BIGOTRY IN WESTPORT

New Zealand Tablet, Volume XXXI, Issue 32, 6 August 1903, Page 2

BIGOTRY IN WESTPORT

A CONTEMPTIBLE NEWSRAG AND ITS WORK

Westport has the best coal and the smallest and most comtemptible news-sheet in New Zealand. The evil specimen of gutter-journalism to which we refer is printed quarterly in Wellington, and is published ostensibly in the interests of the small Methodist congregation in Westport. A copy of the July issue is before us. Contents : a few advertisements of Westport traders, a few scrappy reports and brevities, and three leaders— noPopery shrieks that occupy nearly half of its grand total ot seven columns of reading matter. These leaders are marked throughout by the bald illiteracy that has crystallised into a settled tradition of the no-Popery press and of the more disreputable class of anti-Catholic controversy and fiction. The first is a bilious and eviltempered onslaught on the Catholic clergy and laity of Ireland ; the second is a string of rambling and unconnected ravings against ' Rome ' ; the third a cowardly and blackguardly attack on the local Convent of Mercy. The whole of the ' leading ' matter in this microscopic quarterly is, in fact, a disgraceful exhibition of deliberate, uncalled-for, and unprovoked offence. It is aggravated by the following circumstances, which are vouched for by our discreet and well-informed Westport correspondent : (1) This venemous outburst of vilification had not the smallest pretence of provocation ; (2) special efforts were put forth to circulate those wretched libels on our religion, copies of the miserable news-sheet having been left at the doors of Catholic homes throughout the town, and even at the local presbytery ; and (3) Westport has ever been happily free from sectarian passion, and people of all creeds and classes haye 1 been content to work together there in harmony and mutual good-will. But there are some people who are never at peace unless they aie at war, and the little Methodist quarterly has girded itself to do tne devil's work of setting up religious strife and rancor where hitherto peace has abounded among the various creeds that own the Christian name.

It is no part of our present purpose to treat all the sewage that trickles, oozy and evil-smelling, down the Loisome editorial columns of the little Westport gutterjournal. We will, however, permit ourselves a few general remarks which will sufficiently ' size up ' the character of each of the three leading articles under consideration (1) The first is an hysterical can-can on the ' superstition ' of Irish ' Romanists ' and the rapacity of their puests. Its ' authority ' is, of all others, the wretched McCarthy, whose coarse, venemous, and unveracious productions (by courtesy called ' books ') met with such a merciless rib-roasting from the cat-o'-nine-tails of the

Athenaeum,' the ' Bookman,' and other literary journals and reviews,' from the ' Guardian ' and other Protestant weeklies, and from the London ' Times ' and such other English secular dailies as accorded his gall-and-wormwood productions the unmerited honor of a notice Even the Dublin ' Daily Express ' (the organ of the Irish Orange lodges) raised its voice in earnest protest against the distortions, exaggerations, prejudice, ' wilful one-sidedness,' and thorough-paced unreliability of this Mr McCarthy. No journalist with a reputation to lose would, at this hour of the day, any more dream of quoting McCarthy as an ' authority ' on persons or things Catholic than he would of citing Zola as an expert in good morals or the Wesport quarterly microbe as an example of religious sweetness and light But our microscopic contempoiary is not particular. Any stone is good r enough to throw at a dog, and any stick, howover rotten, is good enough to strike a blow at ' Rome.'

It is a curious freak of the lower depths of bigotry that it regards Hie evidence of Catholics as credible only when, like foul birds, they defile their own nest. The paltiy Westport news-sheet endeavois to give a spurious value to McCarthy's slanders by falsely describing him as ' a devout Romanist ' ' It makes controversial capital to so describe him But a knowledge of the man's personal history, oi even a glance at his slander-

