THE VOICE OF IRELAND

New Zealand Tablet, Volume LII, Issue 24, 1 July 1925, Page 28

THE VOICE OF IRELAND

The Story of the Re-birth to Freedom of an Ancient Nation, written from Different Angles by Leading Irish Men and Women, and Others.

ABRIGED LIST OP SECTIONS Foreword, by late Arthur Griffiths, An Essay on Practical Politics. Behind the Scenes at the Peace Pact; Why we made Peace with Ireland, by Lloyd George., A Plea for Anglo-Irish Friendship, by Winston Churchill. Studies of the Gaelic Psyche, Sinn Fein— Origin and Religious Section, Ulster Section, The Language Revival, Social Aspects of Modern Ireland, Literature, Art, Music, the Drama, Ireland as a New World Factor, Finance, Banking, 'Foreign Trade, Capital and Labour, Unity,, and Our Common Motherland, Etc., etc. The above .list gives but a faint idea of the magnitude of the publication. Each section is written by the foremost authority on the subject. There are hundreds of other chapters besides those mentioned above. Altogether, this work will, bo a Book which every Irishman will bo proud to possess.. It will give a PERMANENT RECORD of the Motherland —a record that will inspire and instruct, not only at the present time, but also in years to come. For this reason it will be particularly attractive to the younger generation. SEND NO MONEY Write for your copy NOW —you . will not get another chance of securing one, as the Edition is strictly limited. Use the Coupon provided, t

This book, a worthy memento of Ireland’s age-long struggle for the right of SelfGovernment, contains a survey of the Pace and Nation, written by Foremost Leaders at Home and abroad, from all angles, covering Politics, History, Religion, Literature, Social conditions, etc.

whoso affectionate concern tor the Irish people prompted him to express himself in a “Message of Affection” to the New Irish Nation. This “Message” is reproduced in full in this book, some of it in His Holiness’ own handwriting, also his blessing on the Publication, which reads: - ■‘‘When a publication devotes itself to the Apostolate of Truth and Bight, for the enlightenment of souls and .the greater glory of God and His Church, there' is no benediction too high for its deserts MESSAGES OP GODSPEED ‘TO TREE STATE are also included from H.M. the King, the President of the United States, the King of Italy, other Rulers, Prime Ministers of Dominions, and Prominent Irishmen. ONE HANDSOME VOLUME. 612 Pages. - Full coloured Frontispiece. Portrait plates ' of Prominent Leaders. Numerous illustrations. De-luxe double-cloth binding; gold lettered. . This Coupon will bring it you by return mail.

-deux a humble child-nun, sets her upon a pedestal, and bids the faithful in every country honor that Carmelite -saint and to . invoke her: assistance in the great conflict with a pompous, pampered civilisation. v Churches will be put under her patronage in e’,«ny land and I congratulate you, my dear people, on having perhaps the first church dedicated to this recently-canonised saint. - / The calmness of. the Church is truly amazing. She has seen in the past so many rebellions against her authority come to nought that she can afford to be patient and forbearing. She*has seen so many enemies humbled to the dust that she can afford to be generous and forgiving. When she sees men hailed as great thinkers and philosophers and watches groups of followers applauding new ideas, she knows that those ideas were old when.she herself was young. The Jewish power tried to strangle her at her birth by scourging and stoning and killing her Apostles, .but they accepted their martyrdom, being desirous •of obeying God rather than men. Pagan . emperors perseii. cuted her for the first three'centuries, of her existence, but the blood of the Christians

i* became the seed of Christianity and the Christian faith was carried to every country. When Julian, the apostate emperor, after waging a cruel and continuous war against her, came to die, his dying lips admitted his failure. When an. ambitious emperor hoped to humiliate her in the eleventh century, he was obliged and ready to sue for forgive- > ness in the humble garb of a penitent. And in the beginning of the nineteenth century when the all-devouring ambition of the great Napoleon would blot her out of existence, the defeat and humiliation of himself were the outcome of his gigantic opposition. The Barque of Peter. Heresies have sprung up within her bosom. What she saw in the past, she will live to see in the future. Sixteen hundred years p ago almost to the day the first General Coun--1 v cil of the Church opened to deal with a formidable heresy, the Arian heresy. It was j*' a heresy that denied the Divinity of Christ and was threatening to destroy Christianity. More than tjiree hundred bishops assembled at .Nicaea in Asia Minor and there condemned the false doctrines, to the intense * joy of all faithful Christians. When the Church "was able to ride that storm, nothing gy could ever daunt her. Other heresies have risen since, but the Church will live to see them disappear. The barque of Peter has r j brayed many a tempest, and always at the critical moment her Master bade the waves lll'be still and ; the storm ceased to roar. , Many Catholics give expression to their amusement when they watch the volte face , that so often occurs under their eyes. In one country a religious body which was indignant with Rome because she honored saints has in recent times expressed a desire fio canonise saints for itself. Again, ri'di- ' •cujjp jvns heaped upon our holy Sacrifice, - 111*. Mass, which was denounced as a blasl l>nSmous fable, and now many members of f that religious organisation claim to have ; the power of celebrating Mass themselves,! to the intense horror of the larger section. The

title “Protestant” which,‘ -in- the sixteenth century in-England, was held to be the badge of orthodoxy and sanctity, has been discarded by many in favor of the-name “Catholic” which.was at that time the badge; of wickedness and error and the passport to the rack and the gallows. Miracles were condemned as impostures and belief in them'was held to be superstitious: now we have “spiritual .healing upheld by bishops and their clergy in England, who accept with child-like simplicity what unprejudiced inquirers reject as unworthy of notice. What passes as miraculous effects in those missions of spiritual healing the Medical Bureau , at Lourdes or the Congregation of Rites at Rome would not condescend to consider for one moment. V hen Catholics hear of the “superstitions attributed to the teachings of the Church, they think of the superstitions pervading everyday life, the unlucky' days of the week, the horse-shoe over the door, the leading of the cup, the cutting of the cards, not to speak of the highly-paid clairvoyant and the overworked fortune-teller.

