THE CHURCH AND NATION BUILDING

New Zealand Tablet, 11 January 1917, Page 11

THE CHURCH AND NATION BUILDING

(By Very Rev. W. J. Lockington, S.J.)

(Concluded from last week.); . The, Apathetic Catholic: Our Greatest Enemy. How are we going to impress these truths upon our fellow-countrymen ? There is only one man and only one way The only man that can do this is the fighting fearless Catholic whose heart is blazing with enthusiasm in the cause of our Leader Christ, and the only way is the way that is lighted by the Lamp of Faith. To-day is ' a day of action, and our greatest enemy is the careless, apathetic, ignorant Catholic. Remember the words of Pope Pius IX., spoken at a time when licence rioted in Italy : ' You ask me when all these evils will have an end I shall tell you. It will be when you, after praying and sighing in the church, will begin to act out of it.' Let us take two Catholic countries, and we shall see all that we wish to learn, plain to read. France. The first country, our great Ally, France, is, or rather was, an instance of the effects of Catholic apathy. Let us look for a moment at her history: 1794 A.D. The Convention secularised primary schools and voted for the establishment, at intervals of ten days, of rest days, called decadal fetes. The object was to abolish Sunday. Things went on gradually till 1878. when Gambetta was able to say with safety, so completely had the national conscience been narcotised, ' clericalism is our enemy.' 1879. In this year another step was taken—the exclusion of priests from administration committees of hospitals and boards of charity. 1880. Attacks on religious congregations were made. 1880-1890. Eviction of nuns from hospitals. 1882 (March 28) came to the point aimed at from the beginning, and drove religion from the schools, ordained ' free, secular, and compulsory.' The words ' God, Providence, Creator' were expunged from all school books. Deliberate Degradation. Listen to the following extract, from the Little Catechism which has been spread through France by the enemies of Christianity. It is described as ' the best and most meritorious work of its kind extant ': Q. What is God? A. God is an expression. Q. What is the exact value of this expression? xv. The exact value of the word Nature. Q. What is nature? A. The totality of all we know to exist in the infinite universe. Q. What other definition can you give of nature? XX. It is the material world and all its matter. Q. The learned then have not found out God ? A. No, they are all agreed in denying his existence. Q. If there is no God, who then created the heaven and tho earth ? A. Neither the heaven nor the earth nor infinity has been created. O. Who created man and woman ? A. Neither man nor woman has been created. Q. There is no first cause then ? A. No, for all that we cannot prove scientifically has no existence and may be denied until there is proof of the contrary. Q. How is it, then, that there are Gods? A. Because man has invented them.—(page 18). The Catechism goes on to prove from the existence that 'the divine individuality is a lie,' that ' the soul is nothing.' 'The soul does not then return to God?' No. for God is formed from that which exists (the All Force) and the soul does not exist.' ' Man is an animal •nd there is no future life.' And what is the result of all this? In 1894 M. Devinat, the head of a normal school , wrote: ' To teach God it is necessary to believe in God. Now how are we to find in these days teachers whose souls are sincerely and profoundly religious? It may be affirmed

