Current Topics

New Zealand Tablet, 10 July 1913, Page 21

Current Topics

A Cable Lie - The following cable message appeared in our New Zealand dailies 01 January 24: 'Paris, January 22. A woman named Alice Crespy has been arrested on a charge of shooting a priest named Chassaing, whom she met in the confessional. The bishop, to prevent a scandal, had transferred Chassaing, and the woman subsequently reported the priest's suicide at her house, explaining that his act was the result of grief over their separation.' We cut this out at the time, in the assured conviction that later information would throw a different complexion on this wildly improbable, looking tale. The element of fact in the message was that the priest was found dead, having been shot. It now appears that the account of the ' suicide' of the priest, together with the statement as to its alleged cause, was the concoction of a hysterical and designing woman. The other side of the story has been given in the London Daily Mail. According to the London paper this woman had so pestered the priest by her unwelcome attentions that he had ordered the sacristan, to prevent her entering the church. And, according to the same authority, his bishop makes the statement that he had transferred the priest as a promotion, and that the priest was greatly pleased at the prospect. And to prove that he had no intention of committing suicide many have given their evidence of various practical preparations he was making for his new parish. The woman is described in the French press as a ' poetess ' —from which it may be inferred that she had a tendency towards romance and towards the imaginative. It is a shame that the ' explanation ' of a scheming woman, involving dishonor to the memory of a dead priest, should be cabled to the uttermost parts of the earth, and that not a word should be said regarding his bishop's refutation and vindication.

A Jewish Protest It is very natural that the members of the Jewish body should feel keenly the injustice of the Bible-in-Schools League proposals, and that a New Zealand Rabbi should declare, in a.letter which has been submitted to us: 'No conscientious Jewish teacher, loyal to his faith, could teach and explain the passages (in certain of the Bible lessons) in such a way that the children would understand them "as intelligently as any other lesson." To do so would be to act the hypocrite.' How acutely sensitive the followers of the ancient faith are to the slightest danger of religious proselytism in connection with the public education system, or to any invasion of their rights of conscience, may be gathered from the opposition offered by Jews in the United States to what would be regarded by Bible Leaguers here as a very harmless and .innocuous proposal. We find recorded in the Philadelphia Catholic Standard and Times of May 17 the following telegram, which had just been sent to the Governor of Pennsylvania (Governor Tener) by the Jewish Community of Philadelphia, of which Dr. Cyrus Adler is the president : 'Hon. John K. Tener,— Executive Council of the Jewish Community of Philadelphia, representing over one hundred organisations, respectfully urges you to veto the bill making it compulsory, under severe penalty, for teachers in the schools to read ten verses of the Bible daily. We believe this act would impose upon the Jewish pupils in the public schools religious exercises, which are in violation of the spirit of the American institutions, and of the fundamental right of the freedom of conscience. We further point out that at least five versions of the English Bible "are in current use by different denominations, and that the carrying out of this act would inevitably introduce sectarian strife in our public schools. 'Joseph L. Kun, Secretary. 'Cyrus Adler, President.' The proposal in the Bill here protested against was merely that the teachers should be compelled to read ten -verses of the Bible daily, apparently without ex--planation or comment of any kind. How the Phila"

delphia Jews would have felt if the teachers were to be compelled to teach as intelligently as. any other lesson' the New Testament accounts of The Betrayal of Christ,' 'The Crucifixion,' etc., we can fairly well imagine. A Scientist's Lapse - Judged by his writings,; Sir William Osier, Regius Professor of Medicine at Oxford University, is such a broad-viewed and tolerant character, and such a kindly and attractive personality withal, that he can hardly bo taken seriously in ■: the >. shallow, surprising, ■ and entirely uncharacteristic remarks which he made in an address delivered at the John Hopkins Hospital the other day. Here is the "ill-considered utterance: 'ln the present state- of our mental development 99 per cent, of our fellow creatures, when in trouble, sorrow, or sickness, trust to charms, incantations, and to the saints. Many a-shrine has more followers than Pasteur, many a saint more believers than Lister. Less than twenty years have passed since the last witch was burned in the British Isles.' Clearly the speaker had given very little thought to the point he was making or he would never have mentioned Pasteur's name in such a connection. Pasteur was known not less for earnestness and sincerity in the practice of his religion than for his scientific eminence;, and it is an historic fact that he uttered the oft-quoted and weighty declaration : ' The more I know (of science), the more nearly is my faith that of the Breton peasant; could I but know all, I would have the faith of the Breton peasant's wife.' Clearly, if ' Pasteur's name, is to be used at all in respect to such matters as prayer and the invocation of the saints—and no name in the world of science has higher claim to be invoked must be as a witness to the other side from that apparently taken by Sir William Osier.

