PAN-SOUTHLAND GATHERING

New Zealand Tablet, 22 February 1917, Page 22

PAN-SOUTHLAND GATHERING

A GREAT SUCCESS. The fourth annual Pan-Southland Gathering was held under the auspices of the New Zealand Catholic ... Federation on the Southland A. and P. Association's grounds on Wednesday, February 14. In the matter of weather the function was again unfortunate, but - that did not in any way dampen the enthusiasm 15f the large number of people present, who entered wholeheartedly into the proceedings, which were pervaded with optimism and enthusiasm throughout. The gath- . ering is undoubtedly the big event of the year so far as / Catholics in Southland are concerned, and the attend-:. ance strikingly exemplified that fact. The special trains from the different parts of Southland were all well filled, and the townspeople responded to the call, by being present in large numbers, so that the estimate of . 5000 people being present was, if anything, a conservative one. The committee were wise in their selection of a ground, as the A. and P. Association's enclosure : if it had been made to order could not have been better . adapted for the purpose, and the unanimous opinion expressed was that all future similar gatherings should be ;...: held in the same place. The ground was looking its V best, and the splendid buildings provided accommoda- ~~ ■' tion which rendered the function" impervious to the V onslaughts of Jupiter Pluvius. J: ,y The proceedings opened, with a procession, which - formed up in Esk street, headed . by the Hibernian -.".-.; Band under Conductor A. R. Wills, and from . there. - a move was made to the ground. In , the procession were numbers of school children: in their holiday, attire, and all looking smilingly happy and anticipatory. The '_ ■>

/members of the Gore and [lnvercargill branches of the //Hibernian/Society, in full regalia, followed; the chil- , dren, and after them came; the members of , the Federation. The procession was an imposing one, and the streets were lined with people to witness .it as it wended iv its way to the rendezvous, and a large proportion joined in the proceedings at the grounds.: On arrival at the - A , ££ ■ ° ■ .v- u. -- j ' •it' TT* 1* ' grounds the programme was commenced with High . Mass., , The Mass was sung by the Rev. Father Woods, the Rev. Father Lynch (Wrey’s Bush) being deacon and the Rev. Father Farthing (Gore) subdeacon. The music of the Mass 'was - rendered by St. Mary’s Choir,, assisted by the members of the Waikiwi choir, under the conductorship of Mr. H. S. Searle, .with Mrs. P. ' O’Byrne at the organ. The High Mass gives a solemn . religious tone to the proceedings' every year. The Song for the Pope ’ and the hymn ‘Faith of Our Fathers ’ - joined in by five or six thousand people after the Mass is something to be remembered.

The religious ceremony concluded, the people scattered here and there through the grounds for luncheon. At 1.30 the bell called them again together for the feast of oratory provided. The Very Rev. Dean Burke, who presided, called upon Mr. D. L. Poppelwell, of Gore, to move the first resolution— ‘ Resolved that this meeting conveys its sympathies to the parents and relatives of those members of the New Zealand Catholic Confederation who have fallen or have been wounded in the present war; whilst, at the same time, all present pray that this sacrifice of the lives of brave men may soon cease and that peace may soon return—but a complete victorious peace which will effectively terminate Prussian threats of the “mailed fist,” a peace which will secure the independence of the smaller nations, a peace which will eliminate from international politics the power of a few kings and diplomats to involve whole nations in oloodshed and destruction, a peace which will bring to the masses of the people the control and disposal of their own lives and liberties.’ Mr. Poppelwell, after congratulating the Catholics of Southland on the large attendance at the meeting, continued :—I desire to express the sincere sympathy of the Catholics of Southland for the friends and rela-

tives of those members of our Federation who have

fallen or been wounded in the terrible war now -being waged in Europe. We who sit at home in the luxury of peace have a difficulty in fully appreciating the great sacrifice of so many of our best and bravest young men in going to fight our battles. After a long period of peace during which the arts and sciences flourished and comfort and luxury made progress among the masses to an extent perhaps unparalleled in history, the ambition of a military clique had plunged Europe into bloodshed and war. The progress of the world has been set back, and modern civilisation is threatened with ruin. Acting under the impulse of a burning patriotism, the flower of our youth in numbers disproportionate to their numbers in the population have sprung to the Empire’s assistance in its time of trial. With Catholic France, Catholic Italy, and Catholic Belgium they are fighting to maintain the freedom of Europe, the freedom of the world. Their brave deeds fire the imagination and have made the world ring with their praises. Their young blood has poured itself forth as a sacrifice for us, and we mourn with their parents and relatives for those who will never return and for the maimed and wounded. Their sacrifice has not been in vain. Already the mailed fist’ of the Prussian is showing signs of weakness. Already the dark night of war is showing sighs of the approach of dawn. Let us hope that the new day will reveal a new world, a chastened Europe, a better people, free from- the unworthy ambitions of the past, ready and willing to live and let live. If it does not, the war will have been waged in vain. There is one thing certain, namely, that those of our people of all denominations who have fought side by side in the .trenches, who have spent ' their best blood and energy in the common cause, can surely never again be guilty towards one another of . the crimes of narrowness and bigotry. May their mutual respect be such that when they . return to their

