THE NEWMAN SOCIETY

New Zealand Tablet, Volume XLIII, Issue 18, 4 May 1916, Page 39

THE NEWMAN SOCIETY

SUGGESTED EXTENSION OF ITS WORK.

I c * - ; ■ —’ ■•■ . • • " \ ;; ;f At. a recent meeting of the Auckland . branch of the Newman .Society,, the following;; paper by Mrs. Mary (J. Goulter was read: ' '

It is now many years since the following words were addressed by a zealous French layman to his contemporaries, in an endeavor to rouse them to, serious and self-denying effort in the cause of religion and charity : ‘Every day our friends, our brothers, are killed as soldiers or missionaries on trie soil of Africa or before the palaces of the mandarins. What are we doing meanwhile? Seriously, do you imagine that God has appointed for some to die in the service of civilisation and the Church, while others walk about with their hands in their pockets, and lie down on roses ? O gentlemen, you, toilers of science, and you, Christian men of letters, let us prove, one and all, that we are not cowardly enough to believe in a division which would be an accusation against God Who would have made it, and an ignominy on us who would accept it.’ '

These inspiring words were spoken several decades ago, in much less stirring times than ours. Frederic Ozanam used them to depict the ordinary state of the Catholic Church, which is never without heroic souls and great virtues in its fold. And by means of them he urged on the young Frenchmen of his own day to the efforts in the cause of charity which materialised in the Society of St. Vincent de Paul, a branch of which is well and honorably known in Auckland to-day. But how much more forcible and to the point are these words of Ozanam to-day than when they were originally spoken. To-day our friends, our . brothers in nationality or faith, if mot in blood, die hourly on the battle-field. " To-day the world is confronted with the most serious issues of life and death, annihilation or salvation; nations are locked in the deadly grip of battle, and a mighty wave of earnestness and high purpose has swept, over the modern world, laving it pure from frivolity and dissipation in tides of fresh-flowing blood. Into every home has come a messenger from the unseen world, with a call to renunciation, to self-denial, and often to bitter loneliness. And into many homes that we know, instead of the youthful presence which brightens them, the. Angel of Death has come’, and life is darkened by the sad, if glorious, remembrance of a battlefield in Europe or Gallipoli, and of the young life there laid down. Even among us there are many vacant places, of those who have gone to take their share of the burden laid upon the manhood of the Empire, and our genial chaplain himself has left us to perforin his priestly duties in the midst of scenes of war. >

Taking all this into consideration, is it not time for us, who are left at home, to reconsider this organisation to which we belong, and to see whether it is really fulfilling any serious and Useful purpose in the community, or whether it is merely a pleasant mode of spending a, Sunday afternoon from time to time. When the most light-minded have been forced into a realisation of the sombre side of life, it is not a time for us to fritter away time and mental energy on dilettante literary pursuits. Rather is it an epoch for stripping ourselves and our lives of the useless appendages of habit and convention, which so easily gather round them, ' and of seeing to it that we, who are precluded by sex, age, or home ties, from taking part in the life-and-death struggle waged in the world of to-day, shall at least employ our time and mental energy in a manner calculated to benefit in' some way that world, be it big or small, in which we move. What, then, is this Newman Society to which we belong? It is the foremost, almost the only Catholic intellectual and literary society in New Zealand. And that means that we are the direct representatives in this new country of true intellectuality as distinguished from the false; that we are the "heirs of Catholic culture, the favored children of that ancient Church which has been the teacher of the nations of the earth. We stand, clear-eyed, in the opening years of this 20th century, knowing that we can place an unerring finger on the weaknesses and digressions of contemporary civilisation. Through the midst of the arid desert of scepticism and uncertainty , around us, we carry with us the Ark of the Lord on our journeyings. These are large assertions, but they follow in logical sequence from the short, simple - sentence pronounced daily by each one of us: ‘ I believe in the Holy Catholic Church.’ For that implies an infallible, unique Church to which we belong; and in that Church we happen to hold the fortunate position of recipients of higher educational advantages which circumstances have denied to many .of our brethren. Surely, these facts entail responsibilities of some kind, both towards the Catholic body as a whole, an' l towards the - outside - world. Even at this serious;, and critical time of the world’s history, could we be gifted with a nobler destiny than that of trustees of Catholic intellectuality in our: country; „or, could we possess a vocation more • deserving of .our best efforts to fulfil it ? ' What are we doing with the heritage committed to our ;care?.... Is it riot true that in the past we have looked upon the Newman Society ’in ; the light of I. a recreation, a relaxation; not

