Current Topics

New Zealand Tablet, Volume LII, Issue 23, 24 June 1925, Page 22

Current Topics

,An Appeal to French Freemasons A French Catholic paper publishes the :< following advertisement: : ':' v.' WANTED '. ;-"•:..., From 2 to 300,000 persons without faith, without conviction, without religion, to nurse the sick,, to feed the aged and homeless, to rear the orphans, teach children, care for the insane, and dress the wounds of incurables, etc. ' ', \ • ON CONDITION THAT (lcseV2t6> 300,000 -heroes or heroines will devote their whole lives to \this work, ten ours a day, free of ; charge, accepting'calumnies for their sole - wage, being, content if they are merely allowed to exist. •... >- '-.- ;■ Wiseacres -',;. When some of our educationists try to say V- something very very wise, they usually; succeed in saying something, very very 5 quaint. , An f American named Nudd, who occupies the dizzy position of Director of the Public Edui ' cation Association, said the other ■; day that "our association is interested in anything ■ ."that makes for . character, -but I see no reason y why the schools should be brought into the situation." An American contemporary thus weighs up the remark" of the sage 'above quoted:' ,"This process of reasoning : ; should -be carried further: , For instance, Mr. Nudd might say: .'.'Our association is ■■ interested "-' /in- anything that make's for rapid transit, but PI see i no reason -why subway trains and trolleys shouldv be: brought into the situation,' or* our association is interested in anything that .will relieve thirst, but I see no reason ':-. " why drinking - should be brought . into the : :; situation,' or ' our association is interested L . .in anything that makes for people : ' owning "-' v their own homes, but I see no reason ' why ;?"/living in houses should be brought into the situation.!. The reason is just this: Schools '%*& are to educate human beings, not train > animals. ' Human beings : have: moral, mental, and physical faculties. " A complete edu-.-■";■*-■;cation demands the development of all faculties. -Morality and religion are at the basis of character. One.who is interested in' character must necessarily realise that ; the school ; —if it is a real education-agency-is'-one of the principal faetors in developing character. Schools are not to be confounded' with, the winter quarters 'of Barnum and Bailey's cirv;cus; teachers are not to be confounded with >.. animal trainers." - -.>'-'•.- . . - Continuity Absurdities ~ An Auckland "Star representative listened to a funny -.Continuity- story from -the-lips of an unnamed ; champ i of High-Church - Anglicanism one day last week. The; talk was centred around the complaint of ■ a certain section of the Anglican Church against the 7 ? "Romish tendencies" of that Church, the Star informant holding that what were thought, to be "Romish tendencies" were merely the rites of the old English Church, which have been preserved intact to this day by High-Church Anglicanism, After proving "-' /: •/ ' ,:' / -.

'■.-;,■,"• -?.'-V:«'r,.'i, ■•'- ■ -:- ,i- ■-. ::.i" -*- '- : r ■- ■■--.- to his own satisfaction that the Anglican Church is what the Anglican authorities say it is not, the learned defender of Continuity proceeded to say: — '-. 1 , . - . - ■■■ >: The Roman .Church i has taught for, so long that she is the one 'true; Church that many people have come to look upon any- •:-■.'• thing that is Catholic as necessarily; "Roman" Catholic! That, of course, is a fallacy.' The word "Mass," now used exten- " sively in English /churches at Home and '■ •. in the colonies, is .not. an; exclusively "Ro- . ;';- man." ,Catholic^;term/;v St. Ambrose , used .: the term in ; the fourth century. . . With regard, to incense, history reveals it was used in .the English Church during the time of St. Augustine. How then can; it bo - Roman Catholic? ;\ '; ':,'",/..,' >• '

