'Los von Risca' in Australia

New Zealand Tablet, 9 July 1908, Page 9

'Los von Risca' in Australia

Dr. John England once .said, with much truth, that ' a person needs no other qualification to write against the Roman Catholic religion- than to s be so disposed ; and', added he, ' the abundance of the spirit becomes manifest in the vehemence. =of the phraseology. Little attention need be paid to facts, circumstances need not he examined, nor is it always necessary to have' regard even to probability, itself. 1 We were reminded of all this on perusing E an" article in a-Ne'w- Zealand^ con-temporary; in. -which the- abundance oi one -Rev. Dr. Hanson's spirit is amply manifested in the vehemence ot some of his phraseology. the whole context makes ft apparent that this iiery minister of the Lord rejoices in the spoliation and banishment-of- ' various Orders of monks and nuns ' in France and tile active persecution of religion there b^. rampant and

-aggressive atheism, in excelsis ; he. likewise finds much |iope and comfort in the attacks of the anti-Christian press on • the Romish authorities ' in Spain, and in tbe fact that in Italy. * high-dignitaries of -the Roman Church' have been 'subjected to- rough treatment' by organised jgangjs of the enemies of religious faith and of public order.

* The ground of comfort that the Rev. Dr. Hanson finds in. these signs of what he calls ' the Continental

awakening ' is a very shadowy one indeed. He hopes that this atheist war on the great organisation which he designates by the offensive theological slang nickname, the l Romish ' Church, will open ' the way for aggressive missionary enterprise ' by his co-religionists.. But, in the first place, while, in France Catholicism is rising to the occasion and acquiring new life . and strength and hope from persecution, the . Reformed Churches in that country (which have, long been in a state of marked decadence) are in worse case than ever. It looks as if the Rev. Doctor is one of those who are satisfied to see • a neighbor's house on fire, as it affords them a cheap opportunity of roasting their eggs. In the second place, 'aggressive missionary enterprise ' by Reformed creeds in Catholic countries has "been hopelessly barren, even when backed !by overflowing coffers. In the third place it strikes us that the suggested • aggressive missionary enterprise ' might very advklitagpously began at home— end that one of its first and most urgently needed functions should be to convert to Christianity the considerable number of tJhe clergy of the Reformed denominations, ■who have shuffled off belief in many of the fundamental tenets of Christ's Revelation. And finally : One of the most stirring and beautiful incidents in the life of Chatham was the burst of indignant eloquence with which he thundered in the British Parliament against Burgoyne's employment of the Indian with his scalpingknife as an ally of England against her children in 'America. A Christian minister should be as much ashamed to accept French and other Continental atheists, with their savagjp, methods of warfare against religion, as allies in a religious crusade", or as the •John the Baptists or forerunners of a campaign of ~* aggressive missionary enterprise '. Non tali auxilio ! # Here is a droll paragraph from the article in question :— 'In Australia the Los von Risca movement continues, through which more than 50,000 persons have left the Church of Rome in six or seven years.' This will bp news indeed for people on the other Side of the Tasma-n Sea .' We are, however, very much inclined to think that the first line of the quoted paragraph is really intended as a description, not of some unknown • Los von Risca ' movement in Australia, but of the abortive and treasonable political " toovement in Austria which was known as the • los Ton Rom '. This anti-patriotic agitation arose in 1899 out of a Bill which prescribed that the German language—which was most commonly in use as the official iringue— should be replaced, by Czech, , jyhejre .that was the common language of. , the. .people! The feelings pf the German element rpse . to fever heat,, and. scandalous scenes were enacted in the Austrian 'Reichsrath or Parliament. -The, so-called Catholic party (who were Ger- • xnan-speaking) held the balance, of power, and supportedthe Bill. -Their act of. common fairness on their part :: > set the Germanising party : frantic. ~" These urged that Protestantism was equivalent- to Germanism, and organised what purported to be a ' movement ' c lbs von • Rom' (i.e., away from Rome). Some •* -darfiagetl goods' -*-bad or indifferent Catholics— made a 5 8hdw ?r of "'"conversion ' ; and the figures of ' convert^'* Were_exaggerated in a way that far surpassed' the story of Shakespeare's rogues in buckram. Money was poured in from Germany to support the movement, which soon devel-

opod into a treasonable* conspiracy to enlarge the "boundaries of the Fatherland by the absorption or ' (benevolent assimilation 'of Austria. From start to finish the movement was a political one. Dr. Johanny, one of the most respected Evangelical ministers in- Vienna, declared at the time, in the course of a newspaper article, "that the Jeaders~bf the movement were "men who laughed at the Bible. ' The Evangelical Church ', said he in conclusion, • can have no share in efforts which, under the motto of " emancipation from Rome", converts apostacy into a political demonstration. 'It is impossijxle ', added he, ' that an Austrian can look in a (sympathetic manner upon a movement so iw* patriotic and irreligious in its origin \ v However, that is a-11 of the dead and buried past. The ' movement ' (such as it was) soon ,died away. And ' the condemnation of two of its leaders for serious crimes against- morality gave it its coup de grace. Had such a conspiracy taken place in Germany or England, its ringleaders would have received a short shrift and a long, drop—- with Jack Ketch's Manila cravat around their traitorous necks.