His Faith Defended

Sun (Auckland), Volume I, Issue 283, 20 February 1928, Page 8

His Faith Defended

BISHOP LISTON REpin* TO ATTACKS^ CATHOLICS AND PRAYER-BOOK “The controversy over the Iw, Prayer Book, though a dome«a^^2? , for Anglicans, has a special intU* 1 ' for Catholics for two reason*. it veals the religious position of m millions of God-fearing Chris' ianj ! it brings into prominence somT !?' J tinctively Catholic doctrines nd nA' tices. We are therefore watching2?" keen concern and prayerful the spiritual struggles of our tell Christians,” said the Right R eT Liston, Roman Catholic CoadhT' Bishop of Auckland, in an at IresT?* livered at St. Benedict’s Church JIT terday morning.

“I am not here,” the Bishop .o dared, “to argue with bigotry or; norance .of any kind or to proroi, controversy, but I must chalij,' grave reflections on my fait!; and?' fend beliefs that are as dear as hf itself to every earnest Catholic oh best defence is a s mple. straight!® ward explanation of what beli«. and I take leave to offer tills to Y fair-minded men in our conimunitC the truth, the whole truth and nothin but the truth.”

“SUCH NONSENSE.” “To-day, I wish to meet file char& made recently in Auckland from* ’ Christian pulpit, that the Cathofr Church is not pledged to the cauasK Christ and that Romanism spelt superstition and idolatrism. I fess,” the Bishop said, “I feel it ag cult to deal with such nonsense utter* about 300,000,000 Catholics in the tm 1925.

“At the present moment AuekUci: city is honoured by the presence o' two Sisters from the Leper Station ir Makogai, the lachet of whose shoe; I, for one, feel unworthy to loose Theirs is a life service given to some 500 sufferers, the majority of erhoe are not Catholics. What is the seem inspiration of these heroines oi Charity? They would humbly answerThe love of Christ as we know Him from our Catholic faith. Our critic—if I must judge hipi by h:s wordswould have the public of Auckland believe that the religion of these sisters is superstition and idolatry and that the Church which inspires and blesses and directs their life and work ud that of many thousands like them, is not pledged to the cause of Christ.“I suppose our critic looks upon oor belief in Transubstantiation as the quintessence of Romanism; that is. of superstition and idolatrism, and the use of the Rosary beads as the veriest trifling with the serious things of God. “Great men like Sir Thomas More, Pasteur and Marshal Foch hive sot thought so. I read as follows in Macaulay’s Essays on Ranke's History of the Popes: ‘When we reflect the. Sir Thomas More was ready to die lor the doctrine of Tran substantiation, we cannot but feel some doubt wt ether the doctrine of Transubstantiation may not triumph over all opposition. More was a man of eminent talents. He had all the information on the suiject that we have, or that, while the world lasts, any human being will hava’ “Pasteur —the founder of physiochemistry, the father of bacteriology and the Inventor of bio-therapeutics—-has a secure place among the Immortal men of science. His Catholic piety and belief was as genuine. He daily used the Rosary and died with it in his bands. He wrote to a trial: ‘The more I know, the more neirty is my faith that of the Breton peasant Could I but know all. I would have the faith of a Breton peasant wontan.’ “My appeal,” the Bishop concindec. “is to earnest-minded men. Kis easy to learn the truth about us; It Is fair to give us a hearing. Our faith is the religion of 300,000,000 Christians. The Catholic Church is the mother of Christendom. Her teaching brought about the abolition of slavery. Alone, she enlisted for Christ the barbarians who swept away the Roman Empire. She taught Europe to read and write and built nearly all the great Universities of the Continent and of Englani To her does Christianity owe the beauty of its art and architecture, the strength of its laws, the saving ot fl» masterpieces of the world’s literatsre and, best of all, the preservation flt the inspired Scriptures of God. “She is, indeed, well worthy of study and her teaching deserves respect’