REARREST OF PRIEST.

Manawatu Standard, Volume LVIII, Issue 42, 18 January 1938, Page 7

REARREST OF PRIEST.

ANGER AROUSED. NEW NAZI DECREE. LONDON, Jan. 17. A message from Munich states that Rev. Father Rupert Mayr, the Roman Catholic priest who was arrested in June on “technical charges,’’ and whose sentence of six months’ imprisonment was suspended, has again beeu arrested. According to the Munich correspondent of the Daily Telegraph, Roman Catholic anger at the rearrest of Father Mayr has reached - fever-heat, as the arrest is accompanied by a new decree aiming at the total elimination of the Roman Catholic Church from education in Bavaria, which is a direct breach of the Vatican Concordat. The decree orders the standardisation of secondary schools, involving the abolition of convent schools and private colleges and the dismissal of priests and nuns, thus giving the Nazis complete control of education. It is estimated that more than 600 Catholic teachers will be workless. The Berlin correspondent of the Daily Telegraph reported on June- 14 that the arrest of Father Mayr had disused the army, as Father Mayr is regarded as one of Bavaria’s national heroes. He lost both his legs in the Avar and was awarded the highest military honours tor his services as a chaplain. Father Mayr answered the attack of the Mimstei of Propaganda (l)r. Joseph Goebbels) on the Roman Catholic Archbishop' of Chicago (Cardinal Mundelein) by declaring: “It ie better that a priest be shot down in Spain that see his faith dragged in the dirt in Germany.’’ The Archbishop of Munich (Cardinal Michel von Frulhaber) protested the Government that the arrest of Father Mayr was a breach of the Concordat with the Vatican. Despite the restraint imposed on Catholics, the agitation for the priest’s release increased daily. Catholics feared that unless the authorities acted there might be an outbreak of violence.