The “Dark” Ages. We are also amused to hear of the Dark Ages, the term framed to denote contempt for the Catholic Church and to hint that she loved darkness and hated light. Historians of to-day are peering into that darkness and discovering many things that prejudice prevented them previously from seeing. They now see the grand cathedrals of Europe which were the work of the Church. They now see that hospitals were carried on in those remote times in a spirit that would be welcomed back into the world again. Education, of which we now hear so much and so frequently as if it came into the world suddenly with the Reformation, was fostered with a generosity that is unknown even now. The poor children of great talent were taught in the most famous schools, as every person of brains was believed capable of developing into a benefactor to his country. Art and music and sculpture and architecture were fostered by the Church, and it is only in recent times that historians have been able to . rub their eyes free from the prejudice that hindered them from seeing into the glories of the centuries calumniated as “dark.” From time to time we hear of a new religion being established, but it interests us only like the opening of ’a new shop or the establishing of a new firm. As we don’t know when such a religion or , society or club may be set going in this country, it may be important for you to hear the advice once given to a fanatic who conceived the idea, of undertaking a similar enterprise. He had made up his mind that “dogmas” should be abolished, that it did not matter what men believed, that th*e only important thing was what men did—all, in fact, precisely as many, people and many papers say to-day. This is the advice offered the pious enthusiast: “You will certainly succeed and your name will go down with glory - to posterity, if you fulfil the conditions which I •Propose. , He told his friend the conditions. lon -must first suffer, be scourged and crucified, and then rise on the third day.

Do this, and 'your-success- is assured.” The aspirant to the honor of 'founding* a Church understood the point, and the. world r - was saved an increase of the confusion resulting from the welter of man-made Churches.

The Church and Family Life. The .Church stands to-day as she has always stood in regard to the sanctity* of family life. Her clarion voice has rung-out all along the ages in defence of the marriage bond. Emperors and kings had !to listen to her teaching as submissively .as did their subjects. Those who love to malign her say that she has one law for the rich and another for the 1 poor. When they make that charge and specify matrimony, they forget that a Pope quarrelled with the lascivious Henry VIII of England : and as a consequence lost England to the faith.

Enemies of the Church speaking in the name of Science have often, by their misstatements, brought more discredit upon Science than upon the Church. A book dealing with the alleged conflict between Science and Religion published many years ago and containing many unpardonable blunders was recently re-published in America,' 1 all its stupid charges against the Church re-appearing in spite of the information* about the Church picked by scientists in the intervening decades. When scientists say that churchmen ought to interest themselves in science, the theologians could easily retort by saying that scientists ought to learn something about the Church. A popular, lecturer on Science speaking more than fifty years ago paid a striking compliment to the, unconcern with which the Church views the attempts made by Science to injure her. He had paid a visit to an ecclesiastical college in Ireland. He says: —“The Catholic priest is trained to-know his business and do it effectually. The professors of the college in question, learned, zealous,' and determined men, permitted me to speak frankly with them. We talked like outpostsof advanced armies during a truce—friendly enemies: and when I ventured to point out the difficulties their students would have to encounter from scientific thought, they replied, ‘ Our Church Has lasted many ages, and has passed safely through many storms. The present is but a new gust of the old tempest, and we do not turn out our .young men less .fitted to weather it, than they have been, in former times, to cope with the difficulties of those times. The heresies of the day are explained to them by their professors of philosophy and science, and they are taught how those heresies are to be met.’ I heartily respect an organisation which faces , its enemies in this way.” i ' The Church’s Unchanging Doctrines. The Church goes on her way calmly steadfastly clinging to her dogmas,'indifferent to the ' demand made by the, world .that she should . change them. She - cannot change the doctrines given over to her by her Divine' Founder, to teach all nations. To change them would be to put error in place of truth, to substitute darkness for light. She has always encouraged true science; she has always combated false science, - She has .

always defended the sanctity of home life and the binding force of the marriage bond; she : has resisted rich and poor, peer and peasant who would weaken that bond by invoking the assistance of divorce. She has never been guilty of idolatry, but she has always honored the bodies of saints as the temples of the Holy Ghost. Education she has always promoted, hut with religion ennobling and guiding it. She considers miracles possible as the work of God, but she will exact the most piercing investigation before she will allow that a miracle has taken place. . She is concerned about God’s glory, about the spread of the knowledge of His teachings amongst races whether at home or abroad. She dislikes false doctrines because her Alaster dislikes them. She is at once old and new, ancient and modern. She has lived long in the past and can accommodate herself to the needs of the present and can look forward confidently to the future. As “Jesus Christ yesterday and to-day and the same for ever,” so she is the same,, for she teaches His doctrines and His doctrines are true and truth can never change, . The collection, including a donation of £2O from his Lordship the Bishop, realised the handsome sum of £250, which must be deemed very satisfactory. • For the furnishing of the church, Father Buckley has a donation of £lO for the chalice from Air. R. Kelly, a statue of Our Lady from Airs. Alclnerney, a set of Stations ■of the Cross , from the Christian Brothers, Dunedin, and a statue of the Sacred Heart from an anonymous donor. J <X>