Current Topics

New Zealand Tablet, 23 May 1912, Page 21

Current Topics

Russian Intolerance Somebody has said that if you scratch the Russian you will find a Tartar. The letter which we print elsewhere in this issue from.the Very Rev. Dean Mahoney, of Onehunga, rather goes to confirm the dictum, and gives an interesting insight into the way , they manage some things in the Empire of the Czar. Dean Mahoney’s comment on the contrast between the way in which England opens wide her doors to the lowest scum of the Nihilist dens of Russia, and the manner in which Russia does her best, to prevent harmless and reputable citizens of tire British Empire from setting even for a time, within her borders, is very pertinent. The Dean is not the only New Zealand’ priest who has had that sort of experience, the difficulties thrown in his way in. the matter of obtaining a passport having been almost exactly duplicated in the case of the Rev. Father Lynch, of St. Joseph’s Cathedral, Dunedin, some few years ago".- Writing at the time to a friend in Dunedin, Father Lynch said; ‘I had a’ rather astonishing experience in London. My passport was sent by the Agent-General, through the Foreign Office, to ’ the Russian Embassy,- to be vise’d ; so that, if I* desired it while on the Continent, I might go from Berlin to St. Petersburg. It was returned with a query: “Is the Rev. P. Lynch a Roman Catholic? If so, he must apply to the proper authority (naming the Minister) in St. Petersburg for permission to visit Russia!” The desire to keep Catholic priests out of Russia is very great.’ That was fourteen years ago; and Dean Mahoney’s experience shows that the insane desire is as strong as ever. ‘Missions’ as a Trade Puller , A fortnight ago we commented in our loading columns on the movement which is being engineered in certain Protestant circles in America and England — and for the moment more particularly in ; England — for the purpose of inaugurating a mammoth missionary invasion of ‘ benighted ’ South America. We quoted in particular the appeal of the Anglican Bishop of the Falkland Islands; who, after referring to the ‘ sad condition of the ‘Roman Church ’ in South America, asked for a sum of £IOO,OOO, equipped with, which his Lordship implied that he could capture at least a third of the great continent for Protestantism. Framed on those lines' the appeal appears to have left his hearers cold ; and the enterprising Bishop promptly changed the bait. In his later, efforts to arouse enthusiasm and extract donations for the cause, he is putting his appeal on a strictly cash basis, tie has been addressing Chambers of Commerce and_ other mercantile organisations throughout England ; and the members of these bodies are being urged to aid the great enterprise not for any visionary reward in a distant hereafter, not that they may lay up for themselves spiritual treasures where moth and rust do not consume, but for an immediate return in solid business. In a word, they are invited to look upon the movement as' a purely commercial proposition—they are asked to support the great mission simply and solely because the great mission will be a ; ‘ trade-puller.’ - * Here is how the Bishop puts it in a letter addressed to the editor of the N castle Chronicle: ‘ The . extremely kind reception that I received yesterday -in the Council Chamber of this citv at a meeting held under the presidency of the Lord Mayor, also at a meeting held at the Town Hall in the evening, encourages me to ask you to be good enough to allow me to make an appeal throiigh your valuable paper for financial support to help me in the arduous work I have; undertaken for the reliyions and commercial advancement of Great Britain on the West Coast of South America. My case was summed up very tersely by the chairman of the London Chamber of Commerce at a meeting held at the Mansion House quite recently. He said: ‘ This is the •finest commercial investment that

