Current Topics

New Zealand Tablet, Volume LI, Issue 50, 17 December 1924, Page 22

Current Topics

Christmas Greeting As the festival of Christmas will be over before our next issue reaches our readers we desire to take this opportunity of extending to all our hearty wishes for a holy and happy Christmas. The Sinner Cleansed A wag was recently quoted as saying: "The Salvation Army pick a man out of the gutter, the Baptists Mash him, the Presbyterians blue him, and the Anglicans starch him." Nothing at all is said about hanging him out on the clothes-line, putting pegs in him, or ironing him. Anyhow, could not the Army do the whole job and send the laundry bill to the Dunedin public, who will pay it on Big Bag Day? Drinking in England A recent visitor to Great Britain was shocked at the excessive drinking in social circles in England. "The amount of drinking amongst women in England is appalling," he stated, on his return. "They all are full of spirits maledict," to use Dante's phrase but not in Dante's sense. Had that been said of women in Ireland, the blame would have been put upon their religion; and had. it been asserted of Carsonia, the blame would have been put upon their lack of religion. But in England ! England threatens to be merry England again, but merry in the Irish sense. In England drinking must be attributed to high prices and the low spirits. Antics in the Pulpit Recently the pastor of the First Baptist Church, Butte, Montana, U.S.A., the Rev. S. Colin O'Farrell, took a monkey with him into the pulpit as a text of a sermon against evolution. Mr. O'Farrell and the other monkey did some feats of climbing while a spot light playing upon them directed the reverent gaze of the congregation upon their antics. The preacher-acrobat aimed at "saving the world for God," presumably 'by showing that as the monkey climbs more actively than a man they cannot belong to the same family. Let us hope that the "worshippers" did not depart with the conviction that the monkey .is descended from man as shown by the evolution from, a lower to a higher degree of gymnastic suppleness. Anyhow, what business had an O'Farrell in a Baptist pulpit? An American <nmman had a. cable to himself quite recently. He was credited with the name of O'Bannion. We wonder has anybody ever known an Irishman of that name. 0. Henry would have been regarded as an Irishman if he had only spent a time in gaol; but seeing that he was also the prince of storytellers, he is heralded every-' where as a brilliant American litterateur. The famous Lord Kelvin was an Irishman, but journalists have made a point, apparently, of not stating that simple fact when discussing his notable addition to the sum of scientific knowledge.

Christianising the News An American Protestant pastor has been talking hopefully of Christianising the newspapers. It is not in irony that he speaks either, but he delivers himself earnestly and fully .in two columns of small print. We admire optimism, but this is positively staggering. He says there is no reason in the wide world why Christian principles should not permeate the news columns just as they permeate society 111 Comment on that would be almost sacrilegious. An Echo of the Tithe War A monument is about to live erected; to the memory of the men who were killed at Carrickshoek, Co. Kilkenny, Ireland,, in an engagement with the police and tithe collectors. .The fight occurred in 1832, and was one of many which showed the determination of the Catholics and some non-Catholic bodies to abolish the iniquitous injustice under which they and their fathers had so long lain. The Established Church was supported by tithes exacted from Catholics, Presbyterians, and others. The tithe-proctors, acting in many instances for clergymen residing in England, had the protection, of police in demanding from the poor peasant a considerable proportion of his scanty means. The "battle" of Oarrickshock, in which eleven' policemen and several peasants were killed, directed the attention of the English Government to the need of putting an end to the exasperating injustice. In 1838 the 'necessary measure was carried in both Houses of Parliament. During the whole tedious period while- the imposition of tithes lasted, with the struggles naturally resulting, the London newspapers poured out an ocean of ink upon Irish agitators and Irish discontent. The memory of the men who fell in defending their rights and property is soon to be honored by a worthy memorial. Salvation and the Alphabet It is a momentous day for the tiny tot when first it learns to lisp the A.B.C. It sets out to learn something that might lead it to the gates of heaven or place its feet on the road to hell. Everything depends upon the use that is made of the accomplishment of reading. A bad book or newspaper may well prove its undoing, and the disturbing thought is that bad books and bad newspapers are in much greater demand than healthy literature. Mr. Frank Russell, writing in the Quern's Work, senses the danger, and he points to the fact that while Catholic newspapers and magazines are doing their duty by supplying the goods, the people often shirk theirs by refusing to take delivery of them. He says that he assumes most people read the publications that give them what they want. In most cases this consists of nothing more than the daily newspaper with its long detailed accounts of crime and vice. The real worth-while current news could be gleaned in a few moments. Men who spend all their reading time thus, and girls who read nothing else than absurd novels would