r without; exaggeration ; that since 1882 the lay public school has nearly become the godless school.'. For the 'last'twenty years an active campaign has been going on to . render, them wholly godless. ; In :, 1904 denominational neutrality was denounced and ,v critical teaching,' which in the name of science should abandon all reserve in favor of denominational susceptibilities, established. In the same year all teaching by religious was forbidden, and 14,404 of their schools were closed. ■ Take one instance to illustrate how these men sacrificed country and patriotism in their frenzy. A very great proportion of the officers of the French navy came from a famous Jesuit naval college. These atheists objected to . a religious school doing such. A Bill to close the college was presented in the Chamber, passed, and the college was closed. "Undaunted, the French Jesuits sought liberty and found it on the soil of England. They reopened their college, young Frenchmen filled it, and once again remarkable successes were recorded. I saw the college a few years after it had been opened—it was empty and deserted. Moved by their anti-Christian hatred the atheists in power in the French Chamber had passed a Bill declaring that all those who were educated outside France were ineligible for positions in the French navy. This State monopoly of secondary education in France would seem to point to success, yet half the officers of the army and navy of France to-day come from religious schools, despite all this elaboration of hostile laws, and these are the men behind whom France rests in safety. In 1906, on November 8, Viviani dared to announce to the nation : ' Through our fathers, through our soldiers, through ourselves, we have bound ourselves to a work of irreligion. We have extinguished the lights of Heaven, and they shall not be rekindled. We have shown the toilers that Heaven contained only chimaeras.' Such awful -blasphemy ! 'We have shown !' Have they? God sent the scourge of war, and France turned, not to Viviani and his ilk, but back to the God she had so sadly neglected. 'We have extinguished the lights of Heaven !'—to-day those lights are blazing on 10,000 altars and soldiers and officers and people kneel in adoration before them. -•_■• The world has heard much of General Joffre during the past two years— the man to whom France turned in her time of national danger, is a Catholic; so too are General Castelnau and Generals Pau and Foch. Does religion interfere with the patriotism of these heroes ? See how the banished priests of France answered the call. There are nearly 40,000 of them on the battlefield, and I am proud to be able to say that there are 600 Jesuits among them. And all this splendid love of country is shown despite the fact that those formerly in power made attendance at Mass a bar to promotion and had banished those Jesuits and others from France, refusing them the right to live in their, own country. Reason Such Men Were in Power. France failed through the indifference of Catholics. Over 30,000,000 baptised Catholics resided in France. Many, very many of these went only five times to church— First Communion, Marriage, Confirmation, Burial. French Catholics did not vote because they were split up into partiesßoyalists, Imperialists, Republicans, etc. The land was flooded with socialistic literature. But twenty years ago young France began a movement back to the Church. Organisations, guilds, leagues, associations were formed, a printing press campaign was started, and the results were astonishing. Schools and universities were changed. A Cabinet Ministera socialistdeclared : ' The schools and universities, which ten years ago were the best ground for socialism, now give the Church her best workers. In 1905 the Ecole Normale, the heart and brain of the university, had only three or four practising Catholics. In 1912, one-third of all the students were ardent Catholics. In 1914 came the flame of war, and look at France to-day ! 'We have extinguished the lights of Heaven!' said the impious Viviani. To-day

the'lights of Heaven are blazing with increased splendor on ten thousand altars and give the answer of the nation to the foolish blasphemer. Belgium. Take another Catholic country, Belgium. Here we shall learn what Catholic energy can do. In 1879 the Law of-Misfortune banished religion from the schools. The law was drafted by a man who had declared : 'Catholicism is a corpse that bars the way of progress and will have to be thrown into the grave.' This law excluded all religious instruction and debarred all graduates from the religious schools from the teaching professions. The Catholics arose—bishops, priests, and people. It was the beginning of the long vacation. They declared: 'This is not a time for speeches and deputations, but for actions. iWe must by the end of the vacation have a Catholic school, even if only a shed, by the side of every State school in Belgium.' They gave up tobacco, etc., to help the cause, and hired and opened sheds and halls and rooms, and wonderful to tell, when the schools reopened, by the side of every State school there was a Catholic school—and the Catholics triumphed. In 1884 (the next elections) the Government was put out of office and Catholics took the reins and have held them ever since. The result the whole world knows to-day. ' We shall astonish the world by our moderation,' said one leader; and this has been their strength. ' Love thy neighbor,' was the basis of all their work. Article 14 of the Belgian Constitution reads: ' The freedom of religions and their public exercise, as well as the right to "the expression of opinions on all subjects are guaranteed, with the exception of misdemeanors committed in exercising this liberty,' State and religious schools are equal : power is not used unjustly ; sectarianism is unknown. In secondary religious colleges there are 18,000 pupils—in State secondary colleges 6000. I may be permitted to point out here the Catholic principles by the application of which Belgium attained her strength of nationhood. Within ten years the Catholic legislators, most of whom were trained in the Catholic University of Louvain, had revised the Constitution. ■" Belgium and Labor. Study for a moment another phase of nationbuilding—the conditions of the worker. Take their treatment of labor problems so prominent among us to-day. I shall tabulate a few of their measures. "Universal suffrage was passed modified thus: (1) Every Belgian had one vote. (2) Every Belgian who was married and had some property had two votes. (3) Every Belgian able to give certain proof of education had three votes. (4) She has proportional representation of all parties. Speaking of this, a famous French lawyer said : ' We have before us the most complete body of legislation which the history of this century can show in any country.' The Government thoroughly investigated the conditions of labor and laws were passed regulating workshops, trades unions, pensions for working men, insurance against accidents while at work, Sunday rest. In 1895 a special Department of Labor was created, and legislation followed on. Working men's dwellings, wages, the abolition of the truck system, the illegality of attaching or assigning wages, labor inspection, child labor, woman labor, a law of conditional condemnation and liberation which many larger countries have since imitated under the name of the First Offenders Act. No Poverty. With a population of seven and a-half millions, they have practically no unemployment and no dire poverty. Before the war the inhabitants numbered 7,000,000, all of whom were Catholics except about 28,000 Protestants and 13,000 Jews. There was a total absence of any sign of poverty. In London it is calculated that some million pounds sterling is given every year to undeserving beggars. Belgium provides labor for this class, and those who will not work, are taken to a labor area and compelled to work. This keeps impostors off the streets. A. hard-headed, hard-working, progressive people,

