Board can be. obtained, the school hours are declared to cease half an hour earlier on a particular day in the week, and that half-hour is appropriated to Bible-reading. Here is the proposal as formally adopted by the Primitive Methodist Synod:— 'That this assembly of delegates, representing the Primitive Methodist Churches of Otago and Southland, calls upon his Majesty's Government to introduce measures into Parliament such as will give legal status to the present visitation of ministers to the State schools under the • system known as the " Nelson system," for purely Scriptural teaching.' As this Synod, however, "represents only ; 1000 electors, this call on his Majesty's Government' 1 is not in the least likely to be listened to, the Government having long ago set before it as its polestar and fixed principle to be on the side of the big battalions. * We pass, therefore to the significant and outspoken comments made by members of the Synod on the Anglican overtures. Mr. W. King, a layman, in supporting the motion in favor of the Nelson system, said 'there was a strong desire on the part of the Anglican Church to push their views, and he thought the Primitive Methodist Church should show how far they were prepared to go in the matter.' The Rev. E. Drake said the present resolution asked that the privilege of giving religious instruction in school hours be made legal. They ought not to have anything in the shape of denominational education in New Zealand. The Nelson . system was simple Bible-teaching for a few minutes, as might be granted.' And the Rev. G. Knowles Smith, the mover of the resolution, was particularly emphatic. ' His first impression,' he said, ' had been that it would be better to leave this matter alone, but it was very evident, now that their friends of a sister Church were going to force before the public gaze the question of the denominational right of entry into the day schools, they must come right out into the open and say that they would not have denominational right of entry at any price. Their friends claimed that even denominational right of entry was only a compromise, and that the right thing was denominational schools. They should emphasise the fact that they were prepared to continue the present system if the Government would remove any legal barriers. If it was a question of denominational right of entry or secular education, then he was a secularist all over.' We cannot pretend to admire the clergyman who can. declare himself ' a secularist all over' — even in the restricted sense in which the word was used on the occasion—and, to our thinking, the sentiments of Mr. Smith and his friends do them little credit. But we have no sympathy to waste on.our Anglican friends, if — as was so confidently asserted fit the /Primitive Methodist Synod and as is very

generally believed—they are really in favor of denominational schools, why do they not frankly say so and openly fight for what they really want. They are not the only people in the country who believe in the denominational principle and if all the friends of definite dogmatic instruction in the schools were to make a united rally the education question would not long remain where it is. English and Continental Freemasonry Continuing our remarks on the subject of Freemasonry —referred to.in our leading columns a fortnight ago — dealing specially with the relation of English Freemasonry to that of the Continent we have to say— That the Grand Lodge of England undoubtedly repudiated official connection with the Grand Orient of France when —in 1877 the latter adopted rank Atheism as its official creed. (2) That the English Order —in an informal and decidedly unconvincing way —still disavows connection with the Brotherhood on the Continent. Thus the English Freemason's Chronicle, replying in a recent issue to some remarks of the London Tablet's Rome correspondent about the activity of Continental Freemasonry, after saying that charges made against Freemasonry as an enemy of the State should be regularly refuted, goes on to point out that — above all —' there would be the great difficulty of proving that the Freemasonry of the Continent is in any way allied to the ancient Brotherhood working in the British Isles, save in the matter of name; but no official recognition exists, and we of England cannot do more than repeat what has often been said before, that the Craft of Freemasonry —as we know and practise it — no rivalry to any particular Church or form of religion, requiring only an expression of belief in a Supreme Being, and certainly has no sympathy with those who conspire against State or Government.' (3) It may be admitted that English and American Freemasonry wages no open war upon religion, and that there are great bodies of Freemasons in the lodges in these countries who are as far from the mind and spirit of their Continental confreres as pole is from pole. The same remark applies to the many men of high station and character who join the association. On the Continent, and presumably in English-speaking countries too, such men pass their lives in the lower degrees. So much at least we learn from the noted Paris Freemason, Louis Blanc. As another well-known author puts it, they know no more of the real principles of Freemasonry than the figure-head of a ship knows about the steering.'

But having acknowledged so much, there are a few ■ facts on the contra side which we do well to bear in mind, (a) The lodges of Belgium, Bohemia, Holland, Italy, Denmark, Poland, Russia, Sweden, Switzerland, Spain, Portugal, India, and America owe their origin to England, at dates and in circumstances of which we have a record; (b) the Grand Lodge of England recognises the Grand Lodges of Berlin, Hamburg, the Netherlands, Switzerland, Denmark, Norway, Sweden, Portugal, Hungary, Greece, and the Ancient and Accepted Rite of Prance, some of which are in open war against the Church, and all of which are in communion with the French Grand Orient, despite the fact that it officially repudiates belief in the existence of God and in the immortality of the soul; (c) the English Freemasons gave official recognition’ to the Italian Brethren in 1875, as we learn from the following paragraph from the London Times of July 19, 1875: —• The announcement was made on Saturday, at the consecration of a. new lodge, named after the Prince of Wales, at the Alexandra Palace, that his Royal Highness, the Grand Master of English Freemasons, had given official recognition to the Grand Orient of Italy, and the announcement was received with warm applause by the large body of eminent Freemasons assembled on the occasion’; (d) the English Freemasons have, so far as we are aware, never uttered a word of condemnation against the long and savage warfare waged by cither their Italian or French or Spanish confreres against the Catholic Church, and, indeed, against all religion. The extent, in fine, of the difference between English and Continental Freemasonry in their attitude towards the Churches and Christianity has been very fairly stated in the following passage from a C.T.S. publication on the subject: — ‘There is a difference (between the English and the foreign Freemasonry) it is true, and it is this: the one ignores what the other hates the English Freemason, clerical or otherwise, officially treats Christianity as sectarianism ; the foreign, as a mischievous superstition. The unblinking eye of collective Freemasonry is united and identical, or, it could not be, as it is, an international and universal brotherhood.’