"DR. CLEARY AND THE BIBLE-INSCHOOLS LEAGUE."

Dominion, Volume 6, Issue 1725, 16 April 1913, Page 4

"DR. CLEARY AND THE BIBLE-IN-SCHOOLS LEAGUE."

i Sir,—ln yours of April 5, Dr. Cleary has :returncd to the' attack oil the "league." 'His latest is much the samo as- his former pronouncements on this subject. I suppose l;ho other. opponents of the league feel satisiied with Dr. Cleary's leadership—silence gives consent, as tho saying goes. What I Was wondering at is this: That Bishop Cleary has ignored my refercnco to the attitude of tho Roman Catholic Church in the Western States of Canada, that I referred to in my last' letter. Bishop Cleary has not noticed it so far, but perhaps ho does not wish; to notice a mere mortal like ino in theso matters, as he prefers to go foil bigger game, in tho person of the organiser of tho Bible-in-Schools' League (Canon Garland). Bishop Cleary, throughout this controversy, has rojied on a lot of confidential and hearsay evidence, and utterances of dead men, and his persistence in these utterances is really amusing. Ho seems to have recently developed a fatherly interest in the consciences of ministers, or, is ho only bluffing olf his other confederates. A few moro of theso letters of tho Bishop will, 1 think, bring some of these peoplo to their senses. Perhaps I should not have noticed Bishop Cleary's latest, but for the statement at tho end of his letter, wherein he states regarding Cardinal Moran, that "liko all Catholics he believed in re : ligious instruction, on fair, all-round conditions. There is no divergence, iii substance, between his. (Cardinal Moran's) yieivs, and those expressed by mo (Bishop Cleary) and in_ 1901 by the Catholic Hierarchy of New Zealand." 'Wow, sir, thero have'been several such statements mado by Bishop Cleary and somo other lesser dignitaries of the Horn an Catholic Church on these lines. 'What is the use of these negative statements? What does Bishop Cleary mean by "religious instruction of fair, all-round conditions"? Can he point out a state or country where these conditions exist, and where his Church supports tho State system? I wonder what his colleagues in Canada would say to such statements? Really, Bishop Cleary and somo of his clergy should put out what they think would Ixi a "fair, all-round religious instruction," and let lis see it; as it may not 'bo too late to exnmino their proposal, as time after time, they have condemned the present secular systom. I hope tho Bishop will givo us something to consider, ana not continually harp at tho leaguo for trying to better the present conditions. I also hope tho Bisliop will give us his opinions on the 1 rights of minorities in other countries, say, for instance, in Canada—l am, etc., THOS. M. MILLIGAN. April 7, 1013.