the Belgians have attained; prosperity by sheer hard work. They reclaimed 250,000 acres of marshy, and sandy land s to fertility and increased it in value from £6 to £6O per acre. ■>-'■■ ' -;- -i : . : : "' • ~ Railways.—They nationalised: the railways, use them to develop commerce, and out of the railway revenue are able to pay , the interest on their national debt. And they have the cheapest travelling rates in the-world. A Catholic people this, with 5419 secular priests, 6237 priests of religious Orders, 29,303 Brothers and nuns—-a Catholic people living an intensely religious Catholic life and making their "country one of the" most ' progressive and 'prosperous in the world. Workers' Interests. They have 7000 miles of railwaya far greater mileage than that of England—used not merely for moneymaking but to help the people— (1) Commercial travellers can travel 15 days continuously for 16 shillings. (2) Men going to work pay one-fifth ordinary fare. (3) Working men's homes have special exemptions from taxes. (4) Government lends at 21 per cent, to help men to buy their own homes. (5) Government cut down by one-half all legal expenses of transfer or sale of property where workers are concerned. , All this is attained by Catholic statesmen putting into practice the Catholic principles learned in Catholic schools and Catholic Universities from Catholic teachers trained by the Catholic Church. ' Give unto Caesar the things that are Caesar's and unto God the things that are God's.' The Catholic Government of Belgium helps all to serve God as their conscience dictates, with strict, impartiality. Ministers of all religions receive good salaries from the 'State.; 'Love of the neighbor with them means a love that finds expression in action. The Church has all that is needed for right government, and justice. Belgium has used her power and the whole world knows what Belgium stands lor to-day. Spain : Capital and Labor. Let us take another Catholic country—Spain,—to see how employers, moved by Catholic principles, treat heir workers. The popular idea is that Spain is backward and unpi-ogressive. Unprogressive! Yes, if by progress you- mean the presence in every town of divorce mills, grinding out murky misery, of huge industrial corporations without souls or thought for the souls of others, whose wheels grind multitudes beneath them in the depths of hopeless pauperism. But judged from a Christian standpoint. Spain certainly is progressive and cultured. Take this instance of the relation between Labor and Capital, for it is typical of the country. Mr. Joaquin Orus, manufacturer of Sarasossa, has set rules for his workmen. Here are a lew :—- (1) Every five hours overtime will be taken as a day and paid for as a day. (2) In weeks which have only five working days workmen, will work one hour more a day and draw a full week's wages. (3) Those who have worked for two years get the following advantages:—A sick workman will get his full wages for three months; half wages for the next three months; and quarter wages for six months after that, and to have medical and druggists' assistance free, from the doctors and chemists, employed by the firm. (4) If a sick worker is to receive the Last Sacraments all the employees of two years' standing will attend thereat with lighted candles. (5) If he or she dies, the employer will pay for a hearse, will pay for burial in consecrated ground, and for the saying of a Mass for the deceased. (6) Every worker who shall complete thirty years of uninterrupted service with the firm will have the right to cease work on a pension equal to half his wages, payable weekly till his death. (7) On July 16, the Feast of our Lady of Mt. Carmel, the Patroness of the factory, Mass will be said, and there will be a general Communion. If it be a working day the employees will be paid full wages and the day kept as a holiday. This date will be celebrated by. a fete for the purpose of drawing closer the bonds which join together the workers and their employers.

