Current Topics

New Zealand Tablet, Volume L, Issue 41, 18 October 1923, Page 18

Current Topics

; Quis Custodiet? - ~" Apropos of our reference to modern dances, in a recent issue, a .parent writes to us: "I read you advice in the Tablet concerning modern dancing, and agree with you in regarding it as hideous. But why is it not only allowed but .advertised in our local paper that a Catholic Club is going to have the latest dances — turkey-trot, twilight destiny waltz, and so forth. Don't you think our. Catholic socials ought to set the good example?" :". Most unequivocally and decidedly we do. The ;bunny-hug and the turkey-trot belong to those who love to claim their kinship with the animals. We certainly ought to aim higher than that.

Scientific Quackery : * '": The less a man knows the more cocksure he is. This is truer in the domain of science than elsewhere. To the dupes of pseudo-scientists We recommend this extract from an editorial in the Journal of the American Medical Association'. - ' 'On© reason why the professional study of science -in general, and medicine in particular, has failed to win public applause and gather popular support in larger measure than it does at present lies in the distortions and misrepresentations to which this department of learning has all too often been subjected. The quack and the impostor make no sincere pretence of adhering strictly to the known in heralding their claims ; the pseudo-scientist usually dresses his propaganda in -a variety of raiment that may include ignorance, erroneous belief and mere conjecture. All too often, even the reputed scientist is found supporting a doctrine that is dangerously near uncertainty of demonstration, or;rests at best on the basis of inadequate investigation. Much of the scientific teaching of to-day is permeated with a cocksureness that is unwarranted by. the meagre facts of• experience or. experiment. . . The time has come when those interested in the dignity of science should protest, wherever it seems desirable, against any semblance of finality or any assumption of authority in unwarranted statements of those who trade on scientific investigations. ' '" ' ~

The Church and Miracles ; ' In reference to our recent note on the stigmata of Father Pio, the following comment by Father H. Thurs--5 ton in the Month is interesting: ' Father H. Thurston, S.J"., who has concentrated a ""good deal of thought and study to mystical phenomena, devotes a narticle in the Month to -the examination of % Father Pio's bleeding stigmata. Ashe well remarks, the utterance of. the . Holy Office _reflects no sort -of censure upon Padre Pio, and requires no one to modify "any conviction he may have formed of that mystic's personal holiness. But if, so he argues, the happenings •associated with the name of this devout Capuchin have not been proved to be supernatural in origin, as was I declared by the Sacred Congregation of the Holy Office, if the formation of-his wounds is not a miraculous effect, to 'what natural.cause can they be traced? "Padre I Pio ; is always exceptionally calm and composed. There is no bad family history. He himself declared that he , had never suffered from anynervous malady. He has £ never been : subject to fainting fits or convulsions, or tremors. ;;. ';., He sleeps well and is not troubled '"with dreams." :■: But, he adds, "we must give up the idea that hysterical disorders are only to be;met with in subjects | who v are conspicuously neurotic, unbalanced," etc. and suggests that Padre Pio .mayVbe affected by pithiatism, that is to. say, "the emergence of certain -neurosis com.monly classed as hysterical," and which may be as- } sociated with the most exalted sanctity.. r v,; .;;;;, v,; ? ; : ;

:' Father Thurston writes: "The holiness of Padre Pio or of Gemma Galgani or of such, famous mystics of an earlier age as Maria Agreda and Anne: Catherine Emmerich. may be real enough, and yet this fact is not inconsistent with a liability to. the occurrence of .suggestion neurosis, manifested at times by startling phenomena which very naturally have often been misinterpreted by their contemporaries, Long before medical science in these matters had reached its present- development ■ thejChurch manifested a sound instinct in the regulation of her processes of Beatification and Canonisation. No amount of evidence as to alleged marvels could be accepted in lieu of testimony to the virtuou,. conduct of those who were to be solemnly proposed for the veneration of the Faithful. Such phenomena as the stigmata, etc., were accepted and welcomed as part of the proofs submitted, but they could not stand alone."

A Point in Apologetics

In an article in the Catholic World, Mr. Belloc calls attention to the fact that our apologetic work is often marred in its effectiveness' owing to the alien atmosphere which we breathe. In four ways this is likely to happen: (1) By the effect of a Protestant surrounding upon ourselves, so that we are led to defend points ~which, to a Protestant, it seems natural we should defend, but which are insignificant or. beside the issue for the trained mind of a Catholic. We are there the victims of the minds about us, which have never been taught to think out their first principles, and which, nearly always take for granted some . particular view of their own as an admitted universal. -

"(2) By the error we constantly make with regard to the degree of change which is still taking place in the, world around us. We imagine our opponents in 1923 to remain under the same illusions as disturbed them in 1900, when, in point of fact, they have long since passed, into a new fantasy. _.,.'•' (3) By their ignorance of our philosophy. This is the prime character of English-speaking Protestantism. It has come to know much less of the continent of Europe than did its fathers. It has become much more ignorant of the general European past and of the development of civilisation; wherefore it has necessarily become more ignorant of what Catholicism is, and itis getting more and more ignorant in that respect (and in many others) every day. Moreover, this ignorance is particularly striking, in the case of those new, half educated "leaders of thought" and "best sellers" whom we have principally to meet. ■ :,

(4). By the lack of clear definition as a habit of mind in the modern world around us.

