THE CATHOLIC FEDERATION.

New Zealand Tablet, 20 August 1914, Page 26

THE CATHOLIC FEDERATION.

dm ' To the Editor. -- Sir, — On perusing the reply, signed ‘B. Ellis/ which my letter to you of June 29 evoked, I cannot but regard it as a matter for regret that you were unable to find sufficient space to insert my communication as a whole, instead of giving extracts.- Taken in toto’ the purport of my remarks would have been more" readily grasped. It was never written with a view of attacking .Federation, as a principle, but as a contribution, generally, on the pecuniary aspect of these numerous requisitions which are too often heedlessly proposed as a further charge on the already overladen benevolence of Catholics. Treated as an - ‘excerpt’ undue stress appeared to be conveyed upon points not affecting the subject, at issue, thus a chance opportunity was left open to any person, like your correspondent, to hang his battle-axe on, and insinuate conclusions where otherwise they would have no reason to exist. Personally, I must admit I like Mr. Girling-Butcher very much. He , has proved himself most enthusiastic in the cause, and I should be sorry in return for all his self-sacrifice, to treat him in the cavalier fashion I have been favored with. In your editorial footnote, you most correctly sized up the position construing my observations as a criticism only, and I imagined others, equally intelligent, would have reached the same conclusion. However, as Homer says, ‘like a loud-bellowed Mars,’ your correspondent springs into the affray fully fledged and armed for battle. ‘ Haereticus es ’! says he. ‘Omnes te condemnamns’ ! he shouts again. Someone has dared to venture an opinion, he dashes for his pen, and without any circumlocution whatever, he fulminates a Bull ! It only wanted the leaden seals to be affixed to it, and there it was complete with the humble inditer of this epistle laying flat thereunder for all time! Alas ! poor me! I am as extinct as the. Dodo-. Sic transit gloria mundi. •■ . :• ■

■:-' ; Now for his allegations: The assertion that Ido not understand Catholic matters is sufficiently disproved by the 1 fact, that when on more than one occasion, I have had the honor and privilege of writing to my ecclesiastical superiors on sundry subjects affecting Catholic welfare and import, and, may I say it without presumption? proposed not a few valued suggestions and reforms, they have been most courteously received. In some instances, I am glad to recognise, they have been promptly acted upon, with advantage to all concerned, although I cannot call to mind at this juncture having received any acknowledgment in appreciation of my counsel. s-n-ji : ' ~... As to his charge that I do not read or support the only Catholic paper in New Zealand. In reply to this I have only to say that the New Zealand Tablet, like its confrere in England, is a publication I have always held in the highest esteem, having read and been acquainted with it for over thirty years past. It is » the } most . instructive, entertaining, and , well-written paper*; south -of the Line, and, must I blush to admit the offence? in proof of !my admiration of its work and the eminent way in which the paper is conducted, I have the pleasure of holding a receipt as a subscriber

two years ahead ! Can my censorious preceptor say as much? *{&m Again, I did not demand that a copy of each publication should be sent to me, personally. Many others A have made similar complaints of not only not receiving ™ the publications but never even hearing about 1 them, and I'merely voiced their murmurings, and in this com nection I was unaware I had said anything unbecoming about it. Under these circumstances, I was quite unprepared for the unparalleled impertinence implied in the allusion to some statement or other made by the Rev. Dean Hills, about consulting a phrenologist. I can quite understand and forgive Mr. Ellis in his anxiety to try and fathom the depths of my mental acquirements, such ambition with the object of selfimprovement is very laudable, even if futile, and deserves some encouragement. However, I refrain from' offering such a specific, from personal motives, as I would not wish to have it thought I was willing to descend to a level in pen-craft in which my self-consti-tuted critic seems so well at home and most anxious to shine in.—l am, etc., Geo. Lambert. Wellington, July 8.

To the Editor.