,c> Hero you have £an -example -of Catholic influence and of the Church's social ; doctrine, 'Love your neighbor.' Nowhere are the relations between the rich- and poor more, friendly than in Spain and .remember, on these relations labor problems depend for solution. -But it is not the individual .employer and worker only that benefit by the social-teaching of the Church : : it is the whole nation. Take for instance Austria and the Worker. Charles .Lueger, the Catholic Mayor of Vienna, determined to use Christianity as a social factor, ami formed the ' Christian Social Society.' He wished for the municipalisation of the public services, which/were in the hands of private companies—or big capitalists—who exploited them for their own personal gain. Water supply : The water supply was insufficient—he doubled it. - Lighting of the city: He took it from a private company, improved the lighting, and the city had .£200,000 profit at tho end of the first year. Tram ■system: Horses were still used, the number of cars were inadequate, the radius served too limited, and the public were exploited for the benefit of the few. The city took charge and enlarged it in 1903. In 1908 the net profits" were £IOO,OOO, and 200,000,000 were carried as against some 72,000,000 the year before Lueger became Mayor. Tramway Servants.—ln 1896 the tramway servants numbered 2900 : in 1904 there were 7000. * Salaries were increased by one-seventh and the working hours reduced from 11.40 to 7.40 a day, while 1.5 per cent, of the gross receipts were transferred to a pension fund. Funerals.—The municipality took charge of funerals, owing to the companies' high rates being hard on the poor. With lowered rates the profits in 1909 were £4580, and in 1910 they were £7OOO. Labor: Wages and Insurance.—Workers were insured against sickness, accident, and old age. In sickness, the municipality gave six weeks' medical attendance, medicine, and an allowance for lodgings. Workers had shorter hours, better pay, and an insurance pension. After 10 years' service they had a right to a pension, in case of incapacity to a pension amounting to 40 per cent of their original wages. For every additional year after the first ten years the pension rises 2 per cent, until it equals the full wages: consequently no servant of the city—clerk, mechanic, teacher, or laborer—need fear for his future. He has that peace of mind that should be the common heritage of all. Municipal Savings Banks were started to keep the poor from the clutch of the rapacious usurer. Special and far-reaching legislation was passed to guard children. In 1910 Lueger's party was the strongest in the Imperial Parliament—2s laborers, 22 artisans, 10 teachers, 3 barristers, 3 officers, 12 priests, and 12 public officials. Lueo-er writes : ' In reducing hours of labor we have put an end to abuses, but we have not touched the essential part of the problem. The social question is a question of wages.' England. It may be asked why we have not such legislation in England. England had it but she lost it. In Catholic days in England the same care was shown. Industry was well organised, and religious trade unions bound master and man in common brotherhood. A poor man's son had the power of attaining a University education. The Reformation—l speak of it as a historic fact, solely as regards its effect oh industrial England—smashed the agricultural and industrial organisations of the country, and gave a death blow to the trades unions or guilds that were the strength of the working man. Disorganisation, destitution, fierce individualism began. The poorhouse was built and the unemployed problem arose. All fruits went to the strong; the weak were crushed to industrial slavery. Land was seized by the upper classes, and this monopoly has increased until almost the whole of England is in the hands of one small class. The rights over minerals, forests, common lands, and seashore were gradually

