A CENTRE PARTY FOR FRANCE

New Zealand Tablet, Volume XXXV, Issue 19, 9 May 1907, Page 11

A CENTRE PARTY FOR FRANCE

'(By tiie Rev. W. H. Mahoney)

In considering the deplorable state of affairs in France at the present day, it has been asked, Why cannot the French Catholics unite in deienoe of their faith, as did the Germans thirty-fi.e years ago? xNow, this is a very pertinent question indeed. For it does seem somewhat anomalous that, while the members of the French clergy (v\lio are drawn from all ranks of life, and are of all shades of political opinion) offer a solid front of opposition to the enemies" of their faith, and show an example of unity never before witnessed in the history of religion in France, yet tiiere is no evidence of combination, so far, amon* the laity to resist the despoilers of the Church. In the first place, this apalhy is owing to the character—the unstable character— of the French people ; and in the second plaoe to unfortunate dynastic differences. The Imperialists will not coalesce with the Royalists, nor the latter with tha Republican*, in defence of their common faith, notwithstanding that of late years there is one faction less, since the death of the Comte de Cbamrbord left the Legitimists without a raison d'etre. The political differences still remain, although there is no more chance of the restoration of the Empire in France than there is in Brazil, or almost as little hope of the Bourbons reigning again in France as there is of the Stuarts in England If the army were not in such a disorganised state there might be some hope for the Church in the rise of a military dictator like the first Napoleon, for the people are weary of the travesty of republican government that obtains in France to day. It must be a bitter reflection for the French Catholics when they consider how, in cv cry other nation of Europe where the Church has been attacked by the Masonic lodges, she n<as successfully Beaten Back the Assaults of the emissariefe of Satan. Twenty-five years ago the Catholics of noble, little Belgium recognised what socalled ' Liberalism ' meant in , their country. FrereOrban and his ruinous Masonic ministry were ejected from office and a solid' and progressive Catholic goveriiV ment has fa&VA the reins of power. ever since. In Italy, when the Cabinet of Zanarde'li attempted to force a divorce law on the country, the women of the land rose up and let the infidel government see that their faith was a living force. Besides in Italy, as well as in Spain (where the latest attempts ( of Freemasonry against the Church have lesn foi'ed) the condition of France, with thousands of her citizens banished and . the commerce and wealth of the country deteriorated thereby — a country, too, that can ill afford to lose populaJtion—foas served as an awful example to the other Latin nations of the evils of disunion in allowing a handful of demagogues to rob the Church ; and for some time,

at least, Clemenceau and his henchman Bri(g)and will , have no imitators in Italy or the Iberian peninsu-ia. But it is to a Protestant country that we must look for- the most brilliant example of unity among Catholics. During the persecution of the Church by Bismarck thirty-live years ago, the infamous laws introduced by Dr. Falk served as -an incentive to The Catholics v of Germany to unite and defend their interests. The occasion produced the man, and in the person of Ludwig von Windthorst the Church in the Fatherland found a champion who eventually compelled Bismarck to go to Canossa. The elections of a few months ago show that the spirit of Windthorst still lives ; that the party which he guided so skilfully in his lifetime is .still the greatest power in the land, and the Catholic Church the one most honored. I was greatly impressed by this fact myself when staying in Germany a few years ago. I saw the same spirit of unity shown in Catholic Bavaria, in Protestant Wurtemburg, and also in Protestant Hanover. I had the opportunity of learning from the priests -in. those countries the power for good wrought by the Katholisolun Volksverein, which exists in .every parish. The faith of the people, the deep devotion displayed in the churches, the great respect shown to the clergy, were equalled only in Ireland itself. I had the goad fortune to spend some time in the quaint old medieval city of Hildesheim in Hanover, the birthplace and home of Dr. Windthorst, and to 'hear of his career from some of his intimates. The worthy parish priest of the Kreuzkirche, Dean Graen, would discant with enthusiasm upon the wonderful change that had oome o.er public opinion towards the Catholic Church in that Protestant town— all owing to the magnetic influence of the founder of the Centre Party ; and in our wal<s together through the town I could see evidences of it in the respect shown by all classes for the priests, as well as by the attendances at .the churches. The priest in the old university town of Goettingen told me the same, and the manifestations of practical faith shown there as well as in the towns of Rhenish Prussia, were most consoling. France badly wants a Windthorst; But I am afrakl that a Centre Party in that distracted land is only a dream. That veteran champion of Catholicity, the Comte de Mun, is not heeded outside of Royalist circles. A military dictator who can repeat the history made hy the First Consul seems the only hope. And as the Church in France won what liberty she possessed in the nineteenth century *by a coup d'etat on the part of Napoleon the First, and not by gradual legislative enactments, it would seem as though her only hope of peace in this twentieth century will be by similar means.