THE CLERGY AND CONSCRIPTION

New Zealand Tablet, 30 August 1917, Page 30

THE CLERGY AND CONSCRIPTION

GREAT MEETING IN DUNEDIN. v ’ RESOLUTIONS OF PROTEST. ' There was a crowded meeting of the laity in St. Joseph’s Hall, on .last Sunday evening, representative of St. Joseph’s congregation, to'consider the Military Service Act in its application to the Catholic clergy, religious Brothers, and . ecclesiastical students. ! Mr. John H. Brown presided, and , the proceedings throughout were , marked by deep' earnestness and a serious realisation of what compulsory service and the consequent taking of the priests, teachers, and students from their legitimate avocation would entail on the Dominion as ,a , whole and the diocese of Dunedin in particular. The chairman, in moving the first resolution, said they were assembled 1 that evening as a mark of protest against the military conscription of'those few priests, religious Brothers, and divinity students in this diocese of Dunedin. The question of conscription had for some time exercised the mind of every Catholic family in the diocese. It had now reached that stage when they .thought it necessary to take more vigorous action to prevent what they felt sure would be a grievous calamity. He was absolutely confident that the great mass of their fellow-citizens would be with them when the true position was explained to them. The speaker pointed to the many hundreds of Catholic boys fighting at the front, to the numbers of their brave fellows who had covered themselves with perpetual glory and laid .down their lives for the cause of Empire, to the energies of the Catholic workers in all spheres of war work, to prove that the Catholics of the Dominion had done their duty’. Assuredly that would serve to emphasise their just rights when they claimed exemption for their religious workers. At the very beginning of this terrible war Catholics were .amongst the very first to realise that a lasting peace and the preservation of true democracy could only, be had by the British Empire emerging from the conflict triumphant ; and with that end in view they had shirked no task or sacrifice. He felt sure that when the full facts were laid before the Government a good deal of misunderstanding and misconception would be removed, and that made them hope that the concession which the absolute necessities of the case compelled them to ask for would not be denied. One of the misconceptions abroad was that they were asking exemptions for the whole of their students. That was not the case, and never had been the case. Their bishops had asked for exemption of the theological students, but only for those students who were in their last four years. A full course took about 10 years of study, and although there .were between 50 and 60 students attending the college in Mosgiel, out of the whole of that number there were only 18 reading the theological course, and it was only for these 18. students that exemption was being asked. , Again, eight of these students were studying for this diocese, and it was only for those divinity students — eight for this diocese or .18 for the whole of New Zea- . land that they were asking exemption. The services of six or seven priests had been lost to the diocese during the last two years, and there were only eight theological students in the college to make up the losses that would occur during the next four years. They therefore considered it would be a monstrous injustice in fact, an injustice closely allied to religious persecution —to compel any of those 18 young men to take part in the war, where their . presence could make no appreciable difference to the final result. With regard to the religious Brothers, there "were only five in this parish and three in the Invercargill parish, or a sum total of eight in the whole diocese. These Brothers have come over from Australia without fee or reward to carry on the work of the schools here, and to give the children a

Christian education* ~ If they, or any of them, were conscripted it simply meant the closing of their schools —a contingency which was unthinkable' and which they could not permit to happen. At . the present time the diocese was' wofully , understaffed, and was working considerably below its minimum of efficiency. - In conclusion, the speaker moved—- “ That this meeting of the Catholics of St. Joseph's Cathedral parish, on patriotic and religious grounds, enter: their most emphatic protest against any of their priests, . religious teachers, and theological students being called upon to render military service during the present lamentable war." : ' , ; In seconding the resolution, Mr. M. Millar said : This is a critical time in the history of Catholicism in New Zealand ; our strength has been greatly diminished by the large number of our young men who have volun- . tarily undertaken military service on behalf ' of‘■■the Empire. Many of these will return to us no more ; they sleep on the hillsides of Gallipoli, on the sands of Palestine, on the blood- red fields of France. The operation of the Military Service Act in conscripting our priests, religious Brothers, and theological students will impose great hardships on the Catholics of this Dominion, and result in the closing of many of our churches and all our boys’ schools and colleges. The clergy of the Catholic Church take vows of celibacy that they may be nearer to God they are priests for ever, according to the order of Melchisedech and “from the rising of the sun to the going down thereof” offer the wondrous Sacrifice of the Holy Mass and dispense She Sacraments of the New Law. Their unique position as ministers of the Prince of Peace is recognised by the laws of England, the United States of America, and most of the countries of Europe, in exempting them from bearing arms. It is unfortunate that the Government of New Zealand, in preparing its Military Service Act, departed from the law of England, and in conscripting the clergy followed the example of degenerate France France, once the eldest daughter of the Church, but now and for many years past the victim of infidel associations. The priests of the Catholic Church are the servants of their people and are bound to administer the consolations of religion to the sick or dying at any hour of the day or night. Never were the services of our clergy so much in demand as at present. The parents, sisters, and wives of our soldiers at the front need the consolation of daily Mass and frequent Communion to enable them to bear the heavy crosses which fall on their shoulders. Hundreds of infirm and wounded soldiers are returning to our shores and are being established in hospitals and convalescent homes where our priests will have to visit them to administer the Sacraments. Reservists of the Second Division soon about to proceed on active service look to our clergy to watch over their boys and girls and protect them from the many evil influences now at work in our cities. In justice to our Catholic boys at the front our bishops are bound to keep up the supply of chaplains with the reinforcements and hospital ships. The number of the clergy of the diocese of Dunedin ; has > been reduced by seven during the last two years, through death, total incapacity, and absence on military service. Should the number be still further reduced by the conscription of all our priests of military age the ecclesiastical seminary at Mosgiel, the great work of the episcopacy of our venerated Bishop, will -have ‘ to close, and in many parishes Mass will only be celebrated two or three times a year, and the faithful have very few opportunities of receiving the Sacraments. : Such a state of things would be intolerable, and contrary to the best interests of the community. It is our solemn duty to vigorously protest against the conscription of our priests and to use every legitimate means in our power to secure the necessary amendment of the Military Service Act. (Loud applause.) Mr. J. Hally, in supporting the resolution, said he would confine his remarks ; to the teaching Order of