wrested. from the ■ people.^As : Mr.t-HilaireVßelloc says:' ' The Reformation "destroyed the instinct for corporate action arid turned the mass r the State into a dust of individuals.' : This fierce individualism.condemned' the mass of : men in larger : and larger numbers to lower and lower economic position until it produced the: propertyless millions of to-day. , In 1500 most Englishmen owned the houses in which they lived in 1600 only twothirds had that buttress behind them ; in 1700 not onehalf, and in 1800 certainly not one-tenth. What was the cause of this Because Catholic principles were banished from the hearts of men and Catholic practices were rejected, . " - " •• .~-~ Later on reaction set in. There were two reactions in the second half of the 19th century. The first was a false reaction—Socialism. It is false because it tries to cure a great evil by another great evil. The second was a healthy and sound reaction—the reassertion of Catholic social principles and practice. Leo XIII.'s Labor Encyclical gives us a masterly exposition of these. The Church stands to-day between corrupt oppression on the one hand and Socialism on the other. New Zealand. When we look at this splendid record we need fear naught. In these lands godless education holds sway, and we must keep on fighting against what is a national menace. We are not alone. Men of other faiths are with us. Listen to the words of Dr. Moorhouse, formerly Anglican Archbishop of Melbourne: ' I will not join in the howls against Home. I will never unite with the secularist in keeping Christ out of the schools of this Colony. I still advocate the making of a grant to Catholics for secular results. I measure a man's convictions by the depth he will thrust his hands into his pockets for —other denominations gave up their schools—Catholics kept theirs on and are paying twice over for the education of their children.' A great statesman as well as a Churchman, he saw as well as we do that religion is part of the warp and woof of life, not an extrinsic ornament. As well drain the life-blood from a man's body and bid him live as take his religion from him.—nay, worse, for in robbing "him of religion you rob him of life itself. Let us seek to impress this upon the nation in the spirit of Christian charity. Good Catholics and good Protestants can and should live in good fellowship and friendship. The only disturbing factor is bigotry, but if all do their duty to the State that fungus will never take root in the soil of this free land. Bigotry is opposed to freedom and progress and should have no place among us. Bigotry is filled with the loquacity of ignorance and cannot speak truth. Bigotry has no head and therefore can neither think nor reason. Bigotry has no heart, and therefore it is pitiless and cruel and ■ merciless. Bigotry has no conscience and is the sower of dissension and hatred and calumny. Bigotry is a misbegot monster that strives to strangle universal brotherhood. Arouse yourselves, O Catholics, and make the power of our Church known to all. Let your voices sound so strong and fearless that the tongue of the slanderer will be silent. Let your deeds show to all the splendid strength of our glorious Church. It is only those who do not know her that speak of her unjustly. Be able to give a reason for the faith that is in you, for an ignorant Catholic is a weak Catholic, whose ignorance makes possible many of the calumnies that are commonplace now. lie hangs his head when he hears the cry that the Church is the enemy of liberty, and stands mute. The Catholic Church the enemy of Liberty ! What are we fighting for to-day ? the whole world in arms. For Liberty, for the defence of home and country, for the defence of that bulwark of liberty, the British Constitution ! See men rallying to the flag .that stands for Liberty the whole world over. Listen to the thunderous chorus of the millions who, in unselfish heroism rally to that flag. Look well at that flag, O timorous Catholic Where find you the foundation whereon that flag is so firmly planted ? It is

on -'the- foundation; of the Great Charter of English liberty—the Magna Charta by virtue of which England is . what : she is to-day. Who was it that drew up '- that;.imperishable charter on which we stand;? and for which ; blood "runs '. like water to-day ? . It was drawn up by the Catholic bishops''of England ! ."' Who was it, that forced the pen into the fingers of a cursing, reluctant king and compelled him to sign and seal this,, our glorious heritage ? None other than the Catholic bishops, backed by the Catholic soldiers of England. Our Church to-day, as always, is the centre of civilisa-tion-the one solid fortress that no force on earth can shake. In this time of stress men are looking to her and realising her strength, are turning to her with outstretched hands, groping from blindness to light, from uncertaintv to surety. The highest form of patriotism is the highest practice of Catholicity. Liberty and progress and Catholicism are synonymous, . because Catholicism brings out fully what is best in man. Know yourselves and the heritage that is yours, for thus will 'you "help to lay broad and strong the foundations of the nation. Aim at organisation and education. Fight in this cause, for it is the cause of liberty and truth and justice. The future of the Church is the future of ouv children. The fate of those little children lies in your hands. Stand fearlessly by them shoulder to shoulder for the honor of the Church and the honor of New Zealand. Fight for that education that will give to "New Zealand citizens that will be an honor to her. fight for that which, will give to our Church men who will show to" the world what a magnificent thing it is to be an enthusiastic, fearless, fighting Catholic.