THE AUCKLAND PRESS AND THE SLATTERYS.

New Zealand Tablet, Volume XXVIII, Issue 5, 1 February 1900, Page 18

THE AUCKLAND PRESS AND THE SLATTERYS.

SCATHING DENUNCIATION BY THE OBSLPYER.

Thi; thanks of the Catholic community are due to the Auckland Ofrxt rvrr tor the t-cathing manner in which it denounced ex-priest Slattery and his unfortunate companion, and their sordid mission in tirat city. Our contemporary devote^ over a page of its space to a review of the career of the prt clous pair. It says :—: —

1 It is unfortunate for the success ot the sordid mission of expriest Slattery and his wife that they should have arrived in Auckland just at a moment when people of every shade of religious opinion, and others of no religion at all, are grieving because of the death of Father Walter McDonald, who was loved and revered by Roman Catholic and Protestant alike, and whose memory is enshrined in the hearts of young and old, rich and poor of every denomination in the community, to Fay nothing of thoee who subscribe to no denomination at all.' After referring to the many admirable qualities of the late Monsignor McDonald, especially his unbounded charity, our contemporary goes on to say : ' His life reflected glory upon the Church and the priesthood to which he belonged. Moreover, that self-sacrificing and noble life furnished the best answer to the alleged exposure of the Roman Catholic Church and priesthood that this ex-priest Slattery is now employing as a catchpenny in our suburbs. Ex-priest Slattery claims to have a mission in the world. What nobler mission could he have found than to remain in the station in which he was placed, cultivating the common virtues of humanity, and emulating the example of such a pnest as Father Walter. But, on the contrary, his life is employed ni ttirring up religious strife and stimulating the evil passions of bigotry. And this, he says, is his master's work. Who in the name of common sense is his master in such a work as this ? Js it the same master who was served so conscientiously by Father Walter McDonald ? Will ex-priest Slattery dare to say it is ? Then who is the master ? Is it the almighty dollar / or is it something worse / '

With regard to the assertion that though Slattery is • an aggressive speaker, he is not so much so as to be insulting to Catholics,' the Observer remarks that ' the reports of Slattery's lectures have preceded him, and they are very insulting and aggressive and also wholly opposed to the broad spirit of tolerance and religious harmony that is so desirable and usually prevails in a eolonial'community. Is there any section of the people so bigoted and vindictive as to derive pleasure or imagine they can get profit from this Bort of thing 1 Surely not. . . . And yet there are probably a goud many people narrow-minded and bigoted enough to pay their shilling to hear this ex-prie-t Slattery, and gullible enough to believe what he tells them. This, too, in the race of the fact that the lives of the priests and nuns who lived amongst us all their days give the lie direct to his stories.' The Ohm rrer then gives the correspondence which passed between the Rev. J. V. McDonnell, of Hamilton. New York, and his Grace Archbishop Walsh, of Dublin, as to the reason why Slattery had his facrltks as a priest withdrawn, and then concludes thus : — ' And yet this man Slattery has the audacity to say that he left the Roman Catholic Church from conscientious motives. What are his attacks on the Roman Catholic priesthood worth in view of the disclosures made in these letters ? What about his conscientious motives now 1 '

' After all (writes " Zamiel " in the Auckland Star on the subject of the Slattery visit) I do not even yet see much is to be gained by outsiders coming to these colonies and trying to set one creed against another by making alarmist statements. . . . It is quite possible the life knowledge of men like good old Father Walter who has just been laid to rest, followed to his grave by men of all creeds and no creed for that matter, will have more influence than any statements made by outsiders. The proposal of the Sisters of Mercy to found a home for incurables and convalescents, open to all creeds, is a kind of argument also that can be understood by all. Then, too, the world has not yet forgotten Father Damien's selfsacrificing labour at Lepers' Island. The real danger of the Colony is not that any one Church will predominate and crush others, but that no Church will retain its hold upon the rising generation.''

The Dunedin correspondent of the 'Juapha Tunei says :— The Tablet is sounding a note of warning as to an expected antiRoman Catholic lecturer and lecturers who are, on the invitation, I believe, of some idiots in Dunedin. about to honour us with a visit. The warning for some is necessary. For others it is not. Cleanly! decent, liberty-loving, tolerant, and true spiritually-minded people have no need to be warned to keep away from any and all stirrers up of sectarian strife. A man can hold linn views upou his own faith and be satisfied with the foundation upon which they rest and yet respect the faith of another. That i.s if his faith be worthy of the name. He may even have a certain amount of respect for the sturdy bigot to whom toleration of another's faith ia as foreign to him as his honesty of purpose is unquestioned. But we can have no sympathy for the man or woman who parades around the country slandering that taith in which he or she professes to have been reared, and that not for the love of truth, but for the love of money. The aims of such campaigns as that of the Slatterys are two— l. Breeding strife or the worst kind, ami 2. cillecting money from tin ir dupes Peopl > such as these cumot tell au educated or fairly well-real per.son anyihing of any moment, but the latter can tell them that they ate unmitigated preteniers whose published and known career unfks then to he t-ach rs in unyLUing that makes life worth living. I hupe the Pre^s will ignore tuein.