> considering the immense possibilities for . good lying dormant within it? , We gather together, month after month! /under -the patronage of John Henry : Newman, a ‘burning - .and shining light ’ who, if we may presume in any instance to interpret the . designs; of the Almighty, seems to have been raised , to enlighten . the spiritual ’ darkness of England, by showing that deeply Protestant country that a mignty intellect, nurtured during its most ’ impressionable years by her national Church -. and her greatest University, could find ultimate peace and /light only in the arms of Rome. >lf our chosen title means anything, it means that in admiring and affectionate remembrance of that great man, we endeavor to be in our small way to the New Zealand of our day, what he was to the England of his. What he was, indeed, to his generation, none of us can ever be; but ‘we can make our own his ideals and his self-devotion ; his love for the • Church of his adoption, and his dedication of his God-given share of mental power to the highest and holiest cause he knew. Newman was, through a long span of years, a living example of the Highest intellectual possibilities of .Catholicism, in the midst of a nation which had long denied and forgotten the historic supremacy of the Church in the tealms of intellect. And that, in one word, is the raison d’etre of our society: to be an example of the intellectual possibilities of Catholicism,, in the midst of surroundings here these possibilities are ordinarily not recognised or admitted. If we look facts in the face, we must realise that hitherto our society has existed practically for itself alone, and that we who belong to it seek at its gatherings congenial company and intellectual enjoyment, rather than the good of any of the community. The purpose of this paper is to urge upon members a more vigorous policy in the future, and a greater solicitude for the welfare of the many, both Catholic and non-Catholic, who are without the many advantages •so liberally bestowed upon those to whom I speak. And in writing in this strain, I hope to be acquitted of the presumption which would attach to ■ any effort on sny part at laying down a policy for the society— • task for which I am unfitted either by age, scholastic honors, and diplomas, or length of service ;n the organisation which I address. This paper is not in any sense an attempt at taking the initiative, it is merely a plea for the ; outside public, coming from one who was for oje season a working member of the Newman Society, and who desires gratefully to acknowledge the many courtesies tendered to a stranger by that body. Being not even a matriculated student, much less a university graduate, the writer is conscious ,of representing the outside world rather than the members of your society ; . and she therefore , considers herself peculiarly fitted'by circumstances to plead the cause .of the great mass of Catholics, as well as of that greater company of our , separated brethren. .V Speaking, then, for those who stand outside the ranks of Catholics with the secular advantages of a university education, I would ask this body to consider whether it has not a double duty to ' perform, a duty towards Catholics and non-Catholics alike. To take our own first, -.'arid to follow out the . Church’s wise policy of caring first for the children, what are the Catholic, graduates of our universities doing for the children who are growing up •around them to, be the future Catholic population of New Zealand ? Our Catholic school systemj though a marvellous product, of faith and sacrifice, is, like all human institutions, far from perfect; it needs expanding and strengthening in various A\ays which will suggest themselves at once to the many religious arid lay teachers among the members of the Newman Society. If, say, a debate or discussion on our Catholic schools was inaugurated as an item on every year’s syllabus, much good would surely result from this interchange of ideas between men and women specially qualified to understand their subject. We number amongst us scholarly members of the priesthood, religious of both sexes whose lives are spent in 'the cause of Catholic education, and whose most earnest hopes are bound ,up with it, teachers in the State schools who have daily opportunities of gleaning hints from Government methods and incorporating them, with Catholic ideals, parents to whom the proper education of their : children'is one of the most important things in life, and young people whose memories and impressions of our New Zealand Catholic schools are still vivid and .valuable. What more promising atmosphere could be found for the discussion and the solution of the many problems which constantly beset the path of the .-Catholic educator in this Dominion? There is no more important ' branch of Catholic activity than this of education, v and none upon which it is more necessary that ~an assemblage of . highly-educated Catholics should bring to - bear . every faculty of their minds, and every energy of . action within their control. Even were our primary and/ secondary school systems all they might be—that is, were every• Catholic child -in the Dominion <’to possess an oportunity 'of acquiring knowledge - suited ’to its faculties, under suitable Catholic auspices, . there would still be the question of University ! education to consider. Despite the handicaps of . war ■ time, the - cause ,-of ' Catholic University ? education • is »at > present making o great; strides in Victoria; £60,000 is in hand towards the building I fund ' and the establishment of . bursaries; and plans 'for a residential college are already| under way. It > ay freely r | be