Sir,-—Your correspondent ‘ Catholic,’ in his valuable letter on the above subject, says: r ‘ To make a movement a success you must get men interested, and to get men interested you must give as many men as you can something definite to do.’ Has he not here put' his finger ’upon the primary object of the Federation;?, I take it the Federation is not simply a movement to gain this or that right or privilege for the Catholic body; it is not even simply a movement to defend the interests and further the progress of the Catholic religion in New Zealand. The Federation is surely more than this; it is a movement to give Catholicism more prominence than it has hitherto possessed in New Zealand, both in the sphere of actual facts, and in the minds of men. It is a movement first of all to enlist the laity in active work for the advancement of Catholicism, and this quite as much for the advantage of the laity as for the advantage of the Catholic body ip the abstract. For many year’s, the clergy have looked after our temporal as well as our spiritual interests* fighting our battles whenever the necessity arose. The ranks are now thrown open to us, and we are invited to stand shoulder to shoulder with our priests, under the command of the Hierarchy. The metamorphosis of the average layman and lay woman, hitherto connected with the Church by spiritual ties only, into a unit in an organised federation pledged to the support of all legitimate Catholic and Christian objects, is surely something worth ’striving for, even apart from any concrete advantage to be gained by the body itself. • The first suggestion in ‘ Catholic’s ’ letter, that of the subdivision of parishes for the purpose of., more exhaustive and accurate enrolment .would, if practicable, be highly desirable. But it presupposes the existence in each parish of rather a numerous band of enthusiastic workers, while it is a regrettable fact that parochial work of all kinds’ is generally done by a very, small section of the parishioners. The same workers are pressed into the service on everv occasion,., from taking round the plate in church to organising a bazaar, - and from St. Vincent de Paul work to managing., a church social. It is exactly these men and women who are on the parish committees of the Federation all through the Dominion, but until their number is augmented through the educative efforts of the. Federa- it tion itself, it would be very difficult to subdivide many parishes efficiently. . ‘ y The enlightenment of non-Catholics might well ,be undertaken as ■ suggested by your correspondent, t by . press committees attached to the different parish committees, -and it is competent to every parish . committee to frame - a by-law for itself in this direction.. But in addition to*defensive tactics, there is .plently of, scope for positive educational work in the direction suggested

by a contributor 'to the "Catholic World of June, 1914: t> l he . humblest contributor ... to a diocesan paper may faithfully and truthfully express the Catholic spirit. . . . . Upon the laity rests more and more the duty of ( acting as interpreters of Catholic truth ,to secular literature. . . . Socialism, defective systems °f. local education, sectarian controversies, — all these things open the way for a Catholic writer to reply with truth, with beauty, ' usually with what seems to the jaded editor a startling originality.’ LnW® sooner was the Federation established than an occasion arose on which its organisation could be utilised lor the prevention of a grave injustice to the Catholic body. ; The fact that in this connection it has abundantly. justified its existence must not blind us to the much , wider future which lies before it. The army has been mobilised, and it has gained one victory. The sword has been unsheathed, and in the hands of our champion, his Lordship Bishop Cleary, it has dealt a telling blow to our opponents. But let us not forget that the. army is still there, waiting to bo led to fresh victories» the sword is lying ready to the hand of any man or woman who has Catholic interests at heart. Some of us, perhaps, wish to utilise the organisation in the cause of Catholic education, primary and secondary. Some of us see possibilities in the Federation for the promulgation of Catholic literature. Some of us have yet other ideas. If you, Sir, decide to open your columns to suggestions and discussions, as to the future scope and operations of the Federation, much good may come of it and it will, in fact, be a development of the decision expressed by you at the inauguration of the Federation, that of making the New Zealand Tablet the, organ of the New Zealand Catholic Federation.—l am, etc., Mary C. Call an.

Auckland, August 9.

To the Editor.

, Sir, —A letter signed ‘ Catholic,’ which appeared in your issue of August 6, reminds me that if the permanency of the Catholic Federation' is to be secured and evidently it has come to stay— will be above all things necessary to conduct it on business principles. Humanly speaking, there is nothing else to save it. At the present time Catholics all over the world seem to be waking' up from a lethargy which has held them in its grip so long that at one time it seemed as it were impossible to shake it off, but to-day the world is moving and the Catholics are moving with it, and it is of vital necessity that they should do so. In England, in America, and the countries of the Continent, we have guilds, societies, defence committees, Knights of St. Columbus, and associations embracing almost every form of Catholic lay activity, while we have in this Dominion an organisation which embraces in its scope of action nearly the work of all these together. We are just starting the work ; = let us build it on a solid foundation, and there will be little fear of collapse or failure.

- • If we need a lesson in this direction it is supplied to us by the London Catholic Truth Society, whose report and balance sheet for 1913-14 is just to hand, showing, among other things, what can be done from small beginnings when people are in earnest with their work and guided by prudence in their mode of action. Although there is no necessary connection between the business of the London C.T.S. and the subject of this letter, the following facts and figures may be of interest to the readers of the Tablet, and will not, I hope, be rejected by its editor. Last year, as the result of a visit : of one of their organisers to America, they received orders from that country aggregating 90,000 of their'pamphlets. In England the interest in Catholic literature is increasing so fast that at one church alone, the Westminster Cathedral, 50,000 of their >. pamphlets were sold during the past year, the takings amounting to £209 1 8s lid. ■ A steady increase . was , also maintained at Farm street, i the Oratory 1 in Brompton . road, and other London' churches; At a banquet given . ,by* its Manchester ' branch to one of ..its former presidents,