homes % they - will; once > and z for all sweep > away those anomalous grievances under which ;so large a ; section

of our ’ people are suffering. : Let -us pray, then, that a victorious peace - may / soon come peace that will destroy the demon .of militarism, and will secure to the smaller nations their place -in- the suna peace which will limit the power, of kings and politicians to cast the world into. bloodshed and destruction,—a peace that will bring to the masses of the people the disposal of their own lives and liberties. Mr, J. Collins, in a brief stirring speech, seconded the motion, which was carried with applause. A / The second resolution was moved by the Very Rev. Dean Burke. It ran thus: Resolved That this

meeting reaffirms its adherence \to the time-honored historical Christian school, the school in which the inculcation of Christian doctrine and the formation of Christian character are treated as of fundamental importance.’ , The Dean said that at previous meetings of the Pan-Southland gathering speeches on interesting topics were part of the programme. ’ They intended to continue the practice to-day. The speakers would . confine themselves mostly to , the Catholic school- grievance. The resolution which he moved contained three ideas: the antiquity of our Catholic school system, the predominance in it of Christian teaching, and insistence upon the practice of the Christian virtues. Of our Catholic school system we are very proud indeed. We have every reason to be so. Historically considered, our parish schools this day are the lineal descendants of ; the catechetical schools of the second century of the Christian era. Those early Christian schools of. Alexandria, \ Antioch, "Caesarea, and Odessa continued down through the long centuries in the shape of cathedral, monastic, : chantry, guild, and church schools, and.are repre- ; sented to-day by our parish schools. The predominant , ideas in those Christian schools have been and are now

Christian doctrine and the Christian virtues. How could it be otherwise in schools founded and conducted by a Christian people ? Religion and things eternal are above the temporal and material. What doth it profit a man if he gain the whole world and suffer the loss of his soul ? Why fit up with such inventive care the shepherd’s tent pitched to-day on the shifting sands; to-morrow to be folded up and carried away ? Why should not due priminence and proportion be observed in those great matters, as we are careful to observe them in small daily things Again, intimately connected with Christian doctrines are the Christian virtues, supernatural habits and Christian, character. Character is above knowledge; hence the formation of character should be valued more than the acquisition of knowledge. The good man should be preferred to. the clever man. The good man is always a reliable* man ; the clever man is often a rogue. Obviously, then, religion and the Christian virtues and habits • should, prevail in the atmosphere of every school supported by a Christian people. ’ The three agencies providentially set up to protect the young against an environment of wickedness and to bring them up in the way they should go, are the home, the Church, and the school. Speaking for the' majority, not one of the three can be done without. Speaking for the majority, most certainly the Christian. school cannot be done without. Papal and episcopal legislation tells us so. Our own experience of life tells us so. Hence we go to such expense to maintain our schools and hence this great meeting of Catholics emphatically re-affirms its adherence to ’ the time-honored, historical /idea of the Christian school, wherein religion and-Christian and supernatural virtue get the first place. Mr. J. Robertson, in speaking to the resolution, insisted on the necessity of surrounding children - in their daily life with the ‘atmosphere’ of the: religious school. He knew the blank pagan emptiness ; of • the secular school, and he furthermore knew that Sunday l schools, in most instances were unable to do more than turn out the Sunday Christian —a merely - nominal specimen. /. Mr. F. G. O’Beirne proposed the following resolution- ‘ That we declare our sense of the want of fair

play and elemental justice shown by the New Zealand

Government, .which' is> lavish- in expenditure von ■ education, in refusing aid to Catholic schools, which do for the State the same work as the ; State schools ; whilst the Government accepts and demands from the youth brought up in those schools all the duties of citizenship, ; including that of • military 1 service . and the laying ‘ 4pwn of their lives at. its call. We further declare that this ’ injustice is intensified by l the compulsion of Catholics to countribute their quota to the support of a system of education to which they “object and of which they cannot conscientiously avail • themselves.’