ous publications, is sufficient to dispel such an idea. The word ' Romanist ' is an offensive and obsolescent controversial slang-term that is no longer used except by persons who wish to emphasise their lack of good-breeding. It is denned to mean ' an adherent of the Roman Catholic Church ; a Roman Catholic' But 'an adherent of the Roman Catholic Church ' is precisely what McCarthy is not. It is true that in his early years he was brought up m the ancient faith. But while yet young he ■-vas taken away from its influences and placed in a Protestant school at Middleton (Cork county). He passed thence to a Protestant university, abandoned long ago thd practice of the Catholic faith, and has become one of its most rabid and furious assailants. The little briefless banister has found it more profitable to slander his fellow-countrymen in untidy and clumsily-written noPopery shockers than to wait wearily in his den for clients that would not come. In these agglomerates of paper and type which we shall agree to call ' books,' he has denounced the Catholic Church root and branch. He screeches at her Sacraments and sacramental system ; he pours vitriolic ridicule on her most cherished doctrines ; he describes her religious practices as mummery and mystery, unintelligible gibberish, superstition, etc. ; he brands the bulk of our co-religionists as ' idolaters ' ; and for priests and people alike he has nothing but the envenomed word, the evil tale, and the ready falsehood that befit, not the ' devout Romanist,' but the tempestuous orator who shrieks like a hurricane against 'Rome' on the anniversary of the ' glorious, pious, and immortal memory ' of William of Orange So far as McCarthy has any religion, he is a Protestant, as may be seen from the extravagant praise which he here and there bestows upon the doctrines, principles, and practices of the Reformed creeds. The London ' Guardian ' (Anglican), however, holds that ' by his books, he has proved himself not to be a Catholic, or even a Christian.' Of his latest ' book ' (' Priests and People ') the Anglican ' Church Commonwealth ' says that ' it is as virulently Orange as any professional Church Associationist could ever wish. Protestantism is all light and altogether lovely, whilst Catholicism is as black as Erebus and reeks with rottenness.' And this is the man whom the dwarf journal in Westport takes upon itself to describe as not merely a ' Romanist,' but ' a devout Romanist '—that is, one ' filled with devotion ' for ' the Roman Catholic faith ' ' Here, in good sooth,, is a contemptible piece of controversial trickery If McCarthy is to be accepted as ' a devout Romanist,' then all the ' devout Romanists ' are in the; Orang.o lodge or kindred associations, qr conducting virulent little no-Popery sheets like that of Westport, which, in ability as in si/c, is to a normal journal what a washtub is to a warship.

The Westport quarterly is ' onaisy in its mind ' because it is satisfied, on McCarthy's unveracious evidence, that in far-ofl Ireland the priests are a grave financial burden to the people It has only itself to blame for provoking the ' odorous comparison ' which we publish hereunder from the last Irish census and from the figures and clergylists in ' Thorn's Almanac and Official Directory ' .—

(The number of clergy attributed above to the Presbyterians is made up of 650 ' regular ' ministers, 76 ordained ministers not in regular charge, and between 70 and 80 others who are attached to various dissident Presbyterian bodies, chiefly in Ulster). It will thus be seen that, in proportion to their numbers, Catholics in Ireland have far fewer clergy than the members of the Protestant denominations mentioned above. The Methodist proportion is almost exactly four times greater than the: Catholic In other words :to have as great a relative number of clergy as their Methodist fellow-country-men, Irish ' Romanists ' should have 14,800 priests instead of 3711.

But that is not all. (a) The Irish Methodists have to contribute a fixed salary and to support, not a celibate, but a married, clergy. They ha\e to provide not alone for their clergy, but separate homes, and maintenance for them and their families as well, and to afiord salaries which shall enable their ministers to educate their children and settle them decently in life. ,(b) The Catholics have to support, not a married but a celibate, clergy with no hangers on beyond what are required for domestic help (c) Great numbers of the Catholic clergy live in communities of two, three, and more— an arrangement which greatly reduces the cost of living. (d) Ihey re-

ceive no fixed salary, but only such free-will offerings as their people can well afford. We speak of this matter from personal knowledge gained by several years' parochial work in Ireland. Moreover, in practically all cases, the surplus above decent and unostentatious support finds its way—generally in the short run, otherwise in the long run—into the hands of the poor, or for the glory of God's house, or for the upkeep of the various institutes of charity in which the Catholic Church js rich above all others, (c) The Irish priests are the apple of the people's eye, and clergy and flock are bound together by bonds of mutual affection which were forged in the sorrows of dark and evil days, and have never been weakened or broken. Through centuries of bitter persecution the Irish priest was the staunch, tried, and faithful mend and father of his people, the partner of their rare joys, the sharer of their long and bitter sorrows, the sustainer of their hopes, the guardian and mainstay ol their faith, even when his mere presence in the land was high treason, when the bloodhound was on his track and the price of the wild wolf upon his head, when his altar was the mountain-rock, and his temple the open sky, and when the celebration of the Holy Mysteries meant swift death by levelled muskets or the slow agony of the hangman's noose and quartering knife. And, thank God, our recent wanderings through the Old Land of the tear and the tsmile enable us to testify that, if possible, the traditional bond of love between priests and people has never been stronger at any period than at the present time To this hour the priest is the father, the counsel.lor, the friend of his people, and, in hearty service for Christ's dear sake, their bond-servant, not their despot. He is still their beloved priest, their ' soggarth aroon ' : more loved, perhaps, than even in the days when Banim wrote his famous lay, of which we quote three stanzas here :—: —

