Current Topics

New Zealand Tablet, Volume XXXVII, Issue 3, 21 January 1909, Page 89

Current Topics

Thief Logic At a very early stage in the present French persecution we expressed the opinion that thief-logic would not for long fail to see and apply tho lesson of tho wholesale plunder of the religious Orders by tho uniformed ' cribcrackers ' of tho Third Republic. Tho sensational series of thefts of art-treasures from the churches followed, in due course, and was justified by some of the ' magsinen ' just in the way that we had predicted.' A minor, though scarcely less instructive, instance is furnished by the Paris correspondent of the Glasgow Observer. ' Quite recently,' he writes, ' a man was charged with stealing a fowl from a convont, and the following conversation took place^. between the presiding judge and the prisoner: — ~" '"Did you not know it was wrong to take whatbelonged to another?" ' "But, my Lord, it belonged to a convent." '"That does not lesson the crime." '"Then," said the prisoner, "what about Clemenceau, Briand, and Fallieros, who have stolon millions from the convents?" The public laughed, but the judge did not relish the home thrust.' The ' Faith-Cure ' Through the action of one of the Anglican bishops of this Dominion, a form of ' faith-cure ' has received ecclesiastical benediction in this Dominion. The matter has even gone so far that one reverend practitioner" has been deputed, or deputed himself, to apply the ' faith-cure ' to as many ills of the flesh as" may be submitted to the operation of his supposed gift of healing. It seems to be a sort of Eddyism or Christian science which, if not more scientific, is probably less un-Christian than the pseudoreligious system which lifted Mrs. Eddy into millionairedom. To the new cult in the Dominion we may perhaps without injustice apply the following words which the Aye Maria quotes from the eminent American physician and nerve-specialist, Dr. S. Weir-Mitchell, who said at a recent meeting of the Neurological Association : ' Although, Eddyism, in one form or another, is as old as civilisation, I am amazed that the undisciplined minds of the Americans,usually so sceptical, should be taken in_in such increasingly large numbers by an elderly woman with a smile. It is not against psychotherapy [mind-healing] that I . charge you, but against the proneness to overstate its claims as an available remedy. No organic disease was ever cured by it, and its legitimate uses are circumscribed. The rational employment of it in. some cases is without doubt of incalculable benefit, but its wanton misuse is inexcusable. Thore are at least seven cults which have grown up about its tested worth, which are alike only in that they despise each other. They thrive partly because of ignorance, partly because of the pride of untrained reason pampered by the conceit that by subscribing to certain dogmas and paying fees they can themselves become "healers." Persons who refuse credence to stories of the Lourdes cures will swallow these latter marvels complacently.' ' This reference to Lourdes,' says the ■ Aye Maria — ' where, by the way, organic diseases are cured — seems lo differentiate Dr. Mitchell from the Zola brand of latterday sceptics.' The Battle of the Schools^ When the last mails left England, the battle of the schools was being • fought out there with a vigor that (especially on tho Catholic side) evidenced the public sense of the importance of the issues involved. One of these is the so-called ' unsectarian ' and ' undenominational ' form of religious instruction which commends itself to the Nonconformist conscience. This figment of an exuberant fancy was, by the way, described in the following terms by- the late Lord Salisbury in the Fortnightly Review for May, 1896 : ' Numbers of persons have invented^what I may call a patent, compressible religion, which can be forced into all consciences with a little squeezing; and they wish to insist that this should bo the only religion_taught throughout the schools of the nation.' Catholics are naturally unwilling to be compelled to pay taxes for the_ propaganda of this or of any other faith, whether definite or fuzzy, unless on terms of perfect equality. Under the new Bill ' a "Protestant or Nonconformist child,' says the Catholic Times, ' may draw 120s from the public purse every year for its education ; a Catholic child may draw only 55s at the most ! Yet the Catholic parent must pay for his own school bxiildings, out of his own pocket ; and pay rates too for the school buildings of Nonconformists. We will not

