CATHOLIC FEDERATION

New Zealand Tablet, 23 September 1915, Page 9

CATHOLIC FEDERATION

ANNUAL MEETING OF DOMINION COUNCIL *’ v ; ' • . ’ -5: The following ,is the conclusion of the report of the annual' meeting of the Dominion Council of the Catholic Federation, held, in Wellington on August 25:: ' / CAPITATION GRANT. ’ - Mr. Johnson moved--* That in order to afford . some relief from the double .burden of taxationfwhich Cath.olics are called upon to .bear for the .education of their children, the'Dominion Council be requested to bring under the notice of the Government the urgent need of _ a capitation grant to the Catholic primary schools of New, Zealand, provided that the standard of education imparted thereat is equal to that of the public schools.’ - This matter (he said) had been under consideration for the past 12 months, and it was felt that the time had arrived when v the Federation should evolve some constructive policy. Up to 'the present the Federation had little to offer for membership except the' Bible-in-schools campaign, and that was now dead. What was wanted was relief from the burden of: taxation in connection with the ; education of - the children of Catholic parents. Catholics belonged mostly to the laboring class, and they were not in a position^-to provide .the higher education necessary for their children, the consequence being that they went on for genera-’ tion after generation in the footsteps of their parents. Pie hoped the resolution would commend itself to the council.

Very Rev. Dean Power seconded the motion, and said it was in the interests of the children that a grant should be mad©' for teaching in , the Catholic’ schools. ,> - Mr. Hussey thought the Wellington Council should be thanked for bringing the matter forward. Now that the Bible-in-Schools campaign was for the /present disposed of, they wanted a strong plank to : put before the Federation, but he could not see how the? Federation could get through with a definite policy/, unless they had the . Hierarchy with them, # and there must be no going back on the policy once they had brought it forward. 'Now ” that -the inspectors were visiting the schools, the Government could be 'satisfied as to the standard of education. :

| / The president believed a-good many individuals fwould join I, the Federation if some scheme were evolved t would - wouldhe satisfactory. some scheme and one that Which would be satisfactory to everyone, and one that would not in any way undermine the principles f. that | they held so dear. At the last meeting it had been .f. suggested' that = this question should be placed before |the Hierarchy, who- should be ■■ asked to frame - something in the nature of a positive policy in place of the |negative one they had before, but he felt sure that at ■ tthe present time the > Government, would - not interfere in any controversial matter, especially while the war f lasted. ■■■ *

Very Rev. Father Coffey said that all that could bo,-'; done at present was to affirm the principle. Mir. Johnson' thought the proper course to take would be to submit all resolutions that had any bearing ■■■ upon any question of public policy to the Hierarchy« for their approval. ‘ • Mr. Hayward (Christchurch) suggested that: if the/ Hierarchy agreed to the ’ proposal ; and a policy was r defined, that a pamphlet dealing . with the whole sub- - ject be issued by the Dominion Council and distributed f to all Catholics'interested. Such a pamphlet would put the matter before the people in a proper light, setting!' forth what/ they were supporting and what they ■ desired K to see carried out.

The- motion was agreed to. ? ■' 1 On the motion of the president it was agreed that' the foregoing motion, together with others, be referred 1 to the Hierarchy. \ FREE-PLACES. Mr. * -Duggan- (Wellington) moved That -r this I council reaffirms the resolution arrived at on July 21 I 1914, with ; reference to ‘the ■ holders of free-places at j secondary and technical! schools, and requests the Do- I minion Council to bring the matter once more under I the notice of the Minister for Education.’ ’ The resol j tion herein referred to reads* as follows: ‘ That this | council desires to express its satisfaction at the > action I of the Government in proposing to grant the holders j of scholarships, facilities to take them out at the Gath- I olic colleges of the Dominion, and would respectfully j urge that- equal facilities - be granted with regard ’to - the ’free-places.’’ :' He' said the' principle had been affirmed that Catholic children had a right to take ’ these scholarships out' at Catholic colleges, provided the colleges applied for approval. ; Very Rev. Father Coffey, in seconding the motion, said he had some time ago circularised all the Otago members, and the great majority of them were in favor ,of the proposal. But the only question was whether it would be of any use approaching the' Government at the present time in regard to free-places. V ■ ’ ' ' Mr. Burke (Wellington) -thought it was a .matter on which they should approach the “ Government and ask, not for a concession, but that which ! they : had; a right to. As ratepayers they had .certain rights: v . .| ; Rev. Father Kerley . thought there was not much •use in affirming the principle if they did not do something to carry the proposal into effect.' He thought it would be better for a deputation to jvait upon the Minister, and that the individual members- of the