be ashamed to be seen reading one of our own papers in public. Taking all in all, ho says that lie is forced to conclude that our g Catholic papers do not give our people what ' J they want, but they do give therm what they ' surely need. Laughing It Out The Klan has fallen on evil days—are laughing at it. An organisation may withstand persecution, but it has to be pretty genuine to withstand ridicule. A controversy \ has been going on in one of the Ohio papers between the local exalted cyclops of the Klan and a former member of that august body, who has tendered his resignation. Someone called the attention of the exalted cyclops to the fact that the former member had publicly announced that he was going to use his robe and hood with which to decorate one of his mules, and the exalted cyclops wrote to the former member about, it. The former member replied that he had considered such an action, but that on reflection it had occurred to him that "the poor mule had never done anything to deserve such, treatment." Then the exalted cyclops wrote and asked the ex-member why he had ever' got out of the Klan, and the ex-member replied by asking why he had ever got in. The next move on the part of the exalted cyclops was to write and demand return of the former member's robe and hood. To this the former member replied that the exalted cyclops would first have to reimburse him to the extent of $6.75 'before he would return the precious garments. There the controversy rests to date. The matter got into the press by reason of the fact that the former member, a well-known farmer in . / the district, turned all the correspondence over to the newspapers. As a result they opinion is expressed freely in the locality that the Klan is being laughed out of town. The Pope and the League of Nations Seven years ago, when the men of the various belligerent countries were endeavoring to establish peace upon a foundation of high explosives, Pope Benedict XV addressed an Encyclical to the Christian world, not only asking that peace be sought among the nations, but setting out proposals by which a just and enduring peace might be established. The politicians of the day, however, were all too busy singing hymns of hate to listen to the Pope's appeal for peace. It was only when President Wilson, representing a creditor nation, formulated the same proposals that the Pope had already submitted, that the war lords could be induced to take any interest in the matter. And it seems as if their interest was manifested by applauding them in public, and in private feverishly casting around for means to render them .ineffective. It is significant that in his closing speech to the Assembly of the League of Nations President M'otta. should .. have publicly vindicated the wisdom of those V proposals by quoting directly from the late * Pope's Encyclical issued in 1917. President Motta. said:"One can scarcely suppose that war can be altogether eliminated from human affaire; yet, if at last on a day perhaps still far away, its suppression is achieved, it ,

will be due to the system of arbitration that this conquest of inestimable importance will be won. There must be substituted ' the moral V-- force of right for the material force of arms'; J the earnest desire that all nations may agree in ' the simultaneous and reciprocal reduction of armaments with genuine powers to apply sanctions against any State which should refuse to submit to it international questions and to accept its decisions.' These 1 are words which I have quoted literally from V> the Encyclical Letter of Pope Benedict XV." The speech, delivered as .it was to a gathering, illustrious, but professedly nonCatholic, was remarkable for its references to Almighty God and for its frank and courageous enunciation of Christian principles. President Motta .is from Ticino —the Swiss Italian Cantons. lie is. a good practising Catholic, and before entering prominently into public affairs he was an active member of the Catholic associations of Southern Switzerland. Moral Laxity The moral laxity of the times in which we live was the subject of some healthy com- • ment by Dr. Averill, the Anglican Bishop of Auckland, He said, among other, things, that the censorious spirit of the '"kill-joy" was not the spirit of Christianity. The world was much more likely to be impressed by the silent witness of Christian lives than by any amount of censoriousness. To-day in particular the world was face to face with the plausible appeals of those who urged the young to regard the fundamental teachings of Christ in regard to purity as old-fashioned and out of date, and to doubt the sanctity of the marriage bond. There was a strong tendency to laxity and a. deep-seated absence ■if moral responsibility in the world to-day. "kj'he women of New Zealand, he said, could revolutionise the moral standard of the Dominion if they would refuse to accent into society and refuse to elect into Parliament men whose characters would not stand investigation. There is a wealth of wisdom in what the Bishop had to say. When one compares the very wholesome views expressed by Dr. Averill with the vague, shifty notions of religion expressed by Dean Inge, the Gloomy Dean loses considerably in the comparison. D ean Inge's Views Dean Inge favors "what he terms "the religion of sensible men," and he goes on to analyse this "week-day religion of Englishmen" in its various forms. "Perhaps Ave may say that at the back of the Avork-a-day religion of nearly all Protestants there is a deep respect for the national idea of a fine character —that tradition of conduct befitting a gentleman, which has been the saving grace of the English people for centuries. We need not regret that Ave have a secular and national religion of this kind. The homely maxim, ' Play the Game,' carries' an Englishman far, and is worth more than high-sound-**ing appeals to the eternal principles of justice." The Bombay Examiner, commenting on Dean Inge's idea of religion, says that of the three elements of religion—divine j truth, worship, and morality— first two J.. have been eliminated. Dr. Inge's English- ! Ess