Mr. F. G. O’Beirne said : ‘ Education has for long years been looked upon by the people of New Zealand, as in other parts of the world, as being essential to the welfare of the country. In giving form to their views it was found necessary to make education in New Zealand “ compulsory ■*’ and “free”; but not only was it made compulsory and free but also “secular,” just as was done by Julian .the. Apostate and the pagans of the fourth century, when they wanted to stifle Christianity. Whether free and compulsory education in any country is good or bad depends entirely on circumstances; but secular 1 education is undoubtedly bad in all countries • and in all circumstances. Strange, in New Zealand, a country in which 95 per cent, of the people are Christians of some sect, religious teaching has been taken out of the national system of education. This want of the religious element in education has, it must be admitted, resulted in obvious failure not only in New Zealand but also in other countries, such as the United States and France, where materialism and mammon-worship had taken the place of religion. Now the system of education in New Zealand is good in so ,-far as it compels the people to be educated—but bad in that it lacks the most essential parts of education. It is also bad in prescribing how or by whom the people must be educated, for it says in effect that the people must be educated according to the system laid down by the State itself and by no other. Were our position, and the position of others who do not think that the secularised State schools are the best means of education, clearly understood by the people of New Zealand as a whole, there is, to my mind, no doubt but that they would appreciate the justice of our claims. I would say -that when the war is over and won by the Allies and the people, by reason of the lessons of the war, will have become more just and will have lost some of that all-absorbing materialism and mammon-worship now so much in evidence, they will be prepared to meet such claims and even to avail themselves of religious education as the best possible means of bringing about a new world in the future and one in which such a war As is now being waged will never again be possible.’ The Rev. Father Lynch, in seconding the third resolution, said that long ago a certain sturdy little man, not unknown to history, said when threatened by a parliament of princes, politicians, and scribes: ‘ Are we to hear you rather than .God ? Are we to obey you rather than our consciences ? Are we to be freemen or your slaves?’ This little man announced a new principle, the principle of human freedom—the right of individual conscience. That principle never since died out in the world. It has been maintained in the face of tyrants and at great cost; it has been maintained principally by the successors of St, Peter and by that great institution-the Catholic Churchof which he after his Divine Master was the founder and the head. Autocrats and plutocrats, like lackeys, cowards, valets, dumb dogs, billet-seekers — weak-kneed of different colors, —who have no love for men, are ready to say: ‘ls it just to hear you, rather than God.’ They have no love for men who dare to be independent and to call their souls and bodies their own. Hence they have never shown any love for the Catholic Church, for her spirit or for her institutions or her schools. Has she not been the victim of things and of governments —-of Caesarism and of secularism all through her history? Now Caesarism or Kaiserism, if you understand that spelling better, and secularism have two tools, the politician and the newspaper-man.

- They obey their masters and they,'too, are not friendly. But the Church, after ■ much anxiety and struggle —ever brave and independent, the exercise of * patience "' and - perseverance, v ■ always comes . out; ■' victorious. Recall the ; long struggle in . Great Britain and Ireland 1 for Catholic emancipation. . Look at the long struggle of Catholic Ireland for self-govern->ment for the nation. ■ With organisation and "‘perseverance we, too, shall get our grievances -redressed.' But to reach that end we need men with the spirit of , Peter, men of manliness and independence. Cowards, selfish calculators and the faint-hearted deserve ,no success* 'He (the speaker) came from a part of New Zealand where men were not afraid to speak their minds, where they called a spade a spade and when the executive of the Catholic Federation called upon them they would find the West awake. The Rev. Father O’Neill moved— ‘ That the thanks and appreciation of this meeting be conveyed to those noble men and women, the Brothers and nuns of New Zealand who give their lives without fee or reward to Christian education, and - without whose self-denying labors our great Catholic system -of education could with difficulty be upheld.’ He said that all concerned had reason to congratulate themselves on the success attending the gathering. The teachers in the Catholic schools of the Dominion had given and were giving every day ample proofs of their devotedness and disinterestedness. Those whose memories could go back a generation would remember how readily the teachers had undertaken the work in newly-established schools under circumstances that involved courage and selfsacrifice. The Catholic teachers of New Zealand had proved their efficiency and had turned out countless pupils who had made good in their after careers. Considering the large number of schools and the hundreds of teachers; it was manifest that an immense amount of money was . saved to the ratepayers of the Dominion. Had these teachers been in State schools and their pupils filling the benches of those schools the teachers would have been enjoying substantial salaries and the expense of public education would have been correspondingly vastly increased. As a matter of fact, they were doing without salary, and With nothing more than a living of the ,most meagre kind. Their services were beyond all praise, and the entire Dominion was under a debt of gratitude to them. Father O’Neill referred to the

broadening trend of the education given in Catholic schools, which tended to eradicate bigotry and cultivate a spirit of civility and good feeling. Dr. Collins and Mr. M. Timpany, as being expupils of the local Brothers’ school, fitly spoke to this resolution. Dr. Collins said he had seen the Brothers and nuns in New Zealand and in the Homelands at their work of teaching, and everywhere they were the same laborious, joyous workers, devoting their lives freely and gratuiously to their neighbors’ welfare. This was Christian heroism. Who would not admire it?

