Current Topics

New Zealand Tablet, Volume LI, Issue 43, 15 October 1924, Page 18

Current Topics

Monsignor Seipel About Again Monsignor Seipel, Chancellor of Austria, who has been confined to hospital since the attempt made to assassinate him some time ago, has now recovered and js about again. Ho left the hospital on the eve of his silver jubilee in the priesthood, and returned to the Franciscan monastery in which he lived in preference to the stately mansion assigned to the high office filled by him. The people crowded in thousands to tho monastery to offer him their congratulations in the Church of the Sacred Heart, where his jubilee was to be celebrated. The Most Rev. Archbishop Sibilia, Nuncio Apostolic to the Austrian Republic, was present, and the Cabinet Ministers and members of Parliament were there in full force. The aristocratic families of Vienna, members of the professions and callings were as well represented as the populace; for all felt delighted to have the saviour of Austria back again. The respect felt for him at Rome was manifested in the presence of the whole Diplomatic Corps, representative of most of the countries of the world. At the conclusion of Mass the Nuncio left his throne and advanced to Monsignor Seipel's prie-dieu to read to him the message from his Holiness the Pope. The Holy Father recalled all the head of the Austrian Government had done for his country, and he thanked Providence for having preserved Monsignor Seipel from the attempt upon his life. He expressed the hope that the wounds, which were thought mortal, would soon allow the Chancellor to take up once more the duties of his office. As far as the silver jubilee was concerned the Pope assured the celebrant that he participated in it with as much joy as he had heard the news of the attempted assassination with sorrow. His Holiness concluded by congratulating the Chancellor on the silver jubilee of his ordination, and wished him many active years in the priesthood. An " Irish " Criminal When Mahou, the English murderer, was being tried for his life several British newspapers "starred" the case under the heading, "The Irishman in the Dock." As a matter of fact, Mahon was not an Irishman. He had nothing Irish in him. He was un-Irish in every quality, attribute, and characteristic. Some of the Home papers report that he was one of Lloyd George's Black-and-Tans; and indeed the crime for which he was hanged was worthy of a member of that infamous force. In one sense the action of the newspapers in calling him an Irishman and m emphasising the falsehood that his crime was an Irishman's crime is too trivial to merit notice. In another ■sense, however, it is important as it shows the rooted unreasoning hatred of Ireland with which " these "journals arc consumed. When they discuss an Irish question thev rule to judgment on the back of anti-Irish prejudice; and the meanness that peeps out at us in small things becomes a. monster in great issues. The contemptible spirit that moves them to refer to an English murderer as an Irish criminal also counsels them to speak of an Irishman like Bernard Shaw as the great "English" dramatist and of the Duke of Wellington as the lean "Englishman." When Insh genius makes its mark it is claimed for England; but when an English criminal happens to have an Irish "Mine his crime is proclaimed as an Irish,, disgrace. The conduct.of journalists who stoop to tactics of this kind differs little from that of "Civis," the local falsifier of historical testimony, except that they do their ignoble work with a. certain amount of ability.