Cardinal Gibbons, who was evidently a close friend of the distinguished physician when he practised for years in Baltimore, was naturally surprised at a seeming attack on Christianity from such an unexpected quarter, and took the speaker to task with some vigor in the press. His Eminence said: ' Scientists in any line sometimes make statements such as that of Dr. Osier, and only a short time ago I had to defend some truths that Thomas A. Edison attacked. These scientific specialists think their statements should go unchallenged, but this one of Dr. Osier's shall not and I shall write to him asking him to retract it. I would like to call the attention of Dr. Osier to the fact that Pasteur was a devoted Catholic and put his trust in the saints. He said that, as his knowledge of medicine increased his faith grew likewise. The statements attributed to Dr. Osier are an attack on Christianity. lam surprised that he should make such attacks in this age. What do the things that Dr. Osier preaches stand for, anyhow? His" whole doctrine is based on theory. Fifty years ago the scientists of that day imagined they knew all that was to be known of medicine; yet to-day their conclusions are overthrown by later discoveries. The Catholic Church is not founded on theory ; and, whereas, the whole world is informed of its doctrines, the conclusions of Dr. Osier are known to comparatively few. The world at present is alarmed by the condition of the head of the Church and changes in his health are of great interestmore, perhaps, than that of any scientist whom we know now.' The request for a retraction will evidently meet with no unfriendly reception; for a late exchange mentions that when questioned at Baltimore, Sir William said he was no enemy of the saints, and would talk to his friend the Cardinal on the subject. The Latest Text Story The practice of taking a text for pulpit discourses —a practice which, according as convenience dictates, is adopted or dispensed with in Catholic churches—is Very strictly adhered to by Protestant ministers ; and the process, of selection often affords scope for the exercise of considerable ingenuity. Occasionally the text is used for the purpose of * getting eVen ? with a member «jf the congregation who has been obstreperous'

or objectionable, as in the case, related by Spurgeon, of the minister who celebrated the death of a quarrelsome deacon by a tirade from the words: ‘And it came to pass that the beggar died.’ Sometimes the text has been used, under special circumstances, to give a covert hit at a whole congregation. An anecdote illustrative of this is recorded of Dr. Paley, the well-known author of Natural Theology , Evidences of Christianity and other once popular works. When Pitt, as First Lord of the Treasury and Chancellor of the Exchequer, at the ago of twenty-three, revisited Cambridge, - where he had graduated, Paley marked with a sarcastic eye how assiduously some of the leading members of the "University courted the youthful Prime Minister, and made up to him in view of the good things which he would now have at his disposal. It was Paley’s turn to preach before the University at St. Mary’s on the Sunday following Pitt’s visit; accordingly, he took for his text: ‘ There is a lad here which hath five barley loaves and two small fishes,’ adding,, as he looked round on the crowded church, ’ But what are they among so many V

.■■...'...• * ■-■■,■ ..:_'"' ,r It sometimes happens that a text has a special application or appositeness of which the preacher- is quite unaware; and the result of his malapropos selection is occasionally serious, at least for him. It was so in the case of a text selected on one occasion in the Chapel Royal at Dublin. Dr. Sheridan, the father of the better-known Richard Brinsley Sheridan, was asked by a country clergyman to take the duty for him on the next Sunday. Sheridan was in high favor at Dublin Castle,- but he unconsciously forfeited all by his text on the occasion. He took an old sermon of which the text was, ' Sufficient unto the day is the evil thereof.' Unfortunately, it happened (which Sheridan had forgotten) to be the anniversary of the accession of the House of Hanover. The supposed insult to the authorities was never forgiven, and it is said lost the Doctor his bishopric. They could not think of bestowing one of their mitres on a head capable of even seeming to make such an application of the text.

But the latest and certainly not least entertaining story of the unexpected appositeness which may attach to a text which has been selected in all innocence is one which has been recently recorded by a writer in the Occult Review; and it is too good not to be handed on. 'A coincidence,' says the writer, 'caused some amusement at the time in connection with the church which my family used to attend. The rector there was the present Bishop of Liverpool (Dr. Chavasse). Mrs. Chavasse, it so happened, had had twins for the second time. The event had only just occurred, and the curate who preached the Sunday morning sermon had not been made acquainted with the,fact. By an almost incredible coincidence he chose as his text the words, Two are better than one," to the vast amusement of the congregation. Quite ignorant of what caused their merriment, the curate looked round, thinking that there was something amiss with the surplice, and finding nothing, proceeded to repeat the text in louder and clearer accents than before, which naturally only increased the general amusement.'