Our Auckland friend 'conveniently .-ignores^: ; the; fact that'.'terins in themselves count for" ; nothing. It is what they stand for that is all important. In the Catholic l Church. to- , day, as in the time of St. Ambrose and 5t...-: Augustine, ; the Mass is • a sacrifice in which ~ bread 1 and wine are .changed into the body .;: and blood, of Christ and then offered to God ".'• by , the celebrating priest, But, the < Mass r is * not and never has -been a sacrifice in the>■■; Anglican Church. For : proof of this let us';turn to the Book .of, Common Prayer (Article XXXI), and '-'.'shall;.- find, not only that ~ the :Anglican Church repudiates the Mass,-.'-:'■ but-"' also ■ that the Mass/ which it J repudiates. : was '-accepted by the Catholic Church of old: '. England: "The sacrifices of Masses, in which . it ""was commonly said that the priest did c, offer Christ for the Quick and the Dead to _ have remission of pain and. guilt, are blas- ; phemous fables and dangerous deceits;";} And ■to show how'eager they were to abolish the doctrines of the Catholic Church of old England; ■ the Anglicans disowned the -sacrificial: •; and; sacerdotal•:'character..' of the; clergy. •'.:,1n v 1894;'the Anglican Bishop of : Sodor 'and Man, > referring to a*' statement by Cardinal Yaughan, said that "he (the . Cardinal) has said, and said truly, thfft for over three, hun- ' ;'dre'd.''yea.rs:'jtho. Church. : of ; England has re- : ; jected the- notion that the second order of the Christian ministry (the "priesthood) is to c be regarded as an order "of sacrificing priests. - and she has deliberately ceased to ordain them :; as such. .'..: Thus, Jik the ordinal set; / forth in the year the words with respect [f. to; sacrifices arfd ""Masses, .'were clean.; swept;:; ■ away This is proof that the term "Mass" : ■ used in Anglican ;churches does not stand ; for > the "Mass" which 1 was 'offered up in the -', ,:pi%R,eformation . churches_ of ..- England. ; ' . The Branch Theory High Church Anglicans are chiefly: con- ; ■ cerned about .three:.; things: (1) claiming to 1 be: the English branch of the Church estab-■ -• lished by Christ; (2) denying the right of the ; Holy See fo claim their allegiance ; and. (3) • 'attempting to identify the present Anglican ; Church with v the pre-Refo.rmation Church by ; claiming succession t to English prelates who \ •.' . •

;ga>Te % allegiance w xvuuie. ~ jc «i . ""*•, Auckland friend speaks of -what happened ; itp, the Church of St. Ambrose and St. Augus- . tine, as if these; two bishops were really • Anglican, bishops. Of course it is easy to prove from documentary evidence that both St. Ambrose and . St, Augustine recognised v.the authority of the Pope, but Anglicans do not deny this. -The advocates of the .V "Branch" theory say that there are three ; distinct branches' of the Catholic Church—the Roman, the Greek, and the Anglican . Church. The Roman Church.is that branch;presided over :by the Bishop of Rome; the Greek is that which, under the leadership of . Photius, , Patriarch r of Constantinople, < ■ broke oft" from the Catholic. Church in the • ninth century; the , English is the so-called , Church of England. The main, objections to ?.. this theory are well put by the Rev. Vincent . Hornyold, S.J., in a useful little book .entitled The* Faith of Old England. [, Let the Anglicans explain to us, he writes,, on what. grounds we : are expected to recognise their claims. - - Do they hold .that' whenever a certain number of Christians break off from the Church, they carry with them the right to be recognised as forming A a branch of the Church? -Many of our Anglican friends^-at-tempt to get out of this difficulty by admit- ~ ting that we are right in:,saying; that; England was in ; communion -with ;; the ;Roman Church till the year 1534, but they argue that this was due to the action of St. Augus- . :• tine, an Italian monk, and that he and those ■ who . succeeded him as; Archbishop of Canter*: ; bury ought never to have allowed the ''. Church of England to recognise the Pope as having - any"' authority or/jurisdiction .'fin England. They would have us, believe that England/' had grievously erred in accepting the Pope as; her head and guide in mattes of faith; for God had.especial d. f igns upoa the Church \of England. He had * destined x her H to be' a ; .separate branch of the Catholic Church, ' in- - dependent - of every authority outside Eng-» -land. ' ".'..... V \

An Impossible" Position Father -Hornyold presses the qmstion- why is it to be supposed that Englishmen -/ere destined to '•■."form- a ; Church independent . : . of . the rest of the Catholic Church. Why;s7:»oak of three branches when there should be hundreds of branches to correspond to the hi/n----drdrls of - different nationalities ? For ■;.: we must not forget that -the countries we now speak of as England, France, Germany, etc were in days gone by governed by ever so many independent, kings or ? chieftains! Tak* England, for '•' example. -We know 'that, as - late as the seventh century '- she: was divided into independent kingdoms, each -one with '?. its own bishoprics. Did/ each ; of these kingdoms constitute a separate branch/,, of the/ Catholic Church, and if so, were Englishmen in schism from? the moment that they weraf" united under St. Theodore, Archbishop of Canterbury, in. the 7 year 668, by command of Pope - Vitalian ? ' '.. When did the Church of ■ England begin to be a branch of the Catholic Church? Are the so-called branches of tne ; Catholic i Church' supposed l to - disappear when a country is occupied by a single king, 4 ; and reappear when the country is ruled by. sev- . " . . . .