' Who, in the winter's night, Soggarth Aroon, When the cowld blast did bite, Soggarth Aroon, Came to my cabin door, And, on the earthen flure, Knelt by me, sick and poor, Soggaith Aroon ? ' Who, on the marriage day, Soggarth Aroon, Made the poor cabin gay, Soggarth Aroon— And did both laugh and sing, Making our hearts to ring, At the poor christening, Soggarth Aroon ? ' Who, as friend only met, Soggarth Aroon, Never did flout me yet, Soggaith Aroon ? And when my hearth was dim, Gave, while his eye did brim, What I should give to him, Soggarth Aroon ? ' And the answer to every query conies :—: — ' Och ! you, and only you, Soggarth Aroon ! And for this I was true to you, Soggarth Aroon ! '

(f) Let bigots rave and renegades rail ; but the ' sogarth aroon ' has been one of Ireland's best assets, for to him, under God, is due the proudest,glory of Inisfail, the matchless purity of her daughters, and the singular freedom of the grand old Catholic land from immorality and vulgar ciime. James Anthony Froude was one of the bitterest enemies of the Irish Catholic people—Lecky testifies that his ' English in Ireland ' ' is intended to blacken to the utmost the character of the Irish people, and especially of the Irish Catholics.' "Vet in his fifth lecture in New York (reported in the London ' Times ' of November 16, 1872) truth compelled him to pay a glowing tribute to the pnormous power for good which had, been exercised in Ireland by the modern Catholic priests. 1 And then, having described the singular freedom of the country from cheating, housebreaking, robbery, etc., he added that 'in the last hundred years at least, impurity had been almost unknown in Ireland. This absence of vulgar crime and this exceptional delicacy and modesty of character were,' he continued,. ' due, tar "ttfieir everlasting honor, to the influence of the Catholic clergy.'

(2) The miniature Westport quarterly evidently holds, with the character in Kipling's ' A Day's Work,' that ' there is no sense in telling too much truth.' Here is a

discreditable extract from the second of its slipshod 1 leaders ' :—

1 Roman Catholic statistical returns are somewhat pretentious too ! They reported in their " Missiones Catholicae " for 1901 an increase for Australasia in five years fiom 3,008,399 to 4,507,980. Yet the whole population of Australasia in that year was only 4,555,803. In round numbers, then, they modestly claim all except 50,000 among four and a-half millions. But the Government statistics show that there are really less than one million of them in these colonies.'

Tho ' Missiones Cathohcae ' is an annual volume of close on 750 pages published in Latin by the S. Congregation of the Propaganda, Rome, and containing statistical and other information regarding the ' missionary countries ' under its care. The writer of the abusive article in the Westport vest-pocket quarterly piofesses to quote from the ' Missiones Cathohcae ' for 1901 (Which, by the way, was printed late in 1900). As a matter of fact he does no such thing. lie is merely repeating at fifth hand or tenth hand a falsehood that lias been a score of times refuted. The ' Missiones Catholicae ' for 1901 does not report an increase of Catholics in Australasia 'in five years from 3,008,35)9 to 4,507,980.' That story was invented by a non-Catholic religious paper, the ' Record ' and by it falsely attributed to the ' Missiones Catholicae.' The ' Missiones Catholicae ' for 1901, page 587, details the number of CATHOLICS (' Cathohci ') in each diocese of Australia and Tasmania, and at the foot oi the column g,ne& the total, which is 708,770. It then adds these words : ' Incolae in Australia et Tasmania sunt 3,789,600 '—that is : 1 The INHABITANTS (incolae) of Australia and Tasmania number 3,789,600.' On page 609 the same publication details the number of CATHOLICS in the four dioceses of New Zealand, and places the total at 97,030. It gi\es the number of ' incolae ' (' INHABITANTS ') of New Zealand as 718,380. Adding together the \arious sets of figures in the ' Missiones Catholicae ' we reach the following results :—: — ' Incolae' (inhabitant-") of Australia and Tasmania ... 3.75!) fiOO 1 Incolae' (inhabitants) of New Zealand ... ... 718 380 TOTAL 'INCOLAE 1 (INHABITANTS) in Australia 4 507 tiRO ' Cctholici ' (Catholicp) in|Anßtralia snd Tafmania ... 70S 770 « Catbolici' (Catholics) in New Zt aland ... ... 97,030 TOTAL 'CATHOLIC I ' (CATHOLICS) imAugtralaaa 805 800 Observe that the figures of ' incolae ' (INHABITANTS) given above (4,507,980) are precisely the same as the ' Record ' and its Westport and other echoes charge Propaganda with setting lorth as the number of CATHOLICS in Australasia. Throughout, the void 'incolae ' (inhabitants) is caiefully distinguished fr( in the term ' Cathohci ' (Catholics) There is, of course, a bare possibility that the authors of this contemptible slander fancied that ' incolae ' aij well as ' Cathohci ' means ' Catholics ' It is aii absurdly jmpiobable supposition. But only the plea of phenomenal ignorance can fre<e them from the charge of wilful, deliberate, and cowardly misrepresentation of the official statements of one of the great executive Departments of the Catholic Church.