The " High Sign " The secret society is an abomination condemned by the Church irrespective of whether it is clothed in the pharisaioal respectability of English Freemasonry or the brutal arrogance of the Orange Lodge. The surprising thing is that the civil population tolerate it so easily, as its activities are directed invariably against the interests of the people as a whole. Every country in the world : is menaced by-secret societies. In England and the Dominions the Masonic Order predominates to the extent that it is almost impossible to point to a position, of trust that is not filled by a member. This kind of thing has the worst possible effect upon the character of the individual and upon the interests of the community. It makes for inefficiency, wire-pulling, and general corruption. Under such conditions the public servant, in the last analysis, is not the servant of the public but the servant of the oath-bound secret society that secured his appointment. Prior to the war the German military authorities forbade 'army officers to join secret societies; and it was only after the French Masons by their bungling .and conspiracies had brought their country face to face with defeat that the Government had to get rid of them and fill their places with honest able men of the type of Marshal Foch. The possibilities of the secret society in the civil life of the community arc well illustrated by the following extract from America: '"A Protestant preacher and a member of his choir in New Jersey were murdered some time ago. At once the police authorities began to search for the murderer. They made a stir. They followed clues. They had theories. They interrogated a multitude. Accounts of their activities filled columns of space in the . newspapers. Eventually a neighbor, locally, called ' the pig woman ' from her occupation, stated, so it was reported, that she had been near the scene of the tragedy on the night it occurred and that she saw a woman holding in her lap the head of the dead minister. Was that woman taken before the grand jury? Was the other woman arrested? Or were the detectives called off Was police activity ended? Were the newspapers silenced? Was the crime hushed up? Is the 'high sign' stronger than the law? Not long after this event, the son of a rich baker in New York State killed a poor sailor. He admitted the killing. He was arrested and tried for murder. He pleaded not guilty. But he made no defense, introduced no witnesses, did not himself testify. He was declared not guilty. Is the ' high sign stronger than the law? More recently an architect in a Maryland town, who was separated from his wife, bought a pistol and asked the hardware dealer to show him how to load it and fire it. Some days later, after he had time to learn how to use the weapon, he called at the house where his wife was, went up to her room, had an interview with her ,and when he came downstairs she was dead, killed by a bullet. He was tried before three judges. They declared him not guilty. Is the ' high sign ' stronger than the law? Just before Congress adjourned a representative from a Western State and another man went one night in a sedan automobile from Washington to Virginia. They parked the machine by the roadside near Alexandria. Shortly afterwards two constables came along, peered into the sedan, and discovered the visitors in the act of perpetrating an unmentionable crime. The policemen arrested the Congressman and his companion, and took them to gaol, after refusing bribes offered to let them go. At the trial the constables testified under oath to what they had seen. In the face of that testimony the jury acquitted the accused. Is the < high sign * stronger than the law?" The Klan and Protestantism "The Ku Klux Klan is a purely political body, based upon no economic law, no foreign policy, no fundamental

rights of men, no doctrines that appertain to a free people: it has organised a voting strength bound by corrupt principles of religious bigotry, racial hatred, place of birth, nationality, and the lower and baser elements of human nature that awaken prejudice. With that prejudice organised, the Klan seeks to put into force the identical doctrines that are prohibited in the TJnited States by its Constitution, and have been condemned by every pureminded patriot from that day to this." The foregoing is the description of the Ku Klux Klan organisation as given by Patrick H. O'Donnell in America. Incidentally Mr. O'Donnell shows that the founders of the Constitution of the United States embodied religious rights and privileges in the fundamental law of the land, and that they laid the lines of political power to run parallel, not to conflict with religious belief and the right of conscience. He points out that the strength of the Klan lies in the fact that it assumes to speak for the patriotism of the country; that it claims to be representative of the great majority of the nation, as the majority is at least non-Catholic; and that because it pretends to be a spokesman of Protestantism the timid politician takes refuge in the excuse that to interfere with the Klan would be to bring religion into politics. The writer proves that the history of the last three years shows that the weight of the Klan infamy rests upon Protestant shoulders. Hooded knights direct their wrath by terrorism against the negro, the most helpless section of all. The negro group is fewer than twelve millions in America, and it is Protestant by a vast majority. "Whatever else may be said about the negro, he is a devout believer and a sincere worshipper. Therefore, the Klan persecutes a race, denies it every right to which it is entitled by the Constitution, and having tried to strip that race of religious and political rights and debase its members as Protestant and American, it does not lie in the mouth of the • Klan to say that it represents Protestantism. If the Klan is a religious issue and is directed against Catholics it is strange but true that the Klan-ridden States are almost exclusively Protestant. It has been judicially and definitely determined that in Oklahoma there were 3500 outrages, ranging from assault to assassination of both men and women, but it has not yet come to light that a single Catholic has suffered at the hands of the Ku Klux Klan. Fiends in tho name of Protestantism have stood over men and women and lashed them into insensibility; or, in some cases, murdered them, but so far as the records show Catholics have escaped their fury. Hypocrites in the name of Protestantism have inflicted untold miseries upon men and women who seek consolation in Protestant denominations. The records of trials in klaverns show that klansmen have defied the courts of law and usurped their functions, and that their sentences have been, followed by scourgings and assassinations directed not against members of the Catholic faith: their victims now fill Protestant graves. "When it' is declared," Mr. O'Donnell concludes, "that Klanism is a religious question let it be said: Yes, it is an assault on Protestantism as it appears in the black race; Protestantism as it appears in the victims that have been outraged and assaulted: Protestantism »as men live in Protestant States, and Protestantism as Protestants have maintained liberty and the Constitution and the laws of the nation. And Protestants will undoubtedly not be found wanting at this late day." Old Stones and Continuity Certain non-Catholic clergymen have been writing to the papers to tell of historic stones which were sent out from England to be used in the foundations of churches in . New Zealand. In reference to one such boulder, an Auckland clerio tells the public that it was sent to St. Matthew's- Church, Auckland, from England, where it originally formed part of a monastery in Canterbury, erected by St. Augustine in 597, A.D. Finally, we are informed that "this fact spoke eloquently of the continuity of the Church, linking up the present with early days of Christ-