Alderman McCabe, on his election as Lord Mayor of that city, it -was shown that during the past year their sales had increased enormously, while the number of pamphlets sold by the Liverpool branch was three times that of the year before. Similar results were reported from , Sheffield, Portsmouth, Preston, and other large centres. An agency established at Port of Spain, Trinidad, sells about 10,000 pamphlets every year, and thus it goes on with the most agreeable monotony all over the world. . Catholic literature, dispelling darkness, diffusing light, confounding bigotry, remoying prejudice, uprooting error, and showing forth the beauty and the holiness of the Church’s teachings is placed in the hands of those who are looking for that truth which is nowhere to be found outside" the Church, and which, in many cases is made the vehicle of their Salvation’ The work that, some years ago, was begun under the most trying difficulties and continued in the face of the. most determined opposition is already ripening into fruition and giving token of its permanence and stability. A Catholic awakening is taking place all over the world, with an effect and in a manner that was undreamt of a few years ago. ' ’ - But while all this is conspicuously true it must be borne in mind that the necessity for united action and well-directed effort was never more pressing than it is at present, for we are everywhere confronted with a well-equipped and hostile press, which is often as unjust in its attacks upon us as it is unscrupulous in its methods of directing them. To meet this hostility, to fight it on its own ground, and arraign it before the bar of public opinion openly and fearlessly, is clearly the most important part of the work that the Catholic Federation in this Dominion is at present called to act upon. But who is to do it? Your Timaru correspondent very truly says that ‘ the Federation is not doing a tithe of the work it is capable of accomplishing.’ Just so g precisely this ; but why is it so ? Why is not the Federation doing a tithe of the work that it is capable of accomplishing ? Simply because the men who have volunteered, or who have been detailed for the work are, in few cases, free to act on their own initiative, or to write in defence of the truth without fear of the results that might follow. They are mostly in the employment of men who are strongly opposed to their aims and objects as Catholics, and to their work as federationists,'and they know, also, that a too earnest adhesion to their principles might mean for them the loss of their situation. The Protestant employers in this Dominion who arc in sympathy with Catholic movements are very few indeed, and Catholic employees, who have, before all things, to cultivate prudence while they are in the employment of others, are mostly the men on whom the success or failure of the organisation depends. This state of things should, not be allowed to continue, for if ‘so the fate of the Federation is sealed. It is only a question of time when its business will be wound up. It is quite .conceivable that any day at all one of our most energetic and capable men may be told by his employer that his energies are being misdirected, and that his services will be no longer required in the office. He is to take a month’s warning and look out for another billet. Then the other ardent and capable young Federationists . who had been doing useful work in various ways will have theconviction borne in upon them that discretion and silence are necessary virtues for Catholics in New Zealand who have to "work among non-Catholics for a living. Unhappily the independent men among • us are generally too busy with the affairs of the world to give any portion of their time to the affairs of thp Church, and therefore the active and necessary work of the Federation is, as I have already said, left, for the most part, in the hands of working men. V But this is far from being a satisfactory manner ot conducting an organisation that is .to last. . If we want permanency we. must secure efficiency. - .While avoiding extravagance, we must not continue to depend for ever on eleemosynary labor. We must pay .the men who fight our battles. * We may be sure there is always work to be done and battles to be fought, and it is only

by employing earnest and capable men that we ; can expect victory. Our soldiers, like all other* soldiers, should be paid, for the laborer-even' though he be a Catholic—is worthy of his hire. It is within my own knowledge that on several occasions lately the secular press of Christchurch has, wittingly or unwittingly ; (I ; will not say which),-7 published matter offensive to us V as Catholics and distinctly at variance with truth, and in each case has been brought to book and forced to apologise and admit its error, and in each case, also, forced to make an act. of contrition and promise amendment. ■ Now. this, or something like this, is happening continually throughout-the Dominion, and will aPways be happening as long as prejudice and bigotry are here to batten upon the dregs of worn-odfc calumnies. It behoves us, therefore, to see that neither our sentinels on the watchtowers, nor our men behind the guns, suffer--any, evil while fighting our battles. As may be seen- in the : columns of the Tablet, wc have amongst us men who are willing-to fight, and capable of fighting; but may jl ask, Is it right.that we should exnect these men to go on fighting for ever without hope of reward further than the consciousness of having done their duty as Catholics. It is high time that we wake up to a true sense of the position if we wish to escape the charge of meanness as well as ingratitude. In each of the large centres of the Dominion there should be at least one paid official of known capacity, who could devote all his time to this work independently of outside influence Any organisation such as this, which is intended to last and to do solid work, must be based on business principles; and it is not business to expect any man to work for us for nothing, even though lie is a Catholic. Each of these men should have an ample salary, because a good man is always worth his money, and few good men in these parts can afford to give their services for nothing. The examples I have given from the London Catholic Truth Society’s Report should encourage and stimulate us to united and, persevering action in that cause in which our dearest interests are concerned, and in defence of that Church to which it is alike our privilege and our greatest glory to belong. — I am, etc. M. Nolan.

Sumner, August 12.