Current Topics

New Zealand Tablet, Volume LI, Issue 52, 31 December 1924, Page 22

Current Topics

The "Tablet" in Its New Form That the enterprising action of the Directors of the N.Z. Tablet is meeting with a full measure of appreciation is shown in correspondence constantly received in our office. We append a few extracts from letters in this connection: From Australia "The Tablet is a bright spot in a world of poor journalism whether of the greater or the lesser order. It has the body of knowledge behind it which is now become so rare." From Wanganui— A correspondent writes: "The glorified Tablet looks very fine and should take on well." From Abaura —■ "I like the new Tabid. It .is very attractive and should commend itself to every Catholic worthy of the name." From Wellington—• "I must say I find the paper very instructive and also very interesting as it covers so many topics." Palmerston North—- " Allow me to congratulate you and your directors on the improvement and additional reading matter in your paper." From Invercargill—"l. must compliment you on the decided improvement in your paper." From Central Ofago—"We are delighted with enlarged Tablet. Trusting yon will be long spared health and strength to defend truth and the liberty of our Holy Church." Moslem Defenders of Christ It is a satirical commentary upon the alleged Christianity of modern governments that the Moslem professors and students of the Moslem University of Cairo have had to urge the Government to prevent the name of Our Divine Lord being used in blasphemy by a. Zionist newspaper. Here is the letter that was sent: "We, the undersigned, professors and students of the University ElHnssnr, in the religious section, rise in protest against what was written in the Zionist paper ])<„,,- Jla,,mn against the Lord Christ. ' Grave are the words which come from their mouths, they sneak ibut lies,' says the Koran. This is a sacrilegious violation of divine religions and a provocation to public opinion the world over. And we find that the silence of the Government upon this audacious fact shows disregard for the principles of the mandate which declares that the religious sentiments and beliefs of the country subject to tho mandate are to be safeguarded We therefore ask your Excellency to follow up tins serious occurrence by punishing with an iron hand the audacious misdeed in order to calm public opinion and do what is necessary More the evil increases by this examnle and the commission of similar offences. We supPort the secretary of the Islamo-Christian Executive Committee in his protest and in his intention of bringing the affair before the courts, and we hope" that this present pro-

test will be given consideration by his Excellency the British High Commissioner." We hope that the High Commissioner, when he read that letter, did not feel like a very superior person dealing with semi-savages. Imperial pride sometimes makes us forget that humility is a virtue. Spare the Rod The new humanitarianism which aims at destroying the moral fibre of the unfortunate children trained under it, is anxious at the moment to banish tho birch from the schoolroom. Every now and then an irate parent attacks with pen and ink "the barbarous medieval custom" of birching scholars into scholarship. "The process of evolution," he says, "renders it altogether undesirable and unnecessary that my offspring should be humiliated by being struck with a strap." A glimpse of the writer would possibly confirm the suspicion that in his case evolution had not proceeded very far. Stephen Leacock, in College Days, has outlined a special policy for anxious parents who enter their children at boarding schools. If they wish their boy to be a favorite with the masters, they should imitate the old-fashioned type of father: "Now I want this boy to be well thrashed if he doesn't behave himself. If you have any trouble with him let me know and I'll come and thrash him myself. He's to have a shilling a week pocket money and if he spends more than that let me know and I'll stop his money altogether." Brutal though this speech sounds, the real effect of it is to create a strong prejudice in the little boy's favor. The Modern Way But the up-to-date parent does it all wrong, says Professor Leacock.' "Now I've just given Jimmy fifty shillings," he says to tho schoolmaster, "and I've explained to him that when he wants any more he's to tell you to go to the hank and draw for him what he needs." After which he goes on to explain that Jimmy is a boy of very peculiar disposition, requiring the greatest nicety of treatment; that they find if he gets into tempers the best way is to humor him and presently he'll come round. Jimmy, it appears,' can be led, if led gently, but never driven' During all which time the schoolmaster has already fixed his eye on the undisciplined young pup called Jimmy with a view to trying out the problem of seeing whether he can be driven after all. And he will be driven. ' Pre-Birth Reminiscences In this ghostly age nearly everyone is interested in the occult sciences. The prim school miss and the callow youth alike are anxious to peer over the Edge of Beyond and behold what their Creator does not wish them to see. All kinds of shadowy, unhealthy, and absurd beliefs are held by people who repudiate the Ten Commandments as unscientific. Thus we have a multitude of foolish people putting a severe