House should be petitioned. r ? The president was of opinion , that it would be advisable that a deputation should" wait upon the Minister of Education, Hon. Mr. Hanan. The Minister was agreeable to receiving a deputation of representatives of .the Catholic Federation. He (the president) thought the Minister would be agreeable to the proposal for free-places; but the difficulty would be with regard to getting legislation brought before .the. House at the present time dealing with any controversial matter. A large majority of the members of the House replied to a circular stating that they favored the principle, and if the Government would .not agree, then the matter could be brought up in the House, when it would be seen how far the members "would “stick to their pledges. ■’

The motion was agreed to. : * | CENSORSHIP OF CINEMATOGRAPH FILMS.

Mr. Duggan , moved— ‘ That the censorship of cinematograph films shown at the picture theatres of this Dominion is very unsatisfactory as regards films shown to children -under sixteen years of age, and steps should be taken to grapple with what is considered -to be a very serious and growing evil. Certain films should be restricted from being shown * during day sessions, and children under sixteen years' should not be admitted to evening sessions.’ He brought forward •the resolution with . the unanimous consent of the Wellington Diocesan Council, and ihe thought it must be apparent to most people that the r pictures ; at , present being shown in the theatres were deteriorating./'; It

.V a s i appalling that, fab/a- time * when the Empire/ was engaged in a struggle for its very existence, people were to be seen visiting theatres .where ’ a ? certain 'class | of pictures had been shown. It appeared to him there was a great necessity for censorship." ; . Mr. Hayward seconded the motion, and thought the matter' was one that should be brought under the: notice ■ of the Minister of Internal Affairs by the deputation which was to be set up. It was simply appalling that such disgraceful pictures/ should be allowed to be - screened as were being shown all over the country. They were ■ a menace to .the < public interest. IT , The president thought that the question of , children of . 16 years of age being.;. stopped from attending evening' sessions at the theatres was not a matter they could- deal with. If the . parents liked j to. take the Children they could- not be ,stopped. He thought they ’ should * ask the Council of Churches and other instituT tions to join with them in forming r a deputation to deal with what had become almost a disgrace through; out the community, so far as the class of pictures was concerned. He thought the resolution should be altered lin the Way of suggesting that there should be a strict ’censorship, of the pictures. f. .' [ W I [ Mr. Duggan was agreeable to the* suggestion. - The motion ✓ was then agreed to, the resolution being altered as follows: —‘That the censorship of cinematograph films shown at the picture theatres of this Dominion is very unsatisfactory, and steps should ’be taken to grapple with what is [ considered to be a very serious and growing evil.’ - The president moved ‘That .it be a recommendation to the Dominion Executive to take up this matter vof the censorship of cinematograph films, and to seek [ the assistance of other bodies, equally interested [with | the Federation in suppressing objectionable pictures, [With a view to general action being taken in placing the . matter before the Government.’ t Seconded by the Very Rev. Father Coffey, and 'carried. PUBLIC SCHOOL BOOKS. Very Rev. Dean Power moved —* That the Federation protest to the Government against the use of [ certain anti-Catholic writings as text-books in public • schools.’ V Mr. Duggan seconded the motion, but thought it /should be supported by a comprehensive list of the /books which offend against their susceptibilities as /Catholics. It was his opinion that the Government and School Boards offended more through ignorance [than malice, and on some occasions books had been withdrawn by the teachers on his pointing out that /they did harm to the Catholic faith. He thought that, to a certain extent, the Catholics themselves were to /blame because they sat still and did nothing to advo- | cate their rights. The only satisfactory way of dealling with, the matter was for the Catholic bodies, to point out to the Government in, which way the books offended. - ' / J The president suggested. that the following be 1 added to the resolution ‘That the Dominion Executive seek information from branches of the Federation in regard to such books so that a list of books could •be mentioned in the protest.’ Most of the books were • sanctioned by the Education Boards or Education De- | partment, and he thought it would be advisable to make arrangements with the Department that a representative of the Federation should have an opportunity of going through new books before they are issued. It was easier to prevent their being issued than to get them withdrawn afterwards. . - I The motion, with the addition, was agreed- to. . • • Vacancies on Parish Committees. * Mr. Hayward moved— ‘ That it be a recommendation to the Dominion Council to make provision for /parish committees to keep up their universal strength by filling vacancies from among the parishioners.’ [| • Seconded by Mr. McLaughlin, and carried. h. ' , Organiser for South Island. j[ Very Rev. " Dean Hyland ; moved-— 11 That the : attention of the Dominion Executive be directed to the desir- ■■■■ •