Mr. M. Timpany said that centuries of experience had convinced clergy and laity that Catholic schools, with a Catholic atmosphere and a ruling religious influence were necessary if children were - to become staunch practical Catholics. Hence they shouldered the’ burden of providing for Catholic education. The magnitude of that work in English-speaking countries alone was immense. Dr. Otten, a professor in St. Louis University, states that education costs the Catholics of the United States £25,000,000 per annum ! Or it should cost them that amount, taking the Government expenditure as a standard. It does not really cost them so much. Why? Because the members of the teaching religious communities give their services for nothing ! What is true in the States is true in the same measure in New Zealand. We can keep our Catholic schools going. Why? Because of the freely given services of Brothers and nuns. These teachers could get, for the asking, salaries ranging from £l2O to £3OO a year in the State schools yet for us they give their abilities, their acquirements, their health, their lives—all from a motive of Christian charity! Is it neces-

, sary, then, to call" for an expression* of thanks ;to those ' heroic .men- and women ; : without whose self-denying labors our Catholic ' system . of education could not be efficiently maintained? (Applause.) , > . - Mr. O. Kelly, Gore, proposed— ‘ That the men and women of Southland, ; assembled *in this . meeting, pledge themselves to ; support with well-ordered vigor the New ' Zealand Catholic Federation in the steps it may take for the removal of Catholic educational grievances and for the attainment of its social and charit|able designs.’ Mr. Kelly said he had always been n hustler, and a fighter. Like Father Lynch, he liked .-.to call a spade a spade. If you do not fight and hustle you will soon find the other fellow in upon your claim. In dealing with ..politicians; especially, you have to be emphatic, not in words merely, but in the use of the strong arm. Pass resolutions at , meetings once a year and then retire into the * shade for a twelve month, and public men will trouble little about you. But push on, hustle, get a following with votes; then the politician will take off his hat to you. Speeches not followed by action are of little use. He believed in action— the sporadic vagaries of cranks and individualists, —but in action with discipline and under authority. Discipline, self-control, and obedience to the leaders are essential conditions in all combined

action, whether in warfare, in industry and commerce, or in religious and social matters. Without authority and obedience to it, without discipline, you will have only internal conflict, the neutralising of energies and consequently chaos -instead of ordered progress.-.;, Hence this meeting pledges itself to support with vigor, discipline, and obedience, the direction of the heads of the Federation. (Loud applause.) Mr. W. Caulfield, Woodstock, in seconding the resolution, said he knew who Mr. Kelly’s model is—von Hindenburg, the man of . action, hustle, and fight. (Laughter.) True speeches and resolutions, if not followed by action are mostly a heating of the air. For "30 years Anglican and . Presbyterian synods had been , passing resolutions on the education question ; but no one' bothered even to read their resolutions. But when they got that hustling Bible-in-schools Canon from Queensland, the country was soon in a ferment; everyone was studying the Bible-in-schools question, and the politicians were for some time sorely troubled. The din and whirr of the heavy guns is necessary to remove obstacles, but it is the rush and bayonets of the infantry that carry the position. So the noise of speeches, resolutions, and applause is good for the Federation, but it must be followed by well-ordered, faithful, vigorous support. The various resolutions when submitted to the

meeting were carried amidst enthusiasm. After the conclusion of the meeting a sports programme was got through, and this provided plenty of

■ ,-■ \.':/:■;.'-. fv- • ■.-.;. '.;■.-.j, ■ *».....: ; .v:,-;-,; '■:.- .>. ■.• •.-,*-,-• ■<■- • .....- ■....■■■=._-.-..: ■...-.-'-..,■.-■■ ■■» .. '•.■.■.■..*.■■' ■..:..-...-.-■-. fun and excitement. . - All • the ■ events : were well •• contested, and' there "were exceptionally/ large fields ,in; each instance. The feature of., the programme, however, was perhaps > the old men's race, which was won,by Mr., William Hishon, at veteran of 78 summers. • /" The- win ■;■ was a most popular one, ; and served to show ,in a marked/ degree the .; surprising activity of Mr.; Hishon, whose feat provided .something in the nature :of a revelation. Another 1 event ■ in which • great interest centred i was the tug-o'-war, the redoubtable Winton team again making its presence, felt to; some purpose. /. . "• ■-'•'-■' -' - During the day there were children's races galore,- : and a free distribution of toys and sweets to the chil-, dren. : Undoubtedly every person who attended voted the fixture the most pleasant that has been held under the auspices of, the Federation, and the management

I committee are deserving of ■ hearty g congratulations |on the success they achieved;,. In' this-connection: Mr. Jas.;,Collins as superintendent ot sports, is worthy of: special mention, and on Mr. Thos. Pound, the hardworking, efficient and : courteous secretary, J too much praise cannot be lavished. He had everything in excellent order, and with the help of an energetic and . willing f committee everything was got through without the semblance v of a hitch. t '['.;..":.-■ ; [ : ["...