The New Zealand Tablet THURSDAY, FEBRUARY 19, 1914. THE PAN – SOUTHLAND GATHERING

New Zealand Tablet, 19 February 1914, Page 33

The New Zealand Tablet THURSDAY, FEBRUARY 19, 1914. THE PAN - SOUTHLAND GATHERING

♦ " {feTjjgV HE Catholics of Southland— in parJf W ticular the Very Rev. Dean Burke, who cSF’IIrJL was the originator and prime mover in the project—are certainly entitled to contV'W' gratulations on the splendid success which attended their huge gathering of last week, ' Jjs&r the first Q its kind that has ever been held , v in Australasia. Viewed purely on its social side and as a mere outing, the making of the necessary arrangements, the seeing that' these arrangements were duly notified to all concerned, and finally, the successful carrying out of the arrangements, must have involved an enormous amount of work ; and the fact that everything passed off without the slightest hitch or mishap speaks volumes for the energy, foresight, and organising capacity of the promoters. But the gathering was more than a mere social outing. The great act of religion by which it was inaugurated • gave a unique and lofty tone to the demonstration; and the speeches voiced and focussed its especial purpose. - The addresses were altogether admirable by ‘reason v of their brevity ; secondly, because of their, pithiness and pointedness ;: and finally, because -of the fine rousing

spirit by which they were accompanied. They all sounded tne true note no unnecessary dabbling in party politics, but at the same time no' tame surrender to injury and injustice. A few years ago a great German Catholic, Dr. Esser, of the University of Bonn, addressing a general Congress of the Catholics of the German Empire, put the question of the relation of Catholic organisations to political agitation in a nutshell. ‘ Our adversaries often say,’ he remarked, ‘ We respect and esteem highly the true Catholic, but in the clerical, the ultramontane, we see the enemy.” The great Catholics, the Windthorsts, the Liebers, the Richenspergers, they have taught us by their lives the value of that distinction. Be Catholics like them. To-day all interests centre, and all parties enter well prepared into the political arena, and will any one deny us Catholics the right to use the means of preventing us from being crushed ? Our adversaries do not recoil from any political means, however brutal. They wish to treat us as the pariahs of modern society. We do not aim at identifying politics and religion, as we do not identify the Church- and the State, or the Church and Science. We do not decide purely political questions in the name of religion, just as we repudiate those who, under religious pretexts, seek to serve material and personal interests. The free daughter of heaven should not be lowered to the condition of a maid-of-all-work. But this distinction need not be put down as opposition or denial of indispensable relations. Religious truth illumines even our political horizon, and all who do not shut their eyes to the light of that truth group themselves instinctively, and are forced to become the opponents of the champions of irreligion. If people speak of clericalism or political Catholicism, it is also allowable to speak of political atheism and political liberalism, of political socialism, of political Protestantism. When our adversaries cease to employ political means, they can then call on us to make the same sacrifice. But in the meantime they demand of us the means of strangling us politically, and we should be most impolitic and irrational if we listened to them. The art of pleasing everybody has not yet been discovered. Let us freely show displeasure to those who are ill-disposed towards our Catholic faith.’ That is the spirit which has animated the great German Congresses whose name and fame have spread throughout the world ; and that was the spirit which found expression at the Riverton gathering. ~ * We are fain to hope that the example of the Southland Catholics will be widely followed, both here, and still more in Australia, where the climatic conditions are so eminently favorable; and with that thought in view we have given a very full and detailed report of the proceedings, so that those interested may know exactly how to set about their preparations. The critics and the cynics, like the poor, we will have always with us : and we may , expect, therefore, to find an occasional voice asking the sempiternal question, Cui hono? what practical purpose are such gatherings likely to serve? We reply: (1) They will serve to strengthen the feeling, of cohesion, solidarity, and esprit de corps amongst Catholics. (2) They will undoubtedly help to popularize the Catholic Rederation. People will listen cheerfully to an exposition of the aims and objects of the Rederation under the pleasant surroundings of an open-air gathering who would think twice before leaving their comfortable fire-sides on a winter evening to attend a meeting of the stereotyped kind. (3) They will help our people to visualize the Federation—to realize that it is a live and going concern with a work and a future before it. (4) In a different sense, they will, help the' politicians, also, to visualize the Federation, and will afford them a needed hint as to the strength and numbers and determination of the Catholic people. They will serve, in fact, the purpose of what our Bible-in-schools friends call a ‘ demonstration,’ or, to use the correct military term, a demonstration in force. Some years ago the late Dr. Windthorst happily and aptly described the great German Congress as ‘ The autumn manoeuvres of the Catholic forces.’

The time, wo hope, will come when New Zealand gatherings will deserve a similar honorable title; and when that day arrives we will be able to look back with gratitude on the enterprise of our Southland Catholics, who have so courageously and successfully led the way.