ability of appointing an organiser for the Federation in the i South g Island pwhen: funds ’ permit.’ | The | parishes that had.been visited by, the organising secretary were very pleased ,with his shorts; as it had resulted in con- . siderable help to’ the branches. The organiser had sometimes to travel many miles between his lectures in one day; it was a pleasure to refer to the value of the work done. ’ _ 1 VV - : _ , ’I-- 1 . •'* - Seconded by Mr. Hayward, and carried. 1- ■ - SUB-DIOCESAN COUNCILS, ‘ ' • ; Very Rev. Dean Hyland moved— -That it be a .recommendation/?from tins Diocesan Council, through . its delegates to* the Dominion Council, to fully discuss [.[ the advisability of constituting Westland (owing to its geographical ■ position) into a -diocesan, ' provincial, of district'council, the financial details to be re-arranged [ to meet requirements.’ .He said that Westland was spread over an area of about 300 miles, in which there : were four or five parishes. The members were keenly X, interested, in the Federation, but. it ,was difficult at ... times for members in Westland to attend the meetings in Christchurch owing to the distance and time occupied in travelling; and it was -impossible practically for Westland to remain a part .of the Christchurch , diocese so far as- Federation matters were concerned* Seconded by Mr. Hay ward. '.[•■■' The president thought it was a matter that could be dealt with by the diocesan council itself by constituting a sub-diocesan district which could report direct to Christchurch by letter. . y: ' •' ; ‘ v -;[ \ Mr. Hayward said that that was the permission they wanted, but the Christchurch ' Diocesan Council did not think they had power to do so without the permission -of the Dominion Council. Mr. Duggan thought the difficulty would be the allocating of money to carry on with. Very Rev. Father Coffey moved that the following motion be substituted —‘ That -v notwithstanding anything in the rules and constitution of the Federation to the contrary, every diocese shall have liberty ; to constitute a sub-diocesan, council in any part of such diocese and on such terms as the diocesan council" shall decide.’ . ~ ->I "• ’ , - This was seconded by Very Rev. Dean Hyland, and the substituted motion was agreed to. REPORTS OF BRANCH OR PARISH COMMITTEES. ■ | . Mr. Hayward moved—' That it be an instruction from the Dominion Council,' through the -Dominion Executive to diocesan councils, that all half-yearly or annual reports of parish or branch committees be submitted to the diocesan council’s executive before receiving publication in newspapers or otherwise.’ In one instance he knew of a report which had been published in the Tablet before it had* been before the diocesan council, and it turned out that. the report was >: incorrect. ' p The president did not think the diocesan council could refuse to adopt a report submitted to them. . In the case of a parish committee it was'reporting on its own work, and it would, not bind the Federation, , „ ; * Mr. Hayward thought that if a report was submitted to the diocesan council they could refuse to adopt it. The president said that working within their own , sphere the parish committees were just as free as the diocesan councils. - . '-■ - * 1 Mr. Hayward agreed to alter his motion to read as follows—' That it be a recommendation that no parish * committee reports be given to any paper for publication until they had been submitted to the diocesan council.’ N _, ’}, , /TV; - Seconded by Very Rev. Dean Hyland, and carried. Shield for Increasing Membership. Mr. Fitzgerald (Auckland) moved— ‘ That ; in order to stimulate the canvass for members of the N.Z.C.F. a suitable shield be obtained for membership /increase competition, increase in proportion to number of parishioners. The parish holding the highest proportionate number .of financial Federationists to be holders of shield for ensuing year,’