Mr. Belloc illustrates his meaningly the following parallel: :i 'u "' ■'•*•'

"Suppose you were arguing for the accuracy of the British charts of the Mediterranean against some other who thought them worthless, and, in attempting to convince him of error, you were hampered : "(1) By a general social habit (somewhat affecting yourself) which regarded English sailors as uninstructed fools of a low order - , "(2) By your imagining that your opponent was in his mind comparing British charts with French, whereas he had long ago . given 7up any knowledge or use of charts in any form; r —■ "(3) By his imagining the Mediterranean Sea to be permanently frozen solid, while you know nothing of his laboring under such an:error; 7 . •.;.-:;- ~" >' • (4) By his having a vague idea that a chart was important as work of art quite as much as a guide to navigation. ;-,*.--'.: ii ' - • v-"-^ - "One may easily judge what would happen to the issue in-such a case." ■ . : v/.o ; : On the importance of "clearing the issue" he

writes: - ** -•." _- ■■ - r ' r\ : -V . - v "I would affirm, then, that our principal task in. apologetics to-day, in ; the society which surrounds .us everywhere in England and in: most parts of northern America is to clear the issue : that done, advance by

the use of ■■;reason.;becomes';'- possible and may; go l far; that left 1 undone, such advance is always difficult and usually doomed at the outset." "_ x :-

Neglected New Zealand v %•■■_ The angels that guards New Zealand must blush for shame when contrasting the manner in which Tourist Departments of other lands boost their attraction, with the ; awful neglect displayed by the officials of our own somnolent Department. In Australia they make sure one learns all • about the Jenolan Caves, about the Hawkesbury' River, or about Gippsland. In spring and summer the advertising pages of Home papers are full of attractive inducements to travel all over Ireland, England, Scotland, Wales,- not to mention "Norway, Rhineland, France, Switzerland, Italy. You are told how to go; you are brought there cheaply and comfortably; and when you 5 arrive everything that can be done is done to make you pleased with your visit and eager to come again. But what a different tale we have to tell here! Next to nothing is done toattract tourists. One is not compelled to take notice of advertisements of cheap railway and steamer fares for scenic attractions. On the slightest provocation the services to the places best worth seeing are curtailed and made inconvenient. Hotels are dear, accommodation scarce, conveyances poor, difficulties increased rather than diminished. As blatantly as a dead thing can be blatant, the Department shrieks: Stay at home; we don't want either yourself or your money the show places of New "Zealand can exist without you! And, if you come from overseas things are ten times worse. You are held up for hours before being allowed to land. You sign idiotic papers, devised by a foolish Government that seems anxious to make jobs for its employees. Having written down such items as the age of your mother-in-law, your reasons for playing golf,- and whether you take salt or sugar with your porridge, an unhygienic thermometer is stuck in your mouth and you are prodded in the ribs as if you were a fat ox in a "sale-yard, and, at last, you land, unless in disgust with the country and its Government you elect to stay where you are until the boat carries you back to a land of sanity. If there were nothing to see in New Zealand, it would not be so ludicrous. But when one considers all the wonderful natural attractions of the

Dominion it is almost a crime. What other country can rival the weird wonders of Rotorua, the majestic Alps, the lovely lakes, and the delightful native bush, as it exists on the West Coast? God, has made our country 'beautiful and attractive, but man does his best to spoil it in every possible way. One day, on the North Main Trunk train, we heard a tourist ask a fellow-traveller: "Why do they run this train into Auckland at such an unearthly hour in the morning, when people are all in bed, and when one has to wait for hours to get a decent breakfast The answer was: "Because it is the most stupid and inconvenient arrangement possible." The reply was certainly cynical, but -most' travellers would agree that , there was much truth in it. In the same way, one regrets that no longer can travellers go by sea from Dunedin to Christchurch, while at one time it was possible to travel up in the night, sleep well, and have the next day for business or pleasure in the fair Canterbury city. One of the most enjoyable trips known to inhabitants of these islands, was the steamer trip from. Dunedin to Auckland, calling for a liberal time at Lyttelton, Wellington, Napier, and Gisborne. Now, alas! ; the boats that used to make the run- regularly: run no more, and there is a choice between walking from Dunedin to jpicton, and from Wellington to Auckland, and going ;by the tiresome trains. Once boats used ; to go to the Sounds in the summer season. % Now it is for most

people only '■, a vague idea that there are . somewhere on our- coast, beautiful places which : even the Norwegian f jiords cannot; surpass in loveliness. At the present tune, owing to the failure of the State means of transport to oblige the public, private people are carrying overland much of: the business of the Dominion. In

time, perhaps, private "and patriotic people will also

demonstrate to the shipping combines that they are, not essential to us. But better still, ; give us a private - company to organise. and conduct an opposition Tourist Department which will really prove to the public that it is conscious of the attractions contained in the;country, andof what can be done in the way of bringing travellers to visit them. " '"■■y'4 - - - ::z

