THE CLERGY AND THE BALLOT

Dominion, Volume 10, Issue 3013, 26 February 1917, Page 8

THE CLERGY AND THE BALLOT

. ROMAN CATHOLIC PROTESTS ARCHBISHOP O'SHEA AND HIS CRITICS Keferenco was made to the conscription of priests at services in the Koman .Catholic Churches in Wellington yesterday, when' the congregations were invited to support the protest made by the heads of the Church m New Zealand in the following resolution, which was carried:— "That this branch of the New Zealand Catholic Federation protests against the Catholic clergy and religions being compelled to serve under the Military Service Act on the following grounds:— "1. That such compulsion of clergy and religious is abhorrent to the mindß of Catholios, and without precedent in the English-speaking countries. "2. l'hat the religious ministrations and eduoational work of all such clergy and religious are absolutely necessary within the Dominion, and this meeting earnestly hopes ana trusts that the authorities will take immediate steps to have all such persons exempted from military service.

"3. That this meeting fully supports the action taken by Archbishop O'Shea in this matter, and assures ''the Hierarchy of its earnest assistance in. any further action . they think advisable, and that copies of this resolution be sent to the Acting-Prime Minister, and to the local members of Parliament."

Address by Archbishop o'Biiea. 'At the Basilica. Hill Street,_ Arckbishpp O'Shea said that he desired to repudiate the insinuations made in certain quarters during the week that Catholics were asking for special' or preferential treatment for "We are asking nothing of the kind." he said. "We believe that it would be in the best interests of the country and a powerful help towards winning the war to exempt the clergy of all denominations from military service. For the same reasons that we claim exemption for ourselves, we believe that tho clergy of all denominations should be exempted. • If certain of the clergy or people of some denominations do not agree with this, and refuse exemption, we regret their stand, but that is their affair. The law of the •Churoh against tho clergy going into war as combatants is, as I have said on a previous occasion, a very ancient one, and it is a prohibition, not a privilege. Moreover, it was first enacted by tho civil power in the true interests of the State and at the urgent- domand of the laity.

_ "Nor.v we have in New Zealand— .tho oflly v part of the British Empire to have it—a law that does not exempt she clergy from fighting. There, is no I doubt- now that this law was framed ***}& passed in .a deplorable hurry. It hen it was mooted leading members of taj Government were approached by the Archbishop and others' of out Bishops and asked what would Jm the position of the, clergy. The Government begged them not to urge the introduction of amendments into the Bill providing' for' the exemption of anybody. This,'it.was stated, would enufuiyer the passing of the Act, which was necessary in the interests of the Junpire, and so on. They assured the .Bishops that a means would be provided by the Government to have, the clergy of all denominations exempted afterwards. How or in what way they did not say. but they appealed tn l of tlle Bishops to leave it to the Government, and all would be well. Being patriotic men, and not wishing to hamper the Government in any way, the bishops were uvil n l ath . everything would; be right. Besides, they were aware that the Act passed in England specifically exempted the clergy, and' tney were slow to believe that in any part of the Empire there was a likelihood of such .an apostasy .from the f ideals -that the British Tace in the past held in veneration,' and still professes to hold so dear, as tho non-exemption of the clergy would imply. Then as the months went by and the Act was'passed, it was found that seemingly no provision was being made by the Government for the exemption of the clergy of any denomination. Tlie bishops again approached the Government-, and. tho Archbishop called upon the Acting-Prime Minister to carry'out his promise and exempt the clergy. He denied that lie had made any-speci-fic promise, but after an interview, with tho members- of the hierarchy agreed to put in force the provisions of Clause 9 of the regulations relating to appeals, gazetted on October 10, 1916. _ He said that he had agreed to do this for the clergyfof all denominations when requested by the bishops or heads of these denominations. And this was to apply also to our theological students, when they had reached that stage of. their studies that they could not go back. This arrangement was taken down in_ writing, and a copy given to us. We were led to believe by the Minister that "this would be effective in bringing about the exemption of every priest or student for whom tho bishop appealed. So we understood, and wo came away satisfied. That was in December,. before the first ballot was drawn. In the interval, lam sorry to have to say, sectarian bigots got to work, with the result that tho week before last a Military Hoard in this city refused to exempt two theological students in whose favour the Minister of Munitions had issued the certificate promised, and tho ActingPrime Minister stated a few days afterwards in Duuedin that the boards wero not bound to take any- notice of ■ the Minister's certificate. And, further, quoted the refusal of the Wellington board in the cases I have mentioned. Now, I leave you to draw your own conclusion from this simple statement of fact. Catholics all through New .Zealand are resenting deeply the attempt to conscript their clergy, and' will resent it still more deeply if it is persisted in: We will use every means in our power to prevent it, and will appeal against decisions of the military hoards to the Final Board. But wo will appeal more than all te the Christian sentiment and fairness of a British community, not to persist in a policy that we look upon as lwless persecution and will resent to tho end."