strain on the place where their brains should bo if they had any in trying to remember - somo incident in their previous existence,/ and perhaps persuading themselves that they/ had figured as Socrates in Athens or hfjd sailed with Cleopatra on the bosom of tho Old Nile. Jocular folk, however, sometimes upset the mystic applecart in a manner which brings tho gods into contempt. A writer in a Rangoon paper was travelling in Ceylon, and stopped at a Rest House kept by .a . fat Singhalese woman, who had a wide repii 7 tation for curries. He tasted the lady'l wares, complimented her upon their excellence, and enquired 'where she had learned tho art of making them. Let him tell the ■_ story himself:—"Her face grew pale and mysterious, and bending over the table, she whispered: 'I learned tin's when I was a Rani in a previous birth.' 'Rani? Say that again,' I exclaimed with a violent start. ' Were you the Rani of Kalputrigalle?' 'Yes,' she said, uttering a cry. 'Wait on! Were you the wife of the famous Maharaja Zillitilikc?' 'Yes! Now do yon know?' and tears burst from her eyes. ' Because I. was that Raja.' With a loud shriek and a, spasm tho woman reeled and fell heavily on the floor. Here was a scene. I seized a jug of water, and as Rajas frequently do, poured the contents over her face. That revived her, and as she recovered consciousness, she moaned 'Maharaja! Maharaja!' and crept on tho floor to embrace my feet. This had to be stopped in time: 'Woman,' said I, 'I mean Mrs. Punaratne, cut that out, now; you were the Rani and I was tho Raja of Kalputrigalle eighty years ago; that is gone and done with now; you are tho keeper of this Rest House and I a holy Sanyassi; just, as it should be. It was a glorious time auj*: how. Do you remember when we rode/together on elephants to Jakarapatno and fought the English and slew the British Em- \ peror?' She remembered every bit of it. ' And how you rushed to the palace kitchen and returned with two hundred different 1 curries?'—Yes, of course, she remembered! quite well.—' Well, bo a good girl and fetch me that pudding, and I'll be off.' She wiped her tears and did as she was bid. I got a I free dinner that day " J ■ Humanitarianism v. Religion The, truth of the proverb that tho devil is the ape of God is nowhere more clearly manifested than .in those who seek to run society upon purely secular lines in the interests of man. Humanitarianism has been described as Satan's masterpiece, for it presents itself in an alluring guise as a great effort for the good of humanity, but good without God or religion. Men of the type of H. G. Wells profess to believe that the Humanitarian Utopia can bo attained and maintained by training man to find happiness in the service of man. The idea of man, spelt with a capital "M," permeates every- j thing to-day. The humanitarians, puffechup with their windy theories, talk about train- I ing men scientificaly to be good and moral without any religious motive behind. "Serve humanity and you serve yourself" is the slogan of this kingdom of diabolical selfishness. A moment's reflection, however, will

show that man has never needed training in the service of his own interests. Generally speaking, the power of religion lies in the fact that the motive which induces a man to respect the rights of his neighbor is an infinitely higher one than the world can produce. The good of society is nothing to a person who does not believe in God, who does not believe that his eternal fate hangs upon his conduct:. He will be faithful to the good of society only so long as the good of society does not clash with his own desires. Father Francis Dudly, commenting on the absurdities of Wells, says that the whole Utopian edifice is based on the supposition that perfect happiness is obtainable on earth. All the vanishing glory of the world could not satisfy one human being. One 'by one life's trumperies are seized by greedy hands, and turn to ashes as they are clutched. When humanitarians would have dragged man from the Cross of Christ and set up the Kingdom of Man in place of the Kingdom of God, making humanity Cod, what would have been gained for man? Merely a glut of this world's gifts. And what would have been lost? The one thing sought—the happiness of men. And with it all would be lost, for the kingdom sought would vanish, sink to the nethermost depths of hell, and they who had flouted Hod, flinging back at Him, love and denying His truth, would have made their choice and fixed their fate. Unfortunate Russia It seems as if the Russian people are wed to misfortune. Russia under the Czars was never a pleasant picture to look upon. The particular form of government acceptable to the people, however, is their own affair, concerning which we have nothing to say; but ■ in their anxiety to rid themselves of the despotism of the Romanoffs they have placed themselves in the hands of as pretty a set of truculent adventurers as ever were banded together for the purpose of making hay while the sun shines. Interference from outside usually determines those who are inside to resist it; and the efforts of the Allied Governments to reinstate .the Czars in Russia — among which efforts must be included the infamous Blockade, for which Mr. Lloyd George was chiefly responsiblegave the Russian political adventurers a place in popular esteem which they could not have obtained in smooth days. The power which they snatched from trouble they made use of to establish a complete and arbitrary dictatorship which even the most autocratic of the Czars had never attempted to impose, and they marshalled their slaves under the tattered flag bearing the sign "Liberty, Equality, Fraternity, and the Rights of Man." It is superfluous to say that such a body of despots could not tolerate an independent authority other than their own within the boundary of their dominions. Hence, there was an early clash between Church and State. The old Russian Orthodox Church, like a good national organisation, capitulated immediately, but the Catholic Church does not capitulate has never contracted the haibit. She cannot make concessions in matters of doctrine and moral principles; she will always stand in the way of any attempt

