BISHOP LISTON.

Hokitika Guardian, 6 April 1922, Page 3

BISHOP LISTON.

LE'ITER r IO PREMIER

[| (l •n.l.fcU.l.Al'li- .Alt IMIKSS association] AUCKLAND, April. G. liishop Liston in a letter to the Premier says;— “I yield plate to no on.' in love far this beautiful country of New Zealand, in which J was horn, and loyalty to the Kill.;/. In so far as any reported remarks of mine should have misled thosr who do not know me, I ipiite frankly regret my share in the misunderstanding, and I trust when the people of New Zealand come to know me better, they will think of mu as my friends do.

I speak in that matter a.s a citizen of New Zealand no less than a Catholic Bishop. The Church is the mother of my faith in tilings external. Now Zealand is my country, the protootoross of my liberty and of my fortunes

on -artb. “1 could not utter one syllable tint would belittle either my Church or my country, and when I assert, as 1 now solemnly do. that the teachings of the Clip roll are in thorough harmony with the interests of my country, New Zealand, T know in the depths of my soul, that T speak the truth.

“That Catholics in Now Zealand )in.vo carried out this obligation ot loving their country their generous pert in her children’s toil and sacrifice is an honourable imiof. loyalty, however. does not nreelude anyone else •from striving tor the hettcrnient of any part of the Empire.. “Whn.t T said, and what 1 say now. with all sincerity is this—ln spite of the all too unhappy past of the Irish people at home and abroad, their sympathisers are both willing and eager to hold out the hand of friendship. The very first to strike this note were the Bishops of Ireland to a man, and one amongst them, who was often denounced as an out and out extremist, has hailed the Treaty which hinds liis country to the Empire as the very . gift of God.” 1