ianity in England." We know a respectable Catholic pawnbroker who exhibits in his window a Freemason "jewel." But he does not tell anybody that this jewel is eloquent of his continuity with the Dark Brotherhood or that it links him up with their past in any way. It is historically evident that the Church of England is not in continuity with the Church in England before Henry VIII. How was the spiritual supremacy of the Pope overthrown, and who "transubstantiated" Henry into a Pope, and converted the Church of England into a state institution? The Pope refused to sanction adultery. Henry could not live without committing adultery, and so he made himself head of the Church, and appointed a kindred spirit, Cromwell, his vicar-general. We know Henry; let Dean Maitland introduce Cromwell to us: "Tho Lord Cromwell was the patron of ribaldry, of low jesters, and filthy ballad mongers." To this pair arebjishops and bishops bowed and salaamed as to the supreme spiritual authorities, representing Christ on earth. And, as Gairdener says, "neither holiness of lif-v high integrity, wit wisdom, European fame, nor the memory of old familiar friendship, could shield any man From she King's resentment who would not declare his acceptance of the new doctrine of supremacy." Hallam says, ."An historian whose bias was not unfavorable to Protestantism confesses that all endeavors to overcome the aversion of the people to the reformation were too weak, and even intimates that German troops were sent for on account of the Bigotry with which the bulk of the nation adhered to the old superstition . . . the Protestant faith teas imposed on our ancestors by a foreign (German) army." No wonder the Loyal Orangemen are so fond of the Kaiser! Greer says, "The years of Cromwell's administration form the one period in our history which deserves the name that men gave the reign of Robsspierre. It was tho English Terror. The State Papers tell how faithfully the people clung to tho old faith, and how they resisted till the lifeblood gushing from their lips stifled their protests." All this is clear proof that there was a breach of such a nature that it meant actual apostasy. And that apostasy was accomplished by the aid of a German army directed by two monsters of cruelty and lust. Protestant historians witness that the historical facts of the case were as we have stated. And though some Anglicans of our day tell us there never was any change, the bishops of Henry and Edward had no such illusions. Jewel, Bishop of Salisbury, writes to Peter Martyr, February, 1562: "Now that tho light of the Gospel has shone forth, tho very vestiges of error, must, as far as possible be removed, together with the rubbish, and, as the saying is, with the very dust, and I wish we could effect this in respect to that linen surplice: for as a matter of doctrine we have pared everything away to the very quick and do not differ from your doctrine by a hair's breadth." : If this is not a frank avowal that the Anglican Church had turned Protestant we can not trust our senses. If there was no change why was a German army employed to make the people change? If the doctrines of the Church of England were no innovation why did people die rather than accept them at that time? Contrast for a moment the character of Cromwell and of Cranmer with the character of Thomas More, or of John Fisher, and ask yourself which men were on the right side? Of all the tragic farces in history there is none equal to the grave efforts of Anglican bishops to persuade themselves in the face of plain evidence that their Church had any origin more remote than the will of an immoral tyrant who introduced the State Church (of which he was the glorious head) in order to remove all restraint on his passions. When we consider its origin we do not wonder that men should seek to hide that origin. But the combination of good faith with their blindness is an amazement and a paradox. Save your hands from long immersion in strong soap suds. "NO-RUBBING Laundry Help contains no caustio at all, and so cannot harm, you. „-v^