CLEVER TACTICS.

New Zealand Tablet, Volume IV, Issue 190, 17 November 1876, Page 10

CLEVER TACTICS.

It appears to us a most pregnant fact that the tactics of th« various parties opposed to Catholicism ia any part of the world are one and the same, so much so, indeed, that instead of naming them various parties as we have done, we should be fully justified in affirming them to form but a single body, united bj an identity of guiding principles and a common end. A like spirit animates the staid adherents of puritanisni, and the wild raauiaca of the commune, and the polished Anglican goes hand in hand with the rough schismatic who inhabits the districts that lie on the verge of European civilization. All these in their different spheres are the enemies of the Church, and all have hit upon a plan eminently calculated, if it may but be carried out successfully, to rob of her children the Mother of Saints. Scarcely had the ages of violent persecution and a propaganda acting by force come to an end in Ireland, when many so called religious societies began to spread their emissaries throughout the land with the forlorn hope of sapping the faith of a nation, that centuries of suffering had not been able to overcome. Some of these people were actuated by foolishne3ss only : others combined with this the more reprehensible motive of self-interest ; and amongst them were found numbers of all the ranks of society, from the " Scripture reader" whose qualifications embraced only a limited ability to spell out with difficulty the corrupted text of the sacred volume, he was engaged further to mangle, to the Right Rev. Prelate, who added to the dignities of the bench of Bishops the privileges of a British Peer. Wonderful was the waste of money, time, and labor, and alike deplorable and ridiculous the- results obtained. Here and there some wretched creature was induced, in fear, auJ trembling, to make a pretended renunciation of the creed of his fathers in order that he might partake of the ** flesh-pots of Erypt," whose templing vapors proved too strong for his empty stomach ; but proselytes, properly so called, there were none. And no man, more plainly than the staff of heretical preacher-* themselves, came at length to realize the futility of their efforts, so far as the adult population was concerned. It remained then alone for them to direct their attention to the young, and for this pur-

pose many expedients were devised ; expedients which, were all of them, however, without exception based on, the temporal interest of parents or the present comfort and future welfare, in a worldly point of view, of their children. But the results were fortunately no more successful, although the. snares were set with greater judgment. The faith of Irish fathers and mothers triumphed over all for the salvation of their offspring, and Protestantism gained no further conquests in Ireland ; with the genius of whose people, indeed, its growth is as irreconcilable as is that ' of the deadly upas tree of the Indian Archipelago with the wholesome soil and fresh breezes of the west. Now to pass at once from the Irish shores to those which border on the Adriatic seems a rather sudden transition, as it further appears to be to forsake the inventions of the sects that call themselves evangelical for those of a congregation which they loudly condemn ; but yet, as our present purpose is to point out the meeting of extremes in a certain matter, we find ourselves transported to Montenegro, where the same tactics pursued in Ireland are to be seen employed for a like end, the weakening of the Catholic Church, which h£re also it is sought to subveit by educating the children of her members in heretical doctrines and practices. — " The Bishop of Cattaro," says the London ' Tablet, 1 " has a standing grievance in' the insidious propaganda exercised from Montenegro among the poor people of his flock in the neighbouring districts of Albania and the Herzegovina, and even on Austrian soil itself. Prince Nikita is willing to be a universal godfather ; and. as he always makes substantial presents to the parents of the godchild, the temptation to theneedy Catholics is very great. As the children grow up he makes a point of looking after them, insisting that M 9 sponsorship gives him a right to see to their spiritual training. It is unnecessary to say that any who find their way to the Black Mountain are likely to be lost to the Church for ever." We see then from these examples that in giving a direction to the minds of children appears to certain sects, that widely differ from each other on many other subjects, the surest method of undermining the Church; and as these means are looked upon as most powerful to accomplish their «nds by tho«e who profess a false religion, in like manner they are approved of by the supporters of a system which is the foe of all creeds, and the determined advocate of undisguised atheism. The designs of the parties or individuals we-have been treating of are comparatively of light account ; they are confined to limited localities, and have but little strength, and they sink altogether into insignificance when set beside a great plot which extends its ramifications all over tbe world with the like intention of destroying the faith of Catholic children. We can afford to despise the isolated efforts of the " Evangelical " or the Greek, the united attempts of the secret societies and their sympathisers or dupe?, we are not at liberty to meet with .contempt, but with determined and manly opposition, for this is a danger which extends from day to day. 41 Free, compulsory and secular education " is the war-cry ■of the great army that is marshalling its hosts against Heaven, and that will not rest until it has moved the whole earth in its furious struggle to enlist our children in its ranks. The conspirators well know that there is but one power they have to dread. Frotestant sects and Eastern heresies are to them as nothing ; on many points they sympathise together, and the sects can be led to any length by their detestation of the Church ; like the false mother of Solomon's famous judgment, they are ready to see the nations perish in infidelity, i-Jjj£er than that they should be yielded up to the fostering care of Rome ; and thus, whatever may be their mutual din? erences, they play into the hands of one another, and of those "whom they profess to reprobate. The secret societies fear the Church alone and plot only against her, and they plot wisely ; the tactics employed by the proselytising Protestants of Ireland and the schismatic Prince of Montenegro have been adopted by them, and naturally, for they all in truth pursue one end. They al o have determined to lay hold of the children, and with them, when they have grown up to corruption, to swell their numbers, and their method of action is likewise by means of antiCatholic teaching, which in this case is known as secular education. What is there, then, in all the world that Catholics need dread so much, or more vigorously resist than this accursed system — for it is accursed ? The term is strong but it is jus*; aud that all may judge of its justice we append, on the authority of Archbishop Vattghan, tne following sentiments of those who are leading advocates and promoters of ithe system we stigmatise : — " The teaching of Catholicism ia

]the greatest obstacle to the development of a child's f aculti cB * jThe intervention of a priest In education deprives the child [of all moral, logical, and rational teaching." Again : "Faith 'in God, takes away the dignity; of man, troubles his reason, and may lead to the abandonment of morality." Once more : i' ( The principle of a .Supernatural authority, that is to say faith in God, takes away the dignity of man, {and is even likely to lead to the abandonment of all morality. . . . The respect we owe especially to the mind of a child forbids jus to inculcate doctrines which might trouble his -reason." !" The Sect," explains one of its apostles, speaking in reference Ito its own practice, " ought to be and is only a "Bchool of morality independent of all religious (dogmas I have myself," he continues, " brought up children, but I have never lied to them. Each time they have asked me, ' What was meant by God V I have answered, ' I know nothing about it.' It is thus I hare acted with men."