man has simply put his own moral code in the place of religion. ''Playing the Game" has value as a rough and ready moral criterium, but if you separate it from "the eternal principles of justice," you separate it from the idea of God. It is taken for granted that a religion is necessary. The quetsion then is, who is to decide what that religion should be, God or man? If God, has Do in fact decided, has He revealed His will in the matter? For a. country or an Empire that is professedly Christian, there should be only one answer possible. If, however, we have ceased to believe in God's revelation, and dropped all worship from our work-a-day life, let us be honest and say so. It serves no useful purpose to call by the name of religion what is in reality no religion, or to profess to be building on something that does not exist. Making tha Church Popular! An anonymous friend sends us a clipping from what is presumably an anonymous newspaper, since no identification disc accompanies the document to indicate where it came from. The cutting contains the cutting remarks of a non-Catholic lady who went to a Sydney non-Catholic church one Sunday evening recently and witnessed there a film performance instead of the ordinary service to which she had been accustomed. The lady was not edified, and Heaven has given her the wit to express her disapproval neatly. "1 gain intense satisfaction from ritual," she says, "but when American movies are mixed with religion. . . Have Jfou ever tasted salt in your tea?" The trend of the times is towards novelty. From all over Great Britain and America we hear nonCatholic clergymen deploring the paucity of attendance at church, and emphasising the need for making the churches more attractive. Empty pews must be filled, if not with those who desire to worship God then by those who wish to worship film stars. One almost feels afraid that long before the churches can hope to make society Christian society will have succeeded in making the churches pagan. A stroll through Sunday morning streets, however, will convince the most sceptical that the Catholic Church, at least, does not require the assistance of the movies to draw worshippers to her door. It is no passing show that sends our thousands tramping through .the rain. A Wit's Warning Apropos of the foregoing, the wise an:! witty 'Stephen Leacock has a word to say. Just as Mr. Swiveller knew that a pig emerging from a chemist's shop with a straw in his mouth was a sure sign of rain, so also is Professor Leacock convinced that the craze for novelty in religion will ultimately transfer the business of the theatre and the saloon to the churches. lie does not say so directly, He merely tells a tale and points a. moral. He presents a paragraph taken from any local paper in any country town in 1930: "The vaudeville and minstrel show put on at the Forth Street Church last night was in every sense a marked success. The occasion proved that the choice of the new

pastor is indeed an admirable one. "Wo have never, .even at the Gaiety Theatre, seen better black-face work than that of the Rev. Mr. Hopgood last night, while his buck-wing dancing is better than that of any spiritual worker seen among us for a decade. Several of the leaders and church-wardens as endmen almost rivalled the honors of Mr. Hopgood. The dancing of the ladies of the congregation, who formed the chorus, particularly pleased us. Altogether we felt the chairman was quite justified in his boast that the modern church has put the saloon out of business." An Object Lesson For many years it was believed that a world bristling with bayonets was the best possible security against war. "If you wish for peace, prepare for war," was regarded as an axiom. Recent history, however, appears to have shown that great armaments, far from preserving the peace, are a direct incentive to break the peace. Armaments show a lack of confidence in the good intentions of our neighbors, and they breed suspicion of our own intentions in the minds, of others. Thus, we have the race of armamentsnations building against one another until the fatal day comes when the burden of taxation for war material can neither be increased further nor sustained longer. That day, in all probability, will bring a declaration of war. The power that reaches its limit first will feel that it must strike quickly before its neighbors become too powerful. Those who build -up great armaments do not build them for peaceful purposes, whatever explanations they may give. The man who erects a machine desires to try it out, and likewise the man or men who build tip military or naval machines wish to make use of them. Since the Great War ended we have heard a great deal about disarmament, but on the whole, despite all the soft talk, there seems to be more money spent to-day on war preparations than in any other period of the world's history. Denmark appears to have shown some sincerity in the matter, for she has taken steps to abolish her navy and reduce her army" to a frontier guard, thus saving an expenditure of about three million pounds. Of course Denmark, a small nation, can do this more easily than a large one. Her security, henceforward, is in Article 12 of the League Covenant, which prevents any member from attacking another until his quarrel has been submitted to arbitration by the Council. In the opinion of many there is no reason why other small nations whose armaments cannot save them from being overrun by a errit power should not seek and find security in like fashion. The choice has to be made sooner or later—either to rely on national armaments or on an international conmact enforced by economic or military sanction. "God helps those who helps themselves" runs the old adage. But if that be so (someone has beautifully said) surely God must help those who help others. The man or woman who does kindness is never left neglected in the long run, though now and then ingratitude may be shown.