4' '' " 1 '■- " 1■ ' Q fill 41- ' 1 Tjperal or many kings? Those Anglicans who ( 4'have faced these -questions' realise the absurd position in which the branch theory places them; hence, the theory which would divide U the Catholic Church into* three branches—- - the Roman, the Greek, and the Anglican - J is losing favor, and another one is' put forward. It is maintained by many Anglicans that Christ intended each bishop to rule and teach those * he^Vhas; under ?. : him, uncontrolled by the authority of any other bishop—as . V'many; separate Churches; as there are;bishops To an unbiassed; mind it would seem only reasonable to suppose that Christ had left some visible Head to His Church to teach' '; and : govern her unto the end of time. But that would mean accepting the Pope as the successor of St. Peter to whom Christ said. f>; ■■■' "Thou art'Peter, and upon this :.- rock - I will ■y build My Church." A couple of days after the. appearance of the article we have been discussing ; a cable message appeared in the j papers telling us that Bishop Barnes of BirV mingham condemns the , Anglo-Catholic movement as an attempt to Romanise the Anglican Church; which shows that his Lordship of Birmingham does not H look upon the , Anglican Church as a branch of the Catholic Church, but as the Protestant; Church which* owes its existence ;to .;. the unholy desire of; Henry VIII to have as many-wives ,as he pleased. . . • , St. Paul's School , 1 Father Paul Blakely, S.J.-, tells us in America of his quest while in London for St. ■ Paul's School, v concerning the 1 position .of | which -. he inquired in - vain. Later, ,■: reading. Hare's . Walks in London, he came on a page which gave him much insight into the purpose :of .the* famous : old school, founded by Dean Colet, in- 1512, to provide for 153 poor boys—that number being chosen by the Dean u\ as being that of; the fishes, taken by Peter.■- ; The i foundation. was; dedicated to Child Jesus, ■• - but from the beginning it took the name of "Paul's,?', so that,. says Strype, quoted by Hare, while "the true name of this schools -is Jesus' •. School ~ . the. Saint has robbed ■ ; ; his Master of the title." Erasmus wrote an ; : interesting description of his friend's schools; : ; v Over thei'master's chair there was a figure :. of the ■ Child; Jesus "of excellent work, in the = act of teaching, whom all the assembly; both / - T at ; coming in and going out, .saluted with a short ; hymn:". The "hymn", was rather , a V prayer, and a beautiful one. Is it still said by the boys at St. Paul's? ['- . | "0 my sweet Lord Jesus, who whilst yet , a child in > the twelfth year of thine age, | : didsfc so discourse^.with 1 the :■ doctors in the : . / temple at Jerusalem as that they all mar- ■ velled with ■ amazement at thy j superexcellent ; wisdom :\L beseech thee, that in' this school, by the tutors and patrons whereof I am daily >; taught ,in letters and instruction, • I may be i enabled to know thee, 0 Jesus,' who art the ojdy true wisdom; and afterwards' to have . knowledge both to worship and to imitate.< thee; and % also in this brief life so to walk S; in the way of thy doctrine, following in thy 1 .-. footsteps, that, as thou hast i attained mete f glory, /.also, - ;-depart out of this life, happily ay attain ; to some part thereof. v Amen." \

;■..;-.-...■'■■.'?.~--'. - - - • - ! -:-';..-vo-v And over the figure : of the Child Jesus was a Latin 1 inscription f ■ ; >' : : :'•;••• Visate me primum, pueri, atque effingitt "~ puris, Moribus, hide pias, addite literulas. , ■:. Or, in Milman's translation: Children, learn first to form pure minds by me, • t : % Then add fair learning to your piety. The' Latin verses provide a motto which , ought to' be adopted by every school supported by Christians,, no .matter what sect they may be. Di'stite me primum, pueri\ Children, learn to know Me first! Only by ' making' the/ knowledge of Christ the foundation and the corner-stone: of education will '■ the ills of r the world to-day be remediedOnly the principles of religion, the clear re- • cognition of Christian -'duties,", and ; the respect for the Ten Commandments, -will make men and women pure and ; honest and" truthful. And if they are not these things all the rest is vanity and vexation of spirit. .> The Witness from Outside The Norwegian ; review Vctrden contains an article from the pen ' of a Lutheran, pastor, Dr. Sigurd Rosseland, which tells how the Church- appears in the eyes of men who . judge her upon her achievements. Dr. ; Rosseland is struck ;especially by the' contrast - between the position of the Catholic Church and all other denominations in the trying yea rsTsinee the Great War. Thus -;he writes: : "Amidst the smoking ruins of the wreckof. the '/world-war, one edifice only lias remained standing, more firmly than ever—the Catholic Church. ; . While. other ecclesiastical organisations are suffering from their lack of unity and cohesion, and. exhausting their . energies in sterile doctrinal controver-. sies, or are paralysed by/a baneful materialistic policy, the Catholic/Church has gained in its internal strength, and its external influence." /;';-'-•/.■-■.--:.;■.-/-.'':■,' ;.':.'-"/" .The/writer goes ■ oh to say that the Pope is the most 'powerful /of living men, because'hiswords are .obeyed )-'i by over three hundred millions ; of people. ;.." In" this unquestioned authority, in its long history, its attractive ' beauties, it has. all the elements of success. Its influence rests oil solid foundations,' all the more in these days when so many ideals • have broken down and men's minds are looking anxiously /for peace and : security under the protection of firmly-founded authority. He then refers to the r "riches of. the Christian life" offered by the Catholic' Church to her 'children perhaps never more abundantly than in the present day. He tells how, during a recent visit he made • to Germany, a Lutheran 'professor; of "theology said to him: •.. "After all \ it is: plain ' that Christian life did not ; gain - anything by the Reformation," arid. he -quotes' a letter-of Henrik Ibsen, in which, the Norwegian dramatist wrote that he ; liked staying or . a while in a '•• Catholic country, because he found the life of a Catholic people more attractive than that of non-Catholics. .He contrasts the unity of the Catholic Church's teaching with the confusion of all other bodies. He dwells on 'the personal help given by the priesthood and the sacramental system to the everyday life of the people. He tells how amongst Cath-