The ♦Spectator' on Dr. Gasquet In the old days when the Spectator, edited by Richard Holt Hutton, was a power in the land, it was conspicuous for its fair and even friendly attitude to things and questions Catholic. Hutton, who was so genuinely modest that he left a proviso in his will enjoining that on no account should anything but the barest paragraph be printed in the Spectator regarding him after his death, was certainly one of the greatest editors England has ever produced. Under his masterly direction and control the Spectator became the most influential paper in Englandat least in the higher political and literary circles. Its views were regarded with profound respect even by those who differed from them; while the immediate followers of the paper drank in its ever}' utterance as gospel. Hutton, who personally attended the ' Lectures on the Present Position of Catholics in England.' was a warm admirer of Newman ; and Catholics have reason to be ever grateful

to his memory for the loyal way in which the Spectator stood by the great Oratorian in the days of trouble and persecution. After Hutton’s death the Spectator fell somewhat from its high estate. In regard to matters Catholic, it became narrow and illiberal, and seemed to take a pleasure in girding at the Pope and the Catholic Church. Of late, however, there are gratifying signs of a return to the old spirit return- which is notably exemplified in the paper’s estimate of Dr. Gasquet’s latest work, entitled England Under the Old Religion , and Other Essays. In his review of this volume the -writer pays a fine tribute to : Dr. Gasquet, and incidentally shows himself capable of taking a sane and scholarly attitude towards that much maligned period of English history, the Middle Ages. We quote some extracts from this interesting review as we find it in the Spectator of April 26. ‘On closing such a book,’ says the writer, ‘as Dr. Gasquet’s most recent work, the reviewer takes up his pen and his parable in fear and trembling. This is not so much because the Abbot-President of the English Benedictines is so minutely recondite in, his book, nor even because 'most of the essays included are of a strongly controversial nature from the religious point of view. Controversial, of course, they are. One might relish, at a safe distance, some of the remarks which an extreme critic of the English Low Church faction might be inspired to write about some of them. Yet for the critic who does not approach his subject with a completely uninformed and strongly biassed mind there must always be a strong presumption in Dr. Gasquet’s favor. He is,, after all, a modern scholar to whom wo are deeply indebted for knowledge of the Middle Ages. And he is scrupulously and eruditely accurate in all the statements which he makes and the evidence that he adduces. It is this accuracy that makes the reviewer nervous. Nor is the fear relieved by the final essay in this work, on ‘ Editing and Reviewing,’ wherein Dr. Gasquet utters denunciations of critics “ whose' ambitions are greater than their qualifications to undertake editorial work.”

■ * *-•-'-.-.■--."■ One is inclined,' continues the reviewer, 'to concentrate interest, for the most part, on the first essay of the book, which embodies a faithful and eloquent picture of the closing days of Dr. Gasquet's favorite period, the Middle Ages. In this essay we are on fairly safe ground. It would be difficult to read much that is controversial into its. argument. On the contrary it is a contribution to historical research of the highest value, and fulfils a most valuable function. One must always welcome any authoritative work which is capable of correcting the appalling misconceptions current about the Middle Ages. There is no delusion which the Englishman of Radical tendencies hugs more closely to his bosom than a firm conviction of the miseries, injustices, and oppressions which he believes to have been inevitably typical of . medieval days. One is thankful that Dr. Gasquet goes a long way towards dispelling this unhistoric illusion. " The essence of life in England during the days of , the Plantagenets and Tudors,' writes Dr. Gasquet, "was that everyone knew his neighbor, and that every one was his brother's keeper. My studies lead me to conclude that though there was hardship in this life, this hardship was a common lot, and that there was hope, more hope than superficial historians have conceived possible, and perhaps more variety than there is in the peasant's lot in our time." It is customary to discount the highly organised character of medieval life. Such a conclusion is an injustice. The guilds very largely fulfilled the function of modern trade unionism, and did their work not a whit the less effectively than their modern counterparts by reason of the fact that their > energies were directed to the more secluded fields of trade protection and the relief of the poor, instead of the thorny paths of political agitation. Dr. Gasquet is emphatic in his treatment of the wholesale charges of corruption in Church and State urged against medieval society. That instances of such existed is undeniable, but, to quote the words of the late Mr. Brewer, "that the corruption was either so black or so general as party spirit would have us believe is contrary to all analogy and is unsupported by impartial and contemporary evidence." ' .j: :