THE OBJECT OF CONTINENTAL LIBERALISM

New Zealand Tablet, 1 December 1910, Page 1966

THE OBJECT OF CONTINENTAL LIBERALISM

The Buenos Aires Herald of August 5 had some sane remarks on" the ultimate object of the so-called Continental " Liberals ' in their war on the Catholic Church. The Herald is a secular paper, conducted by Englishmen, who, living in a country which has become a dumping ground for the socialists, anarchists, and anti-clericals of Southern Europe, are able to form a first-hand estimate of the aims of these individuals. It says: British readers cannot be expected to entertain very much sympathy for the Roman Catholic Church in its series of conflicts with the Liberal elements in some of the Roman Catholic countries of Europe. Ever since the present Pope assumed his high office trouble has surged around the chair of St. Peter. The struggle with France, the difficulty with Modernism, the difference with the Spanish Government, now acute, all serve to emphasize the fact that the venerable Pius X. finds his position by no means a pleasant one. The sturdy Protestant will probably say 'it serves him right.' With that expression of opinion, pithy and terse as it is, we cannot agree. We look a little beyond St. Peter's to the danger partially eclipsed by that magnificent pile, and what do we see? No Protestant, no thinking man, can pretend to believe now that the Church of Rome is being assailed because of its faults or failings as a world-wide power. As a matter of fact, Protestants are only too willing to bear testimony to the splendid organisation of the Roman Catholic religion. The onslaught of the Liberals of Europe owes its impulse and bitterness to another motive, a motive which involves the fate of every other Church or Christian community. The governing idea of the anti-Church crusade is this: Pull down the oldest and most solid, and the others will fall in detail. With this motto to aid us in the interpretation of anti-Catholic feeling, no one, be he Protestant, Dissenter, or Catholic, can very well maintain the ' it-serves-him-right' argument applied to the existing tribulations of the Roman Catholic Church. The present position in Spain is very disquieting. The casual reader, perusing our cables of Tuesday, might be excused for wondering what it is that threatens Spain with civil war. This uncertainty can only be explained by reference to one salient and condemnatory fact: We, residents abroad, are not allowed to see the other side of the question—Church v. State— in Spain. We only learn what the elements in power permit to pass out to the world Senor Canalejas, if asked, would deny having a mandate for the limitation of the influence of the Roman Catholic Church in Spain. If candid, he would own up to the necessity of placating the ' Liberals,' a mere euphemism for the anti-Church elements, who talk glibly of ' sacerdotalism, ' obscurantism,' and other isms which are not " Liberalism ' as understood on the Continent of Europe. ' Sefior Canalejas is in power -porque nil In Spain as in Argentina, it does not follow that the party in power represents the consensus of opinion in the country. In Italy many thousands of Roman Catholics, in obedience to a recommendation from the Vatican, do not vote. The result is that at every election the ' Liberal ' candidate is returned. In Spain it is not unusual for the Ministry in office to obtain a parliamentary majority by the simple expedient of violating the returns. Conservative Spain is thus overlaid by the progressive 'Liberals,' who take good care that the press is on their side. The voice of the Conservative elements, when heard abroad, is generally heard through the medium of hostile organs. But it would be a mistake to suppose that in Spain the Conservative elements are extinguished. They are alive and active, though perhaps convinced that the time for intervention has not X?"! 6, ii l R the meantime it may not be amiss to point out that all Conservatism, that, is to say, the forces making against change by disruptive tactics, must sympathise with the Conservatives of Spam whose actions are miscontrued and habitually misinterpreted by the champions of Liberalism. Right-minded people may differ as to the relative merits of the various Churches, but they will be found to agree on one point, which is that religion is essential and exercises a sweetening influence upon life. If that influence were suddenly shattered, as Continental Liberalism would have it shattered, all the ingenuitv of the world and another twenty centuries could not replace it Regarded as an asset on the side of law and order, religion cannot be over-estimated in value. Without it there is nothing upon which we could lay hold. The King takes the coronation oath, the soldier swears by the banner the lawmaker, the magistrate, every man who undertakes a sacred trust on behalf of humanity, swears by the sacred Scriptures, and whilst swearing invokes an eternal and divine power to witness his sincerity. Deny the existence or such a power and by what shall the conscript swear to do his duty? Eliminate, that power and "duty" itself vanishes or becomes a mere phrase. # ' Thus, whilst sinking the contentious points and passing over alleged facts m connection with the struggle in Spain, a struggle which may at any moment become very serious, we find that it is .not wise to assume that the Church of Rome must, by virtue of the fact that it is the Church of Rome, be in the wrong. The day may not be far distant when all the Churches, all the religious influ ences of the world will be thankful that the old cSI did not, m the ear y twentieth century, temporise with th disruptive forces of Europe." <"«t"u*MJ wiwi tne