. * - V , v ;V,V admitted - that 4 • the “lime ■; for this v is not yet ripe in - New Zealand ; but while, for - instance, --the immense majority bf our Catholic boys have to do without secondary "education, or 'go to a ; non-Catholic - college' for it, * and while a large proportion in the * smaller towns have no . chance -of attending even a Catholic- primary > school, iw4 ; cannot ! afford to rest on our' laurels - and say that our Catholic educational system is ' capable- of no further development at present. It is our duty, as members of the Newman Society, to take a prominent part in obtaining the necessary funds, and setting the necessary forces in motion. How this can best be done is one of the many points. which might be benefited by ventilation at our meetings. Next, there is the task of attracting to our ranks the young men and women who leave our Catholic schools andgo out ' alone into an intensely Protestant- and even atheistical atmosphere. No section of the Catholic community needs a helping hand more than, these boys and girls thrown in their most impressionable years into the midst of a civilisation alien from the ideals to which they are bound in loyalty to adhere. Even taking the, most favorable cases, when these ideals have been carefully instilled into their minds in good Catholic homes and in their school life; when they have been initiated into the historic glories of Catholicism in the realms of literature and art, the trial,. of after years is very great. But in the early lives of many, alas, home training in .Catholic ideals has been conspicuous by its absence, and their education has perforce been obtained at a State school their only defence against the insidious influences of later years being a knowledge of the bare shell of Catholic doctrine, a cold outline unbeautified by any of those .marvellous splendors of color which for us illumine the ground-work of our faith. In any case, there comes, as we all know, a period in the life of the most ideally educated Catholic, when outside influences appeal with almost irresistible force, when the old familiar ideals and beauties of Catholic and even of Christian literature pall upon the mind, which craves for the exotic and the pagan. It is at this period that the youthful mind turns to such authors as Marcus Aurelius, Omar Khayyam, and the Protestant poets, for inspiration and companionship, finding in their pages a mental stimulus absent from the . familiar household gods qf literature. Less thoughtful minds, indeed, may do, themselves considerably more harm by browsing amongst* the works of Marie Corelli, Hall . Caine, and other modern novelists of that ilk; but in any case, it is a phase which with proper treatment will pass away in time, and which leaves the mind with a deepened and more intense appreciation of Christian and Catholic literature, an awakened and intelligent enjoyment akin to that which an inhabitant of scenes of great natural beauty experiences when he returns to his birthplace from an expedition into less favored regions. The Newman Society is singularly well adapted for shortening this peculiar phase of mental adolescence and encouraging the return of the young Catholic mind to its appropriate pastures. Instead of joining a non-Catholic literary or reading club, the boy or girl joins the Newman Club, and there the mind is naturally and inevitably directed into Catholic channels of reading and. thought; and it is brought home to the youthful member, what an inexhaustible field for profitable study is contained in the Catholic authors even of the English tongue. •• Religion, instead of remaining >at the schoolday level in the mind, and inevitably stagnating there, rises with the development of the mental*faculties, and becomes a vital and essential part of life. But to fulfil this ideal will take time as well as energy. The Newman Society must gain the ear of the Catholic girls and boys before they leave school, and interest them in its work, either by means of juvenile branches, -or by an extension of the present principle of holding meetings at the various schools, and admitting the elder scholars to them. It must somehow make itself felt as a vital force in Catholic school.life, either by means of offering prizes for essays on literary subjects, or by other methods. And above all it must spread to the'other towns m New Zealand, in order to embrace all our Catholic young people, and not merely a section of them. • r Having thus established a salutary influence in Catholic circles we would still have to consider our peculiar responsibilities towards the general public. For it is in no degree presumptuous of us to recognise and to act upon the fact that our viewpoint, as distinguished - from that of our contemporaries of other creeds and of no creed, is infinitely purer and more reliable; and that by virtue of our acquaintance with Catholic theology and philosophy, we can put them right, not only in religious matters, but in countless everyday problems, philanthropic, and political, which perplex the world of to-day. Needless to say, I do not suggest that we should forthwith assume} the air ’of dictators in the State, and set out with a flourish of trumpets to show the world the path wherein it should tread. But there is no truer saying than‘ Magna est veritas, et praevalebit ,’ and it. is our business to i make, the truth stand out .so prominently! and Convincingly .be fore the eyes of men, that it may prevail by virtue of its

