THE, DUTCH CATHOLIC PARTY

New Zealand Tablet, 2 July 1914, Page 51

THE, DUTCH CATHOLIC PARTY

If ever the kingdoms of Holland and Belgium should become incorporated in the Empire over which the Kaiser rules, as many prophets of the present day fortell, there will come into existence among the unified Teutonic nations of Europe a Catholic political party of such important dimensions that one may reasonably speculate on its giving rise to a vast revival of Catholic influence and teaching, the like of which the Church has not yet known in Europe. How strong the Catholic parties arc in Germany and Belgium, we all know, and how their political activities have been made to synchronise with the promotion of the Catholic religion has often been told in this paper. Leaving Austria aside, we find that the Catholics predominate in several of the nations which are ruled over by the Emperor William, and should the Germanic bond bo ultimately fortified by the inclusion of Belgium and Holland, the Catholicity of the former, country will not fail to stimulate the growing Catholic body in the latter by virtue of the fact that they ivill bo the only Low-German nations in the Union and that their intimacy will be rendered closer under the new .conditions. Such an object, it may be remembered, was contemplated by Kichelieu in the seventeenth century, when ho sought to unify Europe politically, as a preliminary to making Catholicity once more tho one and universal religion. Little enough is known of the condition of the Catholics in Holland, a country we generally associate with the most forbidding kind of evangelical Protestantism. Lady Acton deals with the subject in the Dublin Review, and pays a tribute to the way in which purely religious and social work is organised by the Church in the Netherlands.

With the indomitable tenacity of their race, the Duch Catholics, far from being crushed by disappointed hopes, have kept up the struggle with untiring energy. Their first signal victory dates from 1880, when Abbe Schaepmau was elected to the States General, and for the first time a Catholic priest sat among the deputies. He really created the Catholic party as it now exists. His popularity was great outside his own religions followers, and he found it easy by means of this popularity to found a Catholic press. This was his first step towards the consolidation of Dutch Catholicity. In 1880 there was but one Catholic organ. To-day there are 13 Catholic dailies and 150 other Catholic periodicals, weeklies, and monthlies.

The Abbe’s next step was to conclude an alliance with the -revolutionary, or ultra-liberal, party. They were drawn together by a common belief in God, says Lady Acton, and although it was known as the monstrous alliance,’ it still continues to bear good fruit. From 1878 to 1888, the great feature of Dutch political history was the gradual disappearance of the old Conservative party, the rank and file of which body being absorbed by the anti-revolutionary men, and in 1887 came the victory of the coalition for the revision of the Constitution, which was to put Dutch Catholics on level political terms with all other Dutch people. The coalition party had in the General election of that year 53 seats in the popular Chamber as against 45 of the oposition. Naturally, the Catholics made use of their new strength to place the matter of primaryschool instruction on a solid foundation. Up to that time, there was only Stale instruction which excluded all religious teaching except that of the Evangelical kind. By the law of Pacification in 1889, the Free Schools were to receive state aid, no matter what their creed. From this date, a new era in Holland is to be marked.

An unfortunate, though not permanent, quarrel now took place among the coalitionists. Nevertheless, the quarrel showed both how necessary each was to the other, and although the election of 1891 put the coalition in oposition, they came together again. They did not triumph at a general election until 1901. The Catholic party then formulated its programme, based on obedience to the Holy See, loyalty to the reigning House, and on ‘sincere adhesion to the Constitution.’

It followed the teachings of Leo XIII. in regard, to the solution of social problems. \Vitli regard to the education question, parental rights and responsibilities are looked upon as the fundamental principles of all legislation. The Schaepman programme laid it down that the party should follow a moderate course. It is interesting to note that under the influence of the young queen, a strong impulse has been given to all matters connected with the promotion of Christian beliefs, and this without any distinction of confessional creed.

4ho Abbe Schaepman died in 1903, leaving his party so well placed, however, that it recovered all the prestige it had lost in the electoral defeat of 1905, and is now stronger than ever. In the Parliament elected in 1909 the Catholics number 25 out of 100 in the Second Chamber, while in the First Chamber it has 18 out of the 50 seats. Holland’s population amounts altogether to about five million souls, of whom one and three-quarter millions are Catholic. After seieial years residence in the Netherlands, writes Lady Acton, ‘ the impression left by Dutch Catholicism on my mind almost approaches an ideal picture. There are about twelve Catholic parishes in the Hague and its suburbs alone. The churches are all large and crowded with worshippers at every one of the numerous Sunday Masses.