Catholic Chaplains in the British Navy.

New Zealand Tablet, Volume XXX, Issue 16, 17 April 1902, Page 2

Catholic Chaplains in the British Navy.

Navy. The shamelul treatment meted out to Catholics in the Navy through the deficiency of Catholic chaplains, was brought under the notice of the House of Commons recently by Mr. John Dillon, Lord Edmund Talbot, and Mr Joyce and a vigorous effort was made to secure from the Government an undertaking that for the future Catholic seamen would receive something like an approach to fair play in this matter. The attempt, however, met with no practical success, ihe claims put forward by Mr. Dillon on behalf of the Catholic seamen were modest enough in all conscience. They did not ask that there should be a Catholic chaplain m every ship that has an Anglican chaplain, but they did ask that a Catholic chaplain should be attached to each squadron and that,

with regard to rank and pay, he should be placed in the same position as other chaplains. Even this measure of justice was not conceded and beyond affording an opportunity for the ventilation of the Catholtc grievance the debate produced little practical result. The grievance is a very long-standing one, and the history of the Government's treatment of this question is a history of broken promises and pledges unfulfilled. Twenty. four years ago a solemn pledge was given on behalf of the Government by the late Mr. W. H. Smith, then First Lord of the Admiralty, that a fleet would never be sent to sea without having at least one Catholic chaplain on board who would be available for the Catholic sailors in any emergency. That pledge was not then, and never has been fulfilled. At the siege of Alexandria, after that promise was given, there was no Catholic priest on board the British squadron though the first three men of the navy killed in the bombardment were Irish Catholics. Again in 1896 the Government gave a further promise to carry out its undertaking in the matter, but it again failed. Last year the bishops of Ireland took the matter up and passed a resolution embodying the following outspoken advice to Catholic parents —-' We deem it our duty,' said their Lordships, •to advise Catholic parents not to allow their children to join his Majesty's ships until suitable arrangements shall be made to minister to the wants of Catholic seamen in the fleet.' It really looks as if attention to this advice is the only means by which this question will ever be fairly settled. There are 15,000 Catholic sailors in the Navy, and if their places were left unfilled as they became vacant there can be little doubt, as the Dublin Freeman remarks, that Catholics would soon receive justice in this matter.