THE ROMAN CATHOLIC CHURCH.

Dominion, Volume 5, Issue 1304, 6 December 1911, Page 9

THE ROMAN CATHOLIC CHURCH.

AND THE LIQUOR TRAFFIC.

CABDINAL MANNING said"How can we contend against these legalised and multiplied facilities and temptations'to intoxication? This is my answer .to thq blind objurgation of those who tell us tho ministers of religion are not doing their part; let tho Legislature do its part, and v;e will answer for the rest." ' New Zealand's Legislature has done its part; New Zealand looks to tho Eoman Catholic derjy to do theirs. ARCHBISHOP IRELAKD said'"We have seen that thero is no hope of improving in any shape or form the liquor traffic, There is nothing now to be done but to wipe it out completely." PATHEK MATTHEAV wrote"The question of prohibiting the sale of ardent spirits and the many other intoxicating drinks which are now to be found in our unhappy country is not new to me. The principle of Prohibition seems to me the ONLY SAFE and CERTAIN REMEDY for the evils of intemperance; This opinion luis been strengthened by the hard labour of more tlinn twenty years in the temperance cause." RE\\ FATHER HAYS said"THE LICENSING SYSTEM of the liquor traffic utterly thwarted the third petition of the Lord's Prayer, 'Thy Kingdom Come.'

. "They had a terrible responsibility resting upon them as citizens of this great Umpire. They had a still weightier responsibility as followers of Jesus Christ. . ... . Sacrifice for others was the essence of true civilisation, as" it was the essence of Christianity itself." ■rATHEIt JOHN O'BRIEN, of Cambridge, Mass., U.S.A.: "I would say that No-License hns been a great success in Cambridge. It removes temptation from the rath" of .the young; it saves innocent children from the demoralising and often shameful scenes of the open bar-room. Profoundly conscious of my rcsponsibllity to God for the advice I offer in the matter, v;ith a firm conviction that the interests of religion, morality, and good citizenship are involved, I. say to all who he-ar my voice: 'Vote No-License.". T.'jWfttew.ionly hope that Archbishop Ked■svbdd is-ds profoundly conscious of nis responsibility in the advice he has offeree to Roman Catholics .in New Zealand. It is to be-.noted, by all pood Ronuin Catholics that the' Archbishop's circular 'letter expresses no opinion on tho question of LOCAL NO-LICENSE."

7 ARCHBISHOPS AND 27 BISHOPS Signed a pastoral letter, which was issued in Canada last year, and which contained these words:— . . _ "The Church, therefore, is not giving way to VISIONARY, PEARS in calling upon her children, and in banding them together beneath the Standard of the Cross to organise an energetic campaign against one of the most dangerous enemies of religion and country. In this she stands'faithful to her office and to her tradition? It has, above all, teafficln intoxicating liquor SHOULD BE SUPPRESSED." WHY SHOULD OUR CATHOLIC CHURCH IN NEW ZEALAND RAISE VISIONARY VEARS AND OPPOSE THE CAMPAIGN AGAINST THIS NATIONAL ENEMY? ECHO ANSWERS, "WHY?"-Advt.