own strength. If we were to institute lectures arid 7 debates on matters of public interest, treating tnemlroma Chris- ! tian standpoint, ! and keeping the standard of proceedings sufficiently;. JUign to! guarantee their vaJ/ue, non-Catholics would speedily be attracted, first ! by the discussions > them- ' selves! and tneu by tne views put- forward. This pre- . supposes, of course, ' that we throw open a proportion, at least, of our’ meetings' to the general public. At first, doubtless,- the results would be discouraging, but by de-. grees, it our meetings were really worth coming to, thoughtful men and women would find it out’, and would come, if only to hear the ideas of new speakers and thinkers on the burning questions of the day. And, evert putting aside the probability of -influencing a proportion of our hearers to think with us, we should at least be showing them that Catholics in New Zealand are not, as is too frequently imagined, mere hewers of wood and drawers of water. On the contrary, they are a section of the community capable of supporting an intellectual club of a calibre to interest at least, if not to convince, the outside thinking public. The. success of this branch of activity would, 1 venture to think, •be much furthered by co-operation with two existing organisationsthe Catholic Federation and the English Catholic Social Guild. One object of the Federation is to aid in the education of Catholics and nonCatholics in the principles arid ideals of. our faith, to provide for the delivery of public lectures on questions of public interest, and to foster the growth of Catholic literature. It ,is obvious that- the Federation, being a union of all Catholics, would benefit much by enlisting for these special objects the services of specially qualified Catholics and. as our society professes to consist of such specially qualified Catholics, it ought to be a simple matter to interweave the work of the two bodies, and utilise to the fullest extent the strength of both." As to the growth and encouragement of Catholic literature, that is , a matter distinctly within the province of the Newmag Society, the chief aim of whose members is to study appreciatively the masterpieces of Catholic literature. The literary talent of young Catholic New . Zealand will naturally gravitate towards us in the future, if we make ourselves a living force in the community, and it. is our business to see that talent turned to the best possible account. For the present, perhaps, our role must be, as has been happily phrased, like that of the man who emptied water down his well to moisten the dr/ ropes, before he could get anything out. We make it easier for the young Catholics of , to-day to refresh their minds from the .living founts of Catholic literature; and it may be that wo see little result from our labors. But tire time will come when we shall get something out of the 1 well; when the thoughtful study and appreciation of the immortal classics of Catholicism will bear its own fruit in a young, fresh, and genuinely Catholic New Zealand school of literature. Then we shall reap the reward of our efforts in the increased power of the Catholic press, and in the influence brought to bear on the secular press, fed as it will be with valuable articles ; written by Catholic journalists from a Catholic standpoint. But in order that our writers may be firmly grounded in true principles on present-day problems, it is necessary that they should carefully, study these problems from Catholic authors and textbooks. And how can this be more effectually done than by encouraging them to follow the courses of the English Catholic Social Guild, which for the past two years have been available for study in this Dominion? It is now possible, through the efforts of the editor of the N.Z. Tablet, find of the Federated Catholic Clubs of the Dominion, for New Zealand students to sit for examination under the same conditions as Home candidates,- and for them to gain the various certificates and diplomas awarded by the Catholic Social Guild of England. ’ The value of these different courses of study may be gathered from a brief summary of the subjects, which I take from the syllabus of the guild: —Elementary courses Economic theory, social and economic history, including the industrial history of England, and general medieval ..economic history, the housing problem, with 'special reference to the present state of the housing of the working class in Great Britain, the ideal of the Christian home, and the various possible methods ;of reform, eugenics, positive and negative, the Catholic ideal in the matter, the use of. the sacraments and sacramentals in their application to race culture. Advanced courses' Economic theory, social and economic history, comprising the mercantile system,, the Laissez-faire - system, ■ the domestic system, the industrial revolution, agriculture, social relations, increase of legislative control, the - living wage, theories of wages, human rights, duties corresponding to the rights, etc. It will be seen that a thorough and con--7 scientious study of these courses provides" an eminently trustworthy foundation for consideration yof the questions „ _ of the day, find attunes the mind to regard them from a sound Catholic point of view. Surely we could . form i study clubs connected with our society, which would provide mutual help and encouragement for those members , ’ desirous of taking up the lines of study mapped out by the Social Guild. - • ' . • , ■■

.•■ -'■'.?/■■<: i ■ ■•■ -.-.:'" ’ » •>-? All 1 these % wide s < and far-reaching C schemes, ■; however, imply that Jwe must bestir ourselves'. We must ‘increase and multiply,’ and fill, if not ; the earth, at 5 / least the Dominion, with branches •of our society, or we shall accomplish scant good. This will mean'much energy and effort, „• but« it is no use blinking facts—unless _ the Newman Society develops considerably, and justifies its existence, it will infallibly go ,to the wall, amongst the ever-growing multitude of fresh and energetic organisations around it. We have to choose whether to go forward or back* for we cannot any longer remain stationary. And, speaking in the, name of those, who so sorely /need its help, I ask the Newman Society to choose, as their illustrious patron would have chosen under similar circumstances, and to take the path of effort and toil for a good caus,e. I ask them tq imitate his zeal, his singleness of purpose, his purity of aim, and his renunciation of. ease and intellectual pleasures; and to go forward to the work which awaits them, to fields of this young country lying white to the harvest. May it be said of the society which bears his name, as it might well have been said of the grand old man who battled for the truth of God with tongue and pen:

‘ Evil Stands not crowned on earth while breath is in him.’