Mr. McLaughlin seconded the motion; It was his experience that two or - three 'members of parish com-! mittees did all the work*~^’ v,r • ■ " ; v -!! The president thought the motion should be altered inl the - directionjqf providing that a certificate be granted to any member for enrolling a certain proportion of members, such ;proportion! to be fixed £ by the various parish committees, and .that : anyone holding the certificate for a certain length of time be!remunerated. 'i Mr. Duggan said .- the idea reminded him of ! the principle > of »the; coupon with •• the pound of tea, and if working for the Church was not : a sufficient inducement for a> member of the Church to ~ put forward bis best energies, then he considered a certificate - was a very paltry substitute. * : ! / ■} Very Rev. Dean Hyland thought that Mr. Duggan had 1 ; struck the proper note, and that any work the direction proposed should be done for the glory of God ’ and the love of The Church. The motion was negatived. ’ THE * NEW ZEALAND TABLET.’ 5 I On the motion of s the president, seconded by Mr. ‘McLaughlin, v the following was agreed to —‘That this Dominion Council is of ..opinion that it is in the interests of the Catholic. Federation that the New Zealand Tablet should be in every - home, and consequently urges every member of the Federation to assist as far as posable in bringing about that desirable state of affairs.’ ■' t Deputation to Minister. 1 Very Rev. Dean Power moved— ‘ That a deputation consisting of the members of the Dominion Council await upon the Minister of -Education and -place before him the various matters dealt with by the Council, ithe spokesmen to be the president, Dr. Kennedy, and IMr. Hayward.’ | Seconded by Mr. McLaughlin, and, carried. -Appreciation of the Protest of Members of Parliament. | Mr. Burke moved—‘ That this conference of the Dominion Council of the New Zealand Catholic Federation, composed as it is of delegates from all parts of New Zealand representative of the Catholics of the Dominion, wishes to place on record its hearty appreciation of the action of those Members of Parliament -who made such an emphatic protest against the press of the Dominion- publishing libellous slanders on the Royalty of the Irish people at this time of strife and -war.’ , 2 Right Rev. Mgr. Brodie, in seconding the motion, thought Mr. Burke deserved to be commended for bringing the matter forward. Carried unanimously. j CORRECTION OF MIS-STATEMENTS IN ! . . .. PUBLIC PRESS, i .Right Rev. Mgr. Brodie moved— That this meeting of the Dominion Council of the Catholic Federation t deems it a matter of urgent necessity to take steps to correct immediately the many mis-statements and misrepresentations made through the daily press, especially r by Press Association cables, and that this council communicate with the editor of the N.Z. Tablet and various branches of Catholic Federation^ in Australia, America, Great Britain, and -Ireland, and request that .an association be formed to act as a vigilance commits'tee. to note and correct immediately by cable enquiry the various calumnies circulated through Press Association Agency.’ He was prompted to bring this matter before the meeting because he had a number of railway «mien living in his parish who informed him that they had suffered very much lately on account of the mis- -- representations and mis-statements in the papers regarding the Catholic body. The trouble was that when ; a lie got into the paper they had to wait ..six weeks or • more before the mis-statement was corrected, and when the correction came about the majority of people, hardly •■knew what it referred to. He had much pleasure in amoving the resolution. II Rev. Father Hurley seconded dhe motion. He had had several communications with a Mr. Britten, who

