LORD BRYCE AND THE CATHOLIC CHURCH

New Zealand Tablet, 9 August 1917, Page 36

LORD BRYCE AND THE CATHOLIC CHURCH

Lord Bryce is a gentleman whose character, attainments, and career entitle him to respect. With many of his acts of policy, we have found" ourselves in sympathy, and, generally, it can be said that his public utterances have given no ground for offence except to the enemies of the country (states the Catholic Times). We are therefore at a loss to understand why he should at the present time have touched on a subject of religious controversy in words calculated, it seems to us, to create an erroneous impression. He is reported by the English Churchman to have said at the annual meeting of the Evangelical Union of South America, which was held in the Queen’s Hall: “They knew that the Roman Catholic Church sank to a much lower level in Spain and Portugal than in any other country. Spanish and Portuguese America were even a great deal lower. The average level of the clergy had sunk very low indeed.” We do not know whence Lord Bryce derived the information upon which he based these statements, but at the beginning of his speech he modestly disclaimed any title to give an account of mission work in the South American field ; saying that the journey he took there was too hasty to enable him to visit the spots where most of the mission work was being done. We think his remarks to his audience were also too hasty. We miss in them such a careful, thoughtful treatment of the subject as we should expect from Lord Bryce.