to de-Christianise or corrupt the people. Therefore, the Soviet Government set in motion a policy of persecution against religion, of which the Church in her long history has frequently been the victim, though she has outlived all her persecutors from Nero to Lenin. At one time it was hoped that better relations would be established between the Vatican and the Soviet. During Russia's famine days a Papal Relief Expedition was sent to Russia, and at that time the Soviet Government assumed a friendly "attitude towards the Holy See. However, it seems to have been a case of "when the devil was sick," for the passing of the famine revived the spirit of intolerance, with the result that in all the vast territory of the former Russian Empire there is not a single Catholic bishop in actual residence in his See. Priests and nuns are arrested and imprisoned —many of them being given long sentences without even the formality of a. trial. The American Hierarchy recently passed a strongly-worded resolution dealing with the Russian persecutions. Part of .it reads as follows: —We view with pain and deep anxiety the extremely sad plight of the Christian communities in Russia. To them today, in the throes of a religious persecution surpassing in studied cruelty the fearful sufferings of the early Christians, we extend our heartfelt sympathy. History Repeats Itself To say that history repeats itself is to say that human nature does not change; that given similar conditions, what men did two thousand years ago they will repeat to-mor-row, the evolutionists notwithstanding. The history of the first French Revolution has been faithfully repeated in the Russian Revolution which commenced in 1916. France under the Bourbons was ruled by an aristocracy that exacted the privileges of a ruling class while repudiating the responsibilities. This state of affairs was present in Russia under the Czars. In France secret associations were formed, to overthrow this ruling class. These asociations, born of anarchy, viewed all authority as despotism. They were the centres of distribution for the revolutionary literature of the periodthe socialism of Rousseau, the atheism of Voltaire, and the blasphemies of a thousand pamphleteers. Russia had the counterpart of these associations in the Nihilist and Anarchist clubs, and the literature distributed and the principles enunciated merely repeated in other words the diatribes heard in the Jacobin Club in 1793. The voice of discontent was murmuring fretfully all over France, but those in authority, blind to the needs of the future, blind to their own safety, treated the complaining people with withering scorn. The salt mines of Siberia will bear witness that the Russian Nobles acted in like manner. The French monarchy was overthrown, and the revolutionaries assumed control, the atheism of its philosophers being reflected in the Furies who gathered around the guillotine to shriek with devil's delight as the heads of priests and nuns rolled into the basket. Russia's temple of justice is defamed by similar orgies. The overthrow

of the French king induced the other Powers to combine to replace himi upon his throne. In reply to this France went to war with all the world. The Allied Governments made the same ..mistake in regard to Russia. Then came the execution of the King and Queen of France. The Russian revolutionaries also executed the Czar and members of his family. France was the home of revolution. All the clap-trap about the supremacy of man and similar drivel found a congenial atmosphere in the revolutionary clubs. They were thundered from a thousand platforms; they rose from the throats of an impassioned people at the taking of the Bastile; they echoed through the streets when the head of Danton fell; and it was to the shout of "long live the people" that the bead of Robespierre, Danton's rival, was displayed as the "head of a traitor." Russia has not outdone revolutionary France in democratic phrases; but despite all the pother about liberty and the rest, within Pour years of the execution of the French King, France was under the heel of a military dictator. At present her democratic achievements consist in permitting herself to be bled white by a gang of Freemasons who were not around when the nuns and priests were dying in keeping the Germans out. Those who believe that the future of Russia is written in her revolutionary literature should pause to ask themselves what France gained from phrases just as red. Good and Bad Literature People do not attach sufficient importance to the fact that a hook or newspaper is merely the medium through which ideas are conveyed. If we fail to realise the force and impelling power of ideas we are in danger of serious trouble. The Bishop of Dromore says that the greatest dangers that beset the path of those who would lead a truly Catholic life are scattered over the literature that is served up to the reading public. Principles are advocated that have as their ultimate result the destruction of the family and the race. Faith and morality are attacked or rather faith through immorality, for, as everyone of experience knows, once morality is effaced loss of faith follows. lore dangerous than those grossly immoral or aggressively infidel productions are the publications which, if not directly opposed to Catholic doctrine, are unCatholic in tone and sentiment; or if not openly immoral, are .in their general tendency sensational and always ■suggestive of evil thoughts against purity of mind and innocence of heart. It would be impossible to exaggerate the extent of the barm such, books are capable of working on the impressionable mind of the young. There cannot be any doubt as to the grave obligations of parents in regard to such writings. But the exclusion from the house is only a first step in duty. Good reading matter must be provided instead of this, not only as an antidote, hut to preserve and supplement the knowledge gained in the school. Education creates a thirst for knowledge rather than imparts it, and it is the function of reading to maintain and add to the instruction received in early life