traders of this country could make.” If any of your readers care to send me a , donation to “ The Lodge;.’ ’ bandy Lane, Guildford, Surrey, it will be most grate? fully acknowledged.’ The italics are ours. The -case for the great mission is ‘ summed up,’ to use the Bishop’s own expression, in the statement that it is ‘ the finest commercial investment ’ that English traders could make! Comment is superfluous. The Maoriland 4 Worker ’ The N.Z. Federation of Labor holds its annual conference in Wellington this week; and amongst the remits to come up for consideration is the following: That Conference consider the. policy and conduct of The Maoriland Worker with a view to alteration.’ The remit does not specify in what direction alteration is desired but seeing that the proposal comes from the Inangahua Miners’ Union, which some time ago did the honorable thing by vigorously repudiating Comrade ’ Hickey’s advice to the workers— in the Maoriland 11 or her —to ‘toss their agreements to hell, it may be assumed that the change sought for will be on the lines, of introducing some approach to sanity in the ethical guidance furnished to its readers by the official organ of the Federation. It is certainly high time that some move was made in that direction. As thus far conducted, the paper has been anything but a credit to the workers it professes to , represent ; and it is time some protest was made against the way in which its columns, have been disfigured by-all sorts of blasphemy and irreligion, and by systematic attacks on Christianity. The irreligious . tone, .on which we have several times commented, is still maintained. -In its ussue of May. 10, it ‘ barracks ’ for civil marriage. Under the heading of ‘Organiser’s Notes,’ Alderman Hartley, of England, runs a weekly column in the paper ; and in the latest issue, May 17, he is called upon to reply to a correspondent who, in the course of. a lengthy protest against irreligious . matter which had appeared in a previous issue, had remarked: ‘lt was the intention of Jehovah to fill the earth with a race of perfect, happy, healthy beings, if Adam and Eve had not yielded to the wiles of the. tempter and. fallen into sin.’ To which the sapient alderman replies : ‘To most of us, Alfred, it would seem that if an Almighty Creator wanted, “perfect, happy, healthy beings,”' it should have been quite as easy to have created, them feet to start with, instead of creating them imperfect and then punishing them for being imperfect. /Get this into your head, Alfred; There is no such/thinej as sin. Such a belief is the result of what you yourself describe as “Their consciences being the playing, of priests.” (The italics are ours.) It is easy to see what the effect of, this sort of teaching must be. Either these doctrines are part of Socialism or they are not. ’ If the Worker contends that they are, then nothing more need be said. Every Christian unionist who supports the paper will then know exactly where he stands and what he is doing. If, on the other hand, the Worker declares that these notions are not part of Socialism, then, in. the name of all that is. sensible and decent’ why cannot such stuff be kept out of the paper? If’ as is so often alleged, the battle is a purely economic one, why cannot it be fought without continually dragging in religion ? The delegates to the coming conference .have the matter in their own hands; and it ; is up to them to take whatever steps may be necessary to secure that, for the future, the paper which the workers themselves finance shall not be* allowed to . disgrace itself and its cause by attacking and insulting the religious beliefs of a considerable section of its readers. That Polish * Monk * For some time past sensational articles, dressed s out m flaring head-lines and cross-headings, have 'been going the rounds of the less carefully, edited New Zealand papers regarding the crimes of.an alleged monk-’ of the Pauline Convent at Czenstochowa, in -Russian Poland, the latest purveyor of the narrative to reach us being the Christchurch Star. According to the Star's version, this alleged ‘monk,’ Damazy Macoch/ was larged with murder, with robbery of precious gems