Brothers. ; Their purpose that evening was to prevent another .blunder being made, and to strongly urge the Legislative Assembly to disregard entirely those who were engaged in sowing discord and attacking the Catholic Church in a vital spot by advocating the sending of priests, ’ Brothers, and students to the firing line, merely to serve their own political ends. The* people overlooked the important point that Catholics, far from being disloyal, were deeply concerned in the success of the Allied . forces, because there were probably"*more Catholics fighting with the Allies than non-Catholics. The ; members of the Government had repeatedly implored the people to do everything that would tend to win the* war, to economise in every possible way, and yet maintain national efficiency; or, in other words, to keep the “home fires burning.” In regard to education, Catholics during the war period had saved the Government approximately £350,000 —-a somewhat handsome contribution to the national purse, but for which the Minister of Finance issues no War Loan scrip or other acknowledgment. Catholic Brother teachers, 'working under difficulties at all times, had during the war period done their work bravely and uncomplainingly. Living as they do a celibate life, they nearly all come under the First Division, and consequently comparisons made as there have been between them and the State school teachers were manifestly unfair. But even if public school teachers had enlisted in large numbers their places had been readily filled with experienced ex-teachers, thus maintaining public school efficiency unimpaired. With Catholics the position was entirely different, as if the Brothers arq called up the salary attached to the positions would hot attract applicants, and- consequent ly the schools must be closed. To prove that these teachers had done their work loyally and faithfully from the viewpoint of Empire, one would most readily get the answer (if it -were possible) from the trenches in Gallipoli, Palestine, France, and Belgium. The speaker exhibited a photograph of fifty former pupils of the local Christian Brothers’ School, forty-five of whom were either at the front, had made the supreme sacrifice, or were already in camp. When the Territorial system was introduced some years ago and the Cadet system was incorporated, there was no encouragement given to the Brothers to occupy the positions of officers in the companies formed at that time. If it was right to keep them out then, surely it must be right now. In conclusion, he said: “I have sufficient confidence in my broad-minded fellow-citizens to feel that where important issues are at stake, and such a ridiculously small number of Brothers are in question, the matter will receive the consideration it deserves, and our Government and legislators before whom the issue will come for final review will pass judgment upon it in accordance with the unanimously expressed wishes of the Catholic body and their sympathisers." Dr. O’Sullivan supported the resolution as one who had been through the conflict on several fronts and had seen most of the good work done by the late Rev. Father McMenamin and the Rev. Father Doro (now invalided back to New Zealand). He wanted to take the opportunity of referring to a fact attributable to the good work of the Catholic chaplains; that out of 200 men stricken with a certain disease in Egypt only one was discovered to be a Catholic, and he owned up to not having been inside a Catholic church for 14 years. Such results must make Catholic fathers and mothers proud of their priests and their religion. The speaker vigorously advocated unity of action in the present crisis, Mr. J. O’Connor pointed out that only a very few student© were being appealed for. There were 18 in Mosgiel and 12 in Greenmeadows who were now reading their theological course— a total of 30— and it was a very small lot of men to win the war with ! A medical student in his third or fourth year of study was exempt from military service, and surely students for the priesthood deserved similar consideration. Oh being put to the meeting the motion was carried unanimously amid prolonged applause.

"* 1 - • ~T* ' _ >- ■ The chairman moved that the meeting 'call upon the Government to so amend the Military Service * Act to secure the exemptions asked'for, and that copies of these resolutions be sent to: the Prime Minister, the Minister Defence, and the local members of Parliament. Mr. M. Reddington, in seconding, said that, the proper percentage of Catholics of the fighting strength of this Dominion on the basis of population would be at most 14.30 per cent., whereas there were approximately 16 per cent, of Catholics in the Dominion’s fighting forces,. a very great portion of. whom .were voluntary enlistments. In the face of that fact they were told by irresponsible fault-finders that they, as a community, had failed in their duty. He (the speaker) contended that the Catholics of New Zealand desired continue doing their duty to the Government in. the future as they had done in the .past, and he felt sure that .this attitude would be reciprocated by the Government. ~ The motion was supported -by Mr. J. ; O’Neill,, and carried unanimously. ' - - . ~ ‘y.