THE SYNODICAL LETTER OF THE (ROMAN CATHOLIC) PROVINCIAL SYNOD.

New Zealander, Volume 9, Issue 704, 12 January 1853, Page 4

THE SYNODICAL LETTER OF THE (ROMAN CATHOLIC) PROVINCIAL SYNOD.

{From tlio “Times,’’ August 18) If it were possible to assign any good purpose which could be served by the meeting of our own clergy in Convocation, or, rather, if it were not certain that such a meeting could lend to nothing but the disruption of the Church and its ultimate separation from the State, one circumstance which has just occurred would lead us to regret the restraint which is put upon her liberties. It does seem hard and strange that, while we prevent the clergy of our national church from meeting for the purposes of deliberation, we allow to a church which is not national, which is, indeed, regarded with the utmost dislike and distrust by a majority of the people of these islands, the undisputed power to meet to deliberate and to circulate addresses in the name and on behalf of its Synod. It would certainly seem that in these islands either the Church of England has too little liberty or the Church of Rome too much. There is now lying before us a printed paper bearing the title of a Synodical letter of the “ Fathers assembled in Provincial Council at St, Mary’s Oscott,” and the style which the said Fathers are pleased to assume is:—“We, the Archbishop and Bishops of the province of Westminster, in provincial synod assembled, to our beloved brethren and children in Christ the clergy secular and regular, and the faithful under our jurisdiction.” Since the Bull of 1850, and the swaggering pastoral which accompanied it, we have not seen anything more deliberately and studiously impertinent. With what an easy assumption do these men talk of the province of Westminster as of a geographical division of our island, legal, patent, and notorious; with what perfect nonchalance do they put aside the law of the country in which they live by which this ecclesiastical provision is proscribed! They have discovered the art of conveying more insolence and defiance by mere omissions than others can do by the most laboured invectives. The utter absence of any reference to the existing religion and hierarchy of the country excites the same feeling of indignation as two years ago, and points out in the most expressive terms the unbending and undeviating arrogance which thus avails itself of our tolerance to insult ns. We observe also that in this document the bishops claim “jurisdiction,” a term of distinct legal import, implying the possession of lawful powers, and therefore, in a case where no such powers exist, asserting ,a right in the Pope to intermeddle at his pleasure with the laws and institutions of this country, and to interpolate among them regulations which have, for so the word imports, a compulsory and obligatory force. These bishops, in provincial synod assembled, address only “ the faithful” under their jurisdiction clearly implying that they have jurisdiction over the unfaithful, that is, over Her Majesty’s Protestant subjects, and that if that jurisdiction be not enforced, it is from a defect of power, and not of right. AVhen we consider that these men remain in this country and exercise their spiritual functions merely because the nation is too deeply devoted to the principles of toleration to suffer them to be violated, even in the most odious cases, we may well wonder that they should adopt a tone of such exuberant and overbearing intolerance,, as if they wished to see if it were possible by any amount of provocation and insult, to induce us to retrace our steps, and employ those weapons of persecution against them on which their church in all ages has relied. They may possibly succeed in this wicked and hollow policy, but succeed far more completely than they desire. Looking at the pledges given by the members of the new Parliament and the feeling evinced throughout the country, it is not very likely the next time the Roman Catholic religion forms the subject of legislation it will be dealt with as leniently as before, and it is very possible that public opinion, if thus wilfully and repeatedly irritated, may demand the reinforcement of such laws as still remain on the statute book to curb the aggressions and check the insolence of the Papacy and its adherents. The document to which this title is affixed is a cariosity in its way. It is written in a kind of theological slang,—in a loose and slippery st'. le, which reads like a bad translation from a foreign language. Some of the sentiments are not a little curious. “ The faithful” are reminded that they prayed some time ago for the light and guidance of Goo’s holy spirit in the Synod, and are assured on the authority of the said Synod, that their prayers have been granted. Union and charity, assiduity and exactness, calmness, impartiality and prudence, have, in the opinion of these gentlemen—and who can be better judges of the fact ? —characterised all their proceedings; and they, therefore, appointed Sunday, the 3 sth of August, as a day of thanksgiving for the mani estation of these virtues among themselves, and the results to which that manifestation has led. Possibly the uninitiated may suppose that, in order to be thoroughly thankful for these results, it would be necessary to be acquainted with theii nature. Such persons but little understand the amount of confidence demanded from “the faithful.” soon as the decrees and provisions of the Synod can be made public “ the faithful” will see that great and lasting blessings have been conferred by it on the Catholic Church ; but as they have no authority, and cannot be enforced till they have received the judgement and correction of the Pope, “ the faithful” must be content for the present with thankfulness and ignorance. Here, then, we have, for the first time since the establishment of the Protestant religion in this country, a body of Romish ecclesiastics meeting together to make laws which, when they have received the assent of a foreign prince, are to be binding, to be of authority, and to be enforced. Will these laws be in accordance with the lyws of the land ? Will they be such as a good subject ought to obey ? and if not, what is the course which Her Majesty's Roman Catholic subjects will be compelled to take? We have seen, by recent experience in Ireland, that to vote for one Parliamentary candidate in preference to another is a religious question involving the happiness or misery of the elector to all eternity. If this sanction has been sufficient to extort obedience to the will of an electioneering priest, can we doubt that at least as much reverence will be paid to the decrees of a Synod sanctioned and ratified by the Pope ? And if so, is there not established within this country a Parliament owing allegiance to a foreign Power claiming jurisdiction and authority over all Her Majesty’s subjects, and having power to enforce its laws ? We have neither space nor inclination to go over the long and vapid harangue, in which the most arrogant of men recommend humility—• the most intolerant, charity—and the ministers of a church which will not trust the people with the Bible expatiate on the advantages of religious knowledge. These things we must pass by, but we cannot deny ourselves the pleasure of citing a prophecy, which considering the influences under which the Synod claims to have met, they, of course, believe will be speedily fulfilled :—“ When the Catholic University In Ireland is established it is anticipated that we may see revived what formed the glory of Ireland in the early stages of Christianity—multitudes who loved heavenly as well as earthly wisdom sailing to her from distant shores, to obtain the still undivided treasure at her hand. T’liis is a bold prediction, for appearances are certainly at present the other way. Earthly wisdom is leading the people of Ireland to seek distant shores, and they evince not the slightest desire to carry the heavenly wisdom of their priests along with them. At present the confessors of the Isle of Saints exercise a repulsive instead of an attractive power, and seem much more likely to despatch their own congregations to Michigan, or Wisconsin, than to receive recruits from any quarter of the universe.