j had asked him whether the Federation would be will-? •; ing to - join, with Federations in other countries in promoting an International Catholic Cable Agency. He ? - said the Federation would willingly do so/ and was referred to ifaf Mr. | Attendge,’i who; was very?' keen id : regard to the matter and was working the. whole scheme up. Unfortunately, the war broke out and put-an end , to the matter for. the time being,’ as Mr. Atteridge had r gone to ; the front as a war correspondent. At the same . time,- he thought the Catholics as a body should do all they possibly could from this end to bring the desired result about. : -gf-S ■ • »-• . i ' : ' ;? - Very Rev. Father Coffey could- see that there, were difficulties in carrying the proposal into effect. Some five years ago the ■; matter had been taken up very strongly by Bishop Cleary when he - was editor, of the \ Tablet , and a number of people had promised to contribute sums of money to assist in the , object. One difficulty was to get agents in the different places who would act in the matter. The Press Association had met them very fairly in the matter, and 'were willing, to assist by . circulating the : contradiction >. freely when the necessary information was obtained. . There, could be no harm, he thought, in affirming the principle,"" Mr. Hayward : said ! 4 he read recently u that Mr. Belloc was establishing a Catholic Information Bureau, and what Bishop Cleary had endeavored to bring aboilt some years ago might be A brought about now if they communicated with Mr. Belloc. He thought that in the interests of Catholicism something should be done, because the lies and misrepresentations^ got a good start, and by the time they were • able to contradict them the whole damage had been;-done. ;!> The \president .suggested that possibly - the Federation here' could arrange with the Federation in England that, in the event of anything appearing in; the papers at Horne which they deemed t necessary to contradict, the Federation here -"would - act as agents for them and supply such contradiction 1 * as may be necessary, and the Federation at Home to act in turn in the same way for New Zealand. If it was not possible to establish branches' throughout the world it might be possible to do so in . England and other countries, and that would be one step forward. ;j Mr. Burke said that the matter; had not been overlooked by the executive as they had already -had communications from the Westminster Federation,: and-the Westminster Federation report, a copy of which had been sent to them, stated that Mr. Hilaire Belloc was going to lecture on the subject. ... .e;- \'i Right Rev. Mgr. Brodie-thought that the suggestion of communicating with Mr. Hilaire,-Belloc; was a good one which might bring about the desired result.: Motion agreed to. APPRECIATION OF BISHOP CLEARY’S f . -u:-;- SERVICES. ,„.J Very Rev. Father Coffey said he had been asked to propose the following resolution, which he felt sure would be unanimously agreed to. In proposing it he spoke of his long' and close friendship with the Bishop, and his profound grief at his illness— ‘ That this melt| ing of the Dominion Council of the New Zealand Catholic Federation places on record its deep appreciation of the great servicesrendered to the Federation and the Catholics of New Zealand generally by the Right Rev. Dr. Cleary, Bishop of Auckland, during his whole career in New Zealand, and especially in his strenuous and successful campaign against . the so-called Bible-in-schools movement, wherein the marked ability displayed by him and the masterly statement of his case, before the Parliamentary Committee have set a controversial standard hitherto unattained in this country;That this meeting also expresses its sincere sympathy with the Bishop in his serious, illness, and hopes that 'by God’s Will he may soon be restored to complete! health and vigor.’ ;■ Very Rev. Dean Power I have much pleasure in seconding the motion, and in doing so I wish to com- . pliment the chairman on the characteristic i way he. has; i written out the resolution, referring to’ the Bishop’s

