THE CHURCH AND MODERN IDEAS

New Zealand Tablet, 11 October 1906, Page 11

THE CHURCH AND MODERN IDEAS

(By His Grace the Akchbishop of Wellington.)

(Concluded from last week.)

(2) It was also the Church that introduced equality into the world. At the time x>f the advent of Christ, ia poet could truly say : ' The human race lives for a few ' — paucis vivit humanum genus. But Jesus, toy 'teaching that all men are children of the same Father Who is in heaven, promulgated the charter of universal equality. This charter was soon after formulated by St. Paul. ' Henceforth,' he writes, 'there are neither Jews, nor Greeks, -nor civilised, nor barbarians, nor bond nor free ; you are all one in Jesus Christ.' What noble words ! We have st-ill rich and poor, men in enjoyment and others in pain and tears, masters and servants, great and lowly, learned and ignorant ; but these are only outward appearances. Under a veil more or less brilliant, more or less coarse, in the eyes of God and the Church, they are only men, men of the same origin, all on the road to the same destiny. If the Church has any preference it is- for the poor and the outcasts of society : ' Behold the treasures of the Church,' said the martyr St. Laurence. No distinction in the Church : the scholar must believe the same truths as the ignorant ; the rich and the powerful must keep the same commandments as the poor ; all, whatever be their social status, their intellect, their fortune, must alike kneel at the feet of the priest to receive the forgiveness of their sins, partake of the same sacraments, receive in Communion the same Body of Christ. The Church reminds all, on Ash Wednesday, be they kings or beggars, of their nothingness : 'Remember man, that thou art dust and unto dust thou shalt return.' > - \ Church dignities are not reserved only for the, worldly great. Such ones are not excluded if they are found worthy; but they must first pass through the lowest grades of the sacred hierarchy. In the Ohurch 1 Merit Alone Exalts. Sixtus VMV M a shepherd, merited the apostolic throne. Pope Pius X. is the son of a petty country grocer. It was the religious equality, maintained with a firm . hand by the Church, despite the resistance' of human pride, which finally pervaded public manners and produced that civil and political equality of which we are proud, and that accessibility to all public offices. 1 Democracy, born of religion, is humanised only by religion y (Brunetiere). *We democrats gladly recognise,' 1 said Buisson, a brilliant French deputy, • that the declaration of the rights of man is after all but lay interpretations of the Gospel.' : (3) And fraternity, did it- exist in the heathen world ? Enter the circus. There you see thousands of gladiators thrown by Caesar's munificence into the arena to slaughter each other for the amusement of the Roman crowd, atbirst for the sight of their suf- . fenogs and their blood.

To put an end to such scenes of carnage it was necessary that, in the, pontificate of Pope Bonorius, a poor monk named Telemachus should one day enter the arena , and throw himself 'between the rows • of} fighting -gladiators, to separate them. > He fell by the weapons of the combat/ants amid the howls of the infuriated people ; but the martyr-monk' had affirmed and saved human fraternity. • Homo homini lupus,' man is a waif to his fellow-man ; such verily was the heathen- world. Suddenly, though nothing- had immediately prepared this movement, a new. spirit came into humanity ; gradually the divine fire, which came down from heaven on Pentecost Day, inflamed hearts with the ardor of Christian 1 fraternity ; and the heathen, amazed at a sight they had never ' seen before, cried out : ' How the Christians love one another !' Fraternity was born and implanted on earth in the soil of the Catholic Church.

' *■ 11. It remains now to show that these ideas of liberty, qquality, and fraternity cannot subsist without the N Church. • , - (1) Whenever the salutary influence of , the Church is removed, what becomes of liberty ? In high quarters, it is confiscated by despotism ; in low quarters, it degenerates . into license. In high quarters—despotism. Powers which cease to conform to the teaohngs of the Ghurch are invariably tyrannical. They are not content with administering- the common weal (which is all their competence) ; they pry into the private life of citizens, they invade families, they violate the sacred domain of conscience. l Burn incense bef ore the idols, ' said the Emperors to the first Christians, 'or you shall die.' In Ihe course of ages, the same cry, though different in form, 'but identical in reality, is continually heard. ' Unless you give up your belief in the Church and in Christ you shall 'be blocked out of 'every administration, from the lowest, positions in the charges we control, from any help "" from the public treasury. If you don't sell your soul and that of your wife and family, you may starve with them for all we care.' What ignoble despotism ! Not a matter of ancient history, but one >of our own day, in France. Above, despotism"; below, license. Liberty, as we have seen, has necessary limits. Naw. only . ...

The Church is Able ' j> .. ♦ rto fix and maintain them, because she alone represents an authority which none can escape — God , an authority incorruptible, dnfalli-ble, immutable, in whose estimate good is always good and evil always evil • a supreme authority which regulates not external acts . only, but commands souls. If the rights of God are-" unrecognised, if liberty breaks away from the authority of the Church, all barriers fall, and license, like a foul tide, flows into society. ' Liberty for all, except malefactors,' said the intrepid Garcia Moreno on assuming office. Governments which turn a deaf ear to the Church reverse this formula and • say : ' Liberty for all, except for goodness and honest men.' Look and see what is passing now in. France. (2) Without the Church there is no true equality. Equality is not confusion, or some kind of general levelling down of everybody to the measure of mediocrity. All men are equal before the law. Yes ; they have the same civil and political rights whatever class they belong to. Yes; but there equality stops ; for there are essential, necessary, fatal differences between men ; differences of intellect, of aptitudes of qualities, of merit, of situation : the child in the family has not the rights of the father ; in the State the citizen hds not the rights of the governor; in the army the soldier has not the rights' of the general ; in society the idle man, if unfortunately he has the rights of the worker, has not at least his advantages, etc. Now, if the direction of the Church is not followed, what happens ? On the plea of a chimerical eqjuality never realisable, all necessary distinctions are suppressed and you fall" under injustice and tyranny. Then a class war ensues ; ' you have rebellion against 'authority, the assault on power by mediocrity, the denial of services rendered • the reign of favor, utter disorder, and to-morrow perhaps, looting, -bloodshed, . annihilation, ' (3) Without the Church no fraternity. It is sad to say and to prove, but so it is: Our nature left to itself -does hot tend to fraternity. Wher,e Christ does not reign, where the Church's influence' is not felt, men do not love, but hate each other, struggle against, each other, devour each other. There is a fatal deadly weed in us which threatens to choke all other vegetation, if it is i not cut in the rootnamely, selfishness. No doubt when God created man, He first put into his heart goodness, benignity : we have generous aspirations, sublime instincts , precious

seeds, the mark of our divine origin; but those aspirations, precious seeds, and instincts are stifled unless, we are careful, by the rank growth of bad passions, whioh are T;he consequences of original sin To keep fraternity alive in us we need to come near to Jesus m Communion, there to .get -the,- strength to conquer our bad passions, crush out selfishness, and love pven our enemies. To keep fraternity alive, we must be docile to the voice of ,the Church reminding us of - we' for^fvp °fh ChU ti V ' + For S ive us «™ trespasses as we forgive them that trespass , against us.' « If thy