from a much-venerated image of the Blessed Virgin, and with other crimes y and, being found guilty, was' sentenced, to twelve years’ penal servitude. Throughout the article it is made to appear that the monastery was under the full and regular control of the Catholic authorities, and that the case was purely and simply one of crime on- the part of an ordinary Catholic monk. The confession of this “ monk is even put in as evidence of the kind of life regularly led by the inmates of the monastery. * When Macocli was arrested,’ says the Star narrative, ‘ he confessed that his conscience was burdened with the robbery as well as the murder, and he stated that ‘for more than ten years the most riotous life had been led by the monks, who,; while the faithful, were praying in the church, used to squander the church’s treasure in their orgies. Drunkenness, card-playing, and, the visits of women were the order of the day. ‘ Damazy Macoch never preached, but ho would appear drunk in church.’ ....... _■' ; * Full details of the true version of the case will come to hand in due time; and in the meantime sufficient information is available to throw a very different complexion on the story! Interviews which the repre-' sentative of the Edinburgh Catholic Herald has had with Polish priests go to show that Catholic Poland is now, as it has been for ' some years, passing through the storms of a relentless persecution. The story of the nuns of Minsk, which is well sustained by evidence, is advanced as a case in point. The community,’ says our contemporary, ‘was' one of Basilian nuns, and their troubles began when the apostate Bishop Siemaszko, who had been their chaplain, undertook the task of ‘‘converting” them to the “Orthodox” Church. Atfirst he used gentle but as the nuns remained obstinate, he suddenly changed his tactics, and one day he entered the convent, accompanied by the Civil Governor of Minsk, and gave the nuns a choice between apostasy and Siberia. They were marched through the town, and after leaving it were chained in couples with irons on hands and feet. At Witebsk they were appointed servants to a Greek community of Black Nuns, chiefly widows of Russian soldiers, and while there for seven , years they wore their leg irons. Here floggings took place twice a week, and the food was scanty, and, as a rule, rotten. The ranks of the Catholic nuns were constantly thinned by privation and suffering. They lived and died in their prison, and withstood to the end the attacks made on their faith.’ Similar persecutions have been going on since. In 1905, when Russia was shamed into granting certain reforms to Poland, one province wholly inhabited by Polish Catholics had not seen a priest or a bishop for, sixty years, , and when a bishop did make his visitation, men of ninety ;years of age received the Sacrament of, Confirmation, At the present time if ' a priest wishes to journey from one town to another he must obtain permission from the civil authorities, and a Bishop has to go through a like process if a new appointment is .to be made. Further -instances of the way in which the policy of the iron . hand is being carried out by the Russian authorities: were given to our contemporary by the Polish priests referred to. By the constitution granted to Poland, Polish Catholics are nominally allowed to practise their religion, but only a short time ago the Polish Province, Chelm, was incorporated with Russia, and though all the inhabitants are Polish Catholics they will stand outside the Polish Constitution.. Already attempts are being made to make the practice of their religion intolerable to them.' An order was issued so lately as April; last commanding that the .clerical prisoners—there are always a fewconvicted of teaching the Catechism in Polish, which is strictly forbidden— placed in special prisons and allowed no communication with anybody whatsoever, either for confession, Mass, or anything’ of the kind. The case of the Bishop who was condemned to a year ’s imprisonment for allowing his priests to teach the catechism in Polish, is at present being taken up by-Rome and negotiations are being pursued with the Russian authorities.

So much for the general position of the Church in Russian Poland,' and for the attitude of the. State towards it. Reverting to the particular case under discussion, it appears that the man Damazy, who was described as a ‘ monk,’ was in reality a Russian official who had been forced upon the authorities of the monastery by. the Russian Government with the ulterior object of getting possession of the institution. ‘ Previous to his entry into the monastery,’ says the Catholic Herald, ‘Damazy was secretary to one of the Russian Corporations. The authorities of the convent to which he was sent by -the Government had their suspicions from the first, and again and again asked for Damazy’s removal from the house.’ In the end he brought about his own downfall. According to our temporary, conviction for murder does not in Russia entail capital punishment, except when the victim is one of the Royal Family or a Government official, and Damazy’s sentence of imprisonment was one that is ordinarily passed in cases of the kind. The latest despatches from-Warsaw deny the report given in the English papers that the condemned man has escaped. He is still, in prison, but it is expected that, as an unscrupulous and therefore useful tool of the Government, some way out will be found for him. The salient points of the case are, first, that Damazy was not a bona fide monk at all in the ordinary sense of the expression, and this explains the statement in the Star article that ‘ Damazy Macoch never preached ’; and, secondly, that having been forced on the monastery authorities against their will, and kept in the convent in spite of their repeated protests, they cannot be held responsible either for the nature of his career amongst them or for its sensational termination. The shame of his deeds belongs to himself and to the Government which employed him. He was, as we. have shown, sent to Czenstochowa for the express purpose of making out a case of some sort against the monks and in the light of that’fact, his evidence as to their alleged dissipation and immorality can be estimated at its true worth. "