(3) Catholics have, of course, no objection to fair comment and criticism of their Church and Us institutions. But we do object to senseless, \encmous, and unprovoked attacks that are (like those of Westport \s bantam quarterly) an outrage on truth, justice, charily, and ihe decent conventions that Keep- our social life horn lapsing into something like savageiy. We ob;ect to misrepresentation and calumny, and we hold that no good cause can either need, or be sencd b> , a iccourse to falsehood— abo\e all, the cause of the God of Truth. But, as Newman said, ' the anti-Catholic Tradition could not be kept alive, would die of exhaustion, without a continual supply of fable.' This will sufliuently explain the volcanic outbreak of bilious fable which has lately disgraced those who are responsible for it in Westport We will not waste words in condemnation of the cowaidly and unmanly attack on the local foment of Mercy, coupled with the insinuation as to the work of ' the trinity of e\il— the world, the flesh, and the dewl '— within its ' tnysienous walls ' Such forms of abuse of gentle and de\oted ladies stand self-condemned It is repellent to the belter nature oi even a self-respecting Hottentot It is leprobated by e\eiy man vJirse heart is clean and manly, *'and, for the credit of Westport, we are glad to know th.it it has profoundly disgusted decent and fan-minded people of e\eiv local foim oi lehgious belief As to the Nancy affair, which was meiely lugged in as a make-weight, we have dealt with this mat-

ter so fully and so recently in our editorial columns that further reference to it at this stage would be merely spurring a dead hoise or threshing old straw.

* We have only these further remarks to make : (a) Those business people who have contributed to the circulation of this outrage on the religious sentiments of their Catholic fellow-townsmen have incurred a serious moral responsibility in this connection. ,(b) Among the Methodist body in Westport there must be a goodly number of broadminded and tolerant people who have no sympathy with this flagrant attempt to evoke the red devil of sectarian anger and turn him loose among a people that have hitherto lived in peace and good-will. It is their plain duty to raise their voice of protest against the publication of those dangerous, untruthful, and unprovoked attacks upon the faith and feelings of their unoffending neighbors, (c) The Methodist body in New Zealand enjoys, and, we believe, deserves, the reputation of being generally a tolerant and God-iearing people. If the utterances of the pigmy quarterly of Westport are to De taken as a fair reflex of its local church teaching, it is about high time that the attention of the heads of that denomination should be drawn thereto, and that they should take steps to substitute for this new fanaticism a course of elementary instruction in the truths of Christianity. More especially should they frame and suspend in the church and Sunday-school the commandment which places a serious discount on those who bear false witness against their neighbor, (d) The local peace authorities would do well to keep their eye on the progress of this campaign of vilification that has begun in the name of Methodism in Westport. The deplorable results which followed the recent no-Popery campaigns of the firebrand Wyse in Liverpool— until he and his associates were recently sent to cool their heads in gaolfurnish a warning example for Westport. Catholics especially should carefully note every step in the evil business and file all documents for future reference, so that the public shall know, and know unmistakably, who lit this fire and what were the stages of its progress, (c) In the meantime, our Westport co-religionists should possess their souls in patience and not suffer their just and natural indignation to betray them into acts or words of ill-judged or hasty resentment. The saving good sense of the community may (if our information is correct) be relied upon to frown down this evil attempt to stir up sectarian distrust and hate. Should those efforts be repeated, the plentiful and persistent distribution of the ' N Z. Tablet ' and of its articles upon the subject, in broadsheet form, would effect much good. If this sectarian drum-thumping continues, Westport will soon be ripe for the formation of a League of Good Fellowship, or of Friends of Peace, on the lines of the admirable association of people of every class and creed which recently foiled the efforts of the Mad Mullah of Sydney to raise the crimson devil of religious discord in Temora, New South Wales.

lathnlfca Ipincopaliane 're^byterians lethodiets Number at last cen-ut 1 . 3.308fi6l 581,089 418 276 62 OUO Namber of clergy. 3711 over 1600 about £-00 about 250 Proportion of clerpy to people, 1 in 891 1 iv 3fi3 1 in 554 1 in 248