career, when’ he says that the Bishop i' has ‘set a controversial standard hitherto uuattained in .this country.’ I think we have had .no greater;fighter: for the : past !quarter of a; century than Bishop Oleary;-(hear, hear), and! his fighting methods have been characterised by his great courtesy. ' ' The president: As far as this matter is concerned, I am sure the , resolution will commend ■ itself, to the members of the council, and be passed , unanimously. • As far as Bishop Cleary is concerned, anyone *who has had -the; privilege of knowing him cannot but feel that he has . within him not only a tremendous amount of ability and tremendous power ;of concentration, and a wonderful ’ aptitude ' for expressing himself clearly, but he has also that peculiar personal magnetism and great courtesy which appeal to everyone in a marked degree. I think that anyone who has taken the trouble to read up polemics in any -particular form will agree that, so far as expressing himself, his courtesy to his opponents, and the accuracy with which he has not only expressed himself but quoted his authorities in everything he has done, he stands head and shoulders above anyone who has been mentioned for years past. There were some who thought that a resolution of this nature should have been passed at the last meeting of the Federation, but one of the reasons why it was deferred then was that I was not convinced that his work on this point had reached the stage when this resolution of appreciation of his services should be brought forward. A letter from Archbishop O’Shea pointed out that, while for the time being we 'had defeated the Bible-in-Schools movement, there was, nevertheless, a great deal to do, and no certainty that we were not going to be tackled in another form, so we deemed the matter was going further. I can only say now that the immediate danger seems to have passed by, and it is therefore fitting that we should show our full appreciation of the Bishop’s services at this meeting, and that is the reason why I suggested the idea of some such resolution as this being passed. With reference to the second clause, that which relates to the Bishop’s unfortunate illness, all have the greatest sympathy with him. We know, even in his illness, he has shown those remarkable fighting qualities which have been characteristic of him throughout his career. He has shown right through those periods of suffering, when the pains might have been the final pains of his life, that he could think of the people of New Zealand, and especially of his own people, and send kindly and pleasing messages to them. That characteristic alone shows that he has one of the highest forms of character that we can ever hope to come in contact with, and I think every one of us will feel that if anything happened to him in his present illness if it should not be God’s will that he should, recover — that it would be a personal grief to«every one of us. The motion was agreed to. Right Rev. Mgr. Brodie felt that the Bishop would be pleased to receive an expression of sympathy from the council, and suggested that a letter from the president accompany the resolution. The motion was agreed to. Very Rev. Father Coffey then moved * That a deputation, consisting of the president. Right Rev. Mgr. Brodie, Very Rev. Dean Power, Very Rev. Dead Hyland, Rev. Father Cahill, and the mover, wait on the Archbishop on his return from Christchurch with regard to the advisability of organising a national presentation to Bishop Cleary in recognition of his efforts in connection with the Bible-in-schools campaign.’ This was seconded by Mr. Hoskins, and carried unanimously. * -t Registration - of Federation. Mr. Burke moved—* That the question of the registration of the Federation under the Unclassified Societies Act be referred to the executive with power to act.’ J. Seconded by Mr. Hayward, and carried. It was decided that a communication be forwarded to his Grace Archbishop Cerretti,; Apostolic Delegate,

welcoming him on behalf, of the Federation, and asking for the Papal Blessing on the Federation. frPS? This was seconded by Rev. Father Kerley, and agreed to! Insurance. * The report of the sub-committee dealing with : the : question of insurance was”, brought \ forward for . - dis- : cussion. r; The council went! into committee to consider the matter of an . adoption of a scheme, and, after a lengthy discussion, it was resolved— ‘ That the scheme be held over for. consideration at the next meeting of the Dominion 1 Council ; meanwhile the proposals to be communicated! for J the ’’approval /or otherwise of the Hierarchy further enquiries to be made as to the working of similar schemes, which, it was stated, were in force in the diocese of Nottingham, England, arid i> also in Irelapd.’ . .. . Trentham Camp. - ' It was resolved, on 'the motion .of the Right Rev. Mgr. Brodie, seconded by Very Rev. Father Coffey,— That a letter conveying the council’s appre- ■ ciation be forwarded to Rev. Father Daly, in regard to his services as chaplain at Trentham Camp. Election of Officers. The election of officers for the ensuing year then took place, and resulted as follows President,* Mr. D. L. Poppelwell; vice-presidents—Very Rev. Dean Power, Very Rev. Dean Hyland, Rev. Father Kerley, S.M., Rev. Father Cahill, Messrs. Johnson, Duggan, A. Rose, McLaughlin, and Fitzgerald hon. treasurer. Rev. Father Hurley, S.M. The following gentlemen were elected members of the Dominion Executive for the ensuing year:Very Rev. Dean Regnault, S.M., Messrs. J. J. L. Burke, B. Ellis, P. D. Hoskins;'; L. Reichel, R. Sievers, and M. Walsh. Rev. Father Hurley, Messrs. W. F. Johnson, and J. Duggan are / ex. officio members, as representing the Wellington Diocesan Council. IM A vote of thanks to the executive for their work during the past year was unanimously adopted, on the motion of the president, seconded by Mr. Fitzgerald. A vote of thanks to the chairman was carried by acclamation.