The Only Way

Bishop Julius is lamenting the spread of immorality . in the Dominion, and the press takes care to tell us all about his grief thereat. .Bishop Julius is like the , man who'buys a lock : for his stable door after his . horse has been stolen. : For years, we Catholics have been telling the good Bishop and his friends that unless they fell in line with us and insisted on having pro- • vided for the children a truly Christian "., education, the results would be exactly such as those that make • the venerable Prelate, sorrowful to-day. If the Anglicans had joined us in insisting on religion in the schools, on the religion of the parents for the children, there would be less tears to shed now. They never us when we made our stand, when we rejected the free State schools and built our own, even though we were; unjustly forced by a tyrannous government to pay taxes, for the education of other children as well as our own. \ Has the Bishop been deaf so long to all the warnings = uttered in other countries, to all the warnings uttered by serious observers in this country, that he has only now opened his eyes to the terrible nature of the evil?., He knows, and most of his clergy know that the reason why ours is a living religion to-day is that we made for it the sacrifices which we considered essential in order to save it. • He. probably knows too that the reason' why the grass grows on the paths to so many non-Cath-; olic churches is because so many non-Catholic bodies' were supinely content to have godless schools imposed on them. ~ .The evil is immense. There is no blinding one's eyes to it. And there is only one remedy: the denominational parish school. Apropos. of this necessary institution we may here quote at length the following important consideration from an article in America by John, McGuinness (what he says of America applies to New Zealand): "In teaching religion the parish school pays due attention to the temporal and spiritual welfare of the child. It develops him mentally and morally, and gives him an education which is a preparation for complete, living, an education which enlightens the conscience by the

great truths of right and justice, and . makes them standards of action. In other words, religious training develops strength of character, and arouses a sense of moral responsibility so that Christian principles dominate the whole life. :- "''"*' -• . ' r.J '•:-•'■

"The most important end of education is the forma* tion of character. But character rests on the basis of morality, and there- can be no "real morality without religion, for morality to have life, and vigor, must be based upon religion. Emerson has well said, 'Men of character are the conscience of the society to which they belong.' With equal force he could have said, Men of character are the conscience of . the nation,' for if the nation lose its conscience, -it will, like the' individual, sink into moral degeneracy. Religion and morality are anchors which hold the vessel of state from ruin on : this sea of human passions. In discussing human ment,all great philosophers and statesmen acknowledge the utter impossibility : of permanently maintaining a: stable.' society without morality. History sadly relates the story of thei great nations ruined by moral disorders. Possessing a high "intellectual development, they 7 could not prevent moral decay from ; infecting the ■ individual, nor could they prevent*this moral decay from spreading from the individual through the family into every artery of the social body. s Mental culture alone will not cure moral disorders or hold society r; together. Plato tells us that the Persian Empire perished on account of the vicious education of the princes. Their minds were filled .with r knowledge, but ; without religious guidance their conscience became subjugated to their refined licentiousness. , When the Roman Empire was at the peak

of mental culture it was sunk in the lowest depths of vice and corruption. Ag long as Rome adhered to the religious policy of Numa her laws were executed with moderation and justice and her people displayed a spirit of ; patriotism, courage, and sobriety which command admiration. ; -. '.'At the time our Government was formed, we were essentially a religious., people. This was due to the denominational schools (none other existed), which made, the teaching of religion a part of the curriculum. f Lord Bryce, after reviewing the influence of religion in the early history of this country, which he calls the foundation of our institutions, says, ' The" more democratic republics become ... the more do they need to live, not only by patriotism, but by reverence and selfcontrol, and the more essential <• to their well-being are those sources from whence reverence and self-control flow.' ; "The parish school is valuable, then, because it takes the child at the beginning of its mental life and trains it in religious as well as secular-knowledge, developing a citizenship of the highest type —a citizenship that is self-controlled, which reverences constituted authority, respects the rights of others, and is actuated by the highest ideals in the discharge of its duties. In brief, its ideal is a citizenship trained on the principles which Lord Bryce calls ' essential to well-being. ' Leading human souls to what is best, and making what is best out of them' is Ruskin's description of education. This is the purpose of the parish school, as it was the purpose of most American schools from the colonial period until nearly a hundred years after the Revolution. The charters of our oldest American colleges show that they were established for the purpose of educating the youth ....' in knowledge and godliness.' The present public school, we must remember, is of recent importation. There is no trace of it in the early history of America. It was unknown to the signers of the Declaration of Independence and to the framers of our Constitution. The sterling character of the fathers of our country can be traced to the training they received in the religious school. The value of the soundness of the system of education given in the parish school, which is almost as old as the Church, is recognised to-day by a large number of thinking Protestants in every walk of life. They realise that the great need of the age is religious training, and the application of Christian principles to the disorders of the day. They are insistent in demanding the return of religious teaching to the schools from which it was dropped in the early 'fifties. ■ V ' "The parish school symbolises to-day a free democracy with personal liberties as founded by the fathers of our country, and guaranteed in the Constitution. Its entire curriculum forms a great bulwark against materialism which hates and despises religious training because it teaches respect for authority and places a moral restraint on our acts."