A GOOD CAUSE.

New Zealand Tablet, 2 March 1877, Page 11

A GOOD CAUSE.

♦» Who is there that has not heard of the Nun of Kenmare ? — a lady who, in a manner suited to the requirements of the day, has revived the labors of the cloisters of the middle ages, and is conferring upon the literary world works of emintnt merit, which are all the more valuable that they bear the impress of truth, and are calculated to serve as antidotes for the poison that is universally disseminated by means of the anti-Catholic press. For such poison is universal, and prevails to a degree that would be simply ludicrous were it not also wicked, and in contemplating which we feel affected somewhat as we are when viewing the antics of a drunkard, and are divided between a propensity to ridicule his absurdity and a sense that we should, to act properly, be filled only with disgust at his vice.

It is indeed hardly possible to open a book by a Protestant writer, much less a newspaper under non-Catholic conduct, without being in something or other offended. Writers seem in this respect to claim for themselves complete immunity, and to assume a permission to make statements, or to introduce into their compositions illustrations, that uttered concerning any secular matter would cover them with confusion as egregious dunces, or secure for them a well-merited castigation due to unblushing calumniators. We would gladly, as in fact it has been suggested to us, adopt the belief that the persons who act in the method we allude to, were actuated only by ignorance or excusable prejudice, and in many instances it may be so. Nay more, in the case of ordinary literati quoting from the past, we should say that such very generally is the truth, for we cannot suppose that it is common for men, even were they sufficiently learned for the purpose, to act so base a part as that, for example, acted with regvd to the writings of St. Eligius by the historian, Mos*eim, when by garbling the teaching of the saint, taking out a sentence here and a phrase there, and joining the remainder together ad libitum, he completely distorted the meaning of the passage operated upon and, while he cast a temporary and partial shadow over the memory of the author of the ■work mutilated, covered hi 3 own reputation with, infamy in the eyes of all honest men. But we cannot acquit those who would endeavor to make it appear, as it often happens, that contemporary Catholic clergymen have transgressed the precepts of charity or counselled a breach of the peace, that the Holy Father has issued a decree de karetico comburendo, that members of the Church have, as such, been guilty of all manner of enormities, or some such affair. These scribes, we should say, act in pure malevolence, and in the falsehoods with which they decorate their emanations present to their leaders matter that is entirely original, unbiassed quite by the conclusions of prejudiced historians, or the fiats of shallow theologians; and to them we would in all sincerity suggest as their just motto a line more fitted to their use than to that of the writer to whom it is jestingly applied by Father Proct, in whose ' Relique3 ' we find it ' Nostra damua cum falsa datnus nam fallere nostrum est."

But whether in ignorance, or whether in malice, anti Catholic utterances are rife, so that it has become a matter of the highest importance to supply a class of literature wherein truth and justice will be attended to, and which the young and those who are not fully instructed may read without danger to their faith. The task is a Herculean one, for the influence of that which it seeks to undermine has been growing for three centuries, and amongst those who have contributed to its growth are to be found many names indicative of the highest powers of intellect. But, nevertheless, the valiant sisters of St. Clare in their convent at Kenmare do not shrink from the sight of the difficulty. Emboldened by what hus already been done by one of their sisterhood,

and who has been widely recognised as an authoress endowed with talents not inferior to those which rank firs! at the pie-, sent day, and anxious to carry on farther the worthy enterprise which has gained for them the applause of the whole Catholic world and the approbation of its great head,the Holy Pontiff, Pius IX., they are desirous of extending their labors, and hats for that end made preparations which it only needs a fundl amounting to about £1,000 to perfect. For this object they have issued an appeal which has been forwarded far and wide and which we trust will meet with such a response as -mil enable the spirited community to accomplish the good -work that they have taken in hand. " Providence seems to have given in our day a great-mis-sion to the Catholic press," says the Holy Father. "It» for it to preserve the principles of order and faith, where they prevail, and to propagate them where impiety and cold indifference have caused them to be forgotten." Such is the authority which those who are engaged in promoting Catholic literature act upon, and it is one which undoubtedly ought to secure for them the hearty co-operation of all who profess the faith. No utterance that faltafrom the lips of the Sovereign Pontiff is feeble or of trifling import, and that which he has pointed out as the engine by which the principles of faith and order are to be preserved and propagated is surely deserving of the support of those who acknowledge him to be their father. But too often we find them act as if the contrary were the case, too often we find them helping to maintain organs that, in return for the aid they receive, do not cease to overwhelm with insolence and contempt all that their Catholic supporters hold as most sacred, whilst those that study to uphold the dearest interests of morality and religion are neglected ; so that the former are encouraged, by the very people they openly despise, to continue vigorously in tbeir evil course, and the latter are relegated to a subordinate position, in which it is impossible for them to accomplish the good they are capable of performing, and would perform were they duly supported.