;M olios :; one „: feels ; how real; a resource their religion is to them, how it enters into their. daily- life, how it wins their respect ; and! love. "How poor we are in comparison with this, he exclaims. 'We must sorrowfully admit' the fact." . He remarks, on > vfch*;?; . strength the a Catholic : Church i derives from .F vits not being dependent on the State, and m from the careful formation and training |ors its clergy.. In a remarkable passage of the article he refers to 'Lutheran'ignorance of r the realities lof Catholicity, and says: '-: "We stand apart from it because we do not know it. - If we knew it we would draww .nearer to it." s / He suggests that possibly "Lutheranism '■ has fulfilled its historic mission," and per-& ■-<"■ haps the] time is not far distant when there: will be a wide-spread return -to the Church from which it broke -away. Such' a pro- . x nouncement shows, in addition to its; sig- /; nificance, how the influence of the Catholic ' Church is growing in Norway, where■-/the // penal v laws enacted in Reformation days were relaxed, for the first "time only some : eighty years ago. .■ News .',•■••..'- An Indian exchange thus comments upon a; • journalist's definition of news as "any departure from/ the normal' V: "This;should: dis-i// pose of the contention that the press is a faithful picture of present day or any dayl> society. A husband who is fond of his wife t-: ;'"/■ is not);news, but a husband who throws her ~ into the street is news and deserves to be the ,; subject of journalism. No one will quarrel .with this. ■: As Mr. Chesterton has just written,. >..' we" cannot expect to . see headlines rin.large letters,.- "MAN FOND OF HIS. : WIFE IN CRICKLEWOOD," or "WANDSI WORTH WIFE HAS NEVER POISONED HUSBAND." We cannot expect to hear/newsboys shouting down the street that Mr. f' .'•'-'. Jones is not yet murdered, or', even '. that "k% Mr. Smith is still married.' If a Christian i'"•.' believes in his faith and observes his religion „•; he does not get > into the papers ;■- but if a / priest or a bishop hits upon a new fad, a '•-/■ modernistic theory, or professes his disbelief v in something, he will sprawl all over the \<f, -yj papers with flaming headlines: ; Now which # -of the two is ; normal .?. / According to this .criterion is : Dean Inge normal?" : Cardinal and Diplomat . ; A story is going the rounds of the Catholic/; papers which shows how the Vatican. authori- _ ties regard j the proposal of the ■ French '' Gov-/; ernment to withdraw the r French Embassy. s from the Vatican and to maintain the diplo- -; '•■', matic mission for Alsace-Lorraine. Senator > , 'de Monzie, the French Radical Senator, who ■- was sent to. Rome a short-time ago, has, brought back the following significant and./.. . : amusing : anecdote concerning his interview - with Cardinal Gasparri: . "Yes, , yes," the Cardinal said in speaking of the future chef de mission, "this gentleman will come, to see p me once, twice, or three times, to talk about :"■ > ■ affairs in Alsace-Lorraine; but the fourth r' , time, as he is leaving, he will turn around and say, negligently: 'Oh, by the way, at Beirut: . .' 'Pardon me, Monsieur,' I shall be forced to interrupt, him'Beirut is not in Alsace-Lorraine.' "