submit to such injustice. If we pay, we will receive. If we pay as much as others, we will receive as much as others We will have no starved schools, starved teachers, starved scholars. One ratepayer is as good as another! fc>o is one ratepayer's child as good as another's-. Why should a ratepayer's child in a provided school get 120s, £?? d 0 an ? r t . her ratepayer's child in a Catholic school get only sos? Ihere is but one answer— because, the latter child is a Catholic ! • The opponents of the Catholic claims justified the passive resistance of the -Nonconformists. In doiim so, they have justified it for' Catholics. And, according bo our Liverpool contemporary, Catholics in England will, if driven to this resort, better the example of the Nonconformists. A Prize-fighter's Grievance Psychologically the prize-fighter is, after all, rather an interesting study— at a distance. In point of appearance he is certainly, as a rule, 'no oil painting/ and he is not genorally associated in the popular mind with Christian Endeavor movements or Sunday school 'rallies.' It : would seem, however, that he is nevertheless very often a fiercely- keen religionist, and harbors quite a quantity of unsuspectod piety within his panting bulk. Two or three yoars ago all the papers were filled with the story of how one of the very brightest stars in the fistic firmament— we forget his name— had 'got religion/ as they call it in 1 1 4 m f. i : ie . a ' a n nd > renouncing the ring, devoted the rest oi ins lite to dealing out tracts instead of ' straight lefts ' karly last year a paragraph went the rounds to the effect that one Abe Attell, a Jew, said to be the cleverest featherweight m America, and one whom his best friends would* never have suspected of any leanings toward religious controversy, had become a Catholic. Whether AtteU was led by some deep theological argument, or whether respect- for Holy Church had been inspired by some doughty representative whom he had met in the course of his many battles deponent sayeth not. Tommy Burns, the ex-champion and present idol of Australians, .goes regularly to Mass, and even after the disastrous; — and we may add degrading - clash on Boxing Day was in his place at the Cathedral next morning, as if nothing had happened. Then, as if to furnish further evidence that- even prize-fighters are not past praying for, there comes on the scene Johnson, "the colored giant from Galveston, who expresses himself as ' having felt more than hurt at the way in- which his Church has neglected him. * Johnson is vory emphatic on the matter _ It appears that this particular, dark-skinned mass claims to be a faithful Methodist ; and after explaining to^a Sydney Morning Herald interviewer that when worried-by public criticism he turns for consolation to his favorite books Shakespeare's 'Jt'itus Andronicus, Bunyan's Pilgrim's Progress, and Milton's Paradise Lost — the black person proceeded to pour forth his plaint: 'You may be surprised that I should turn to literary work when annoyed, instead of seeking sympathy from the Church to which I belong. Of course, you know I am a Methodist. When I arrived here in' Sydney first of all I expected to be well looked after by my fellow-religionists in Sydney. Well, do you believe it, not one of the Methodists - even called on me! At first I resented this very much, and I fretted a lot, so that my- manager had fears lest I should go back in my training.' [ ■ And worse remains behind. Not only did tho dark gentleman's 'fellow-religionists' neglect to call on him, but they added injury to insult by not rolling "up to support him in the fight. ' Outside the conduct of -the local • Methodists/ he said, 'in not inviting me to church, there is not a single one, so far as I can learn, wwhoo o signified his intention of witnessing the fight. In America, whenever I had a " scrap," I could always count on solid support from my denomination.' This naive announcement throws - quite a new light on the negro's notion of .-the mission of Methodism in the States. ' Because lam a black/ continued the Ethiopian, speaking of his church-people in Australia, ' you spurned me ' ; and in his interview with the Herald representative he returned their contempt with interest. 'Depend upon it/ he concluded, after a strong denunciation, ' I shall report to the American people how I was treated here ... by the Methodist body to which I belong.' In effect he applied to his Church the sentiments, if not the words, of his favorite Shakespeare: 'Hast thou not spoke like thunder on my side? Been sworn my soldier? bidding me depend Upon thy stars, thy fortune, and thy strongth? And dost thou now fall over to my foes? Thou wear a lion's hide ! Doff it for shame, And hang a calfskin on those recreant limbs.'

Truly, Brother Johnson will a tale unfold at his next camp-meeting in far-off Galveston.' Although he has taken nis Church trouble so keenly to heart, Johnson - announces that he v bears no animosity to the Sydney people generally. He is quite magnanimous about them. In spite of their bad treatment of him, ' 1 am not going to be nasty about the Sydney people,' he told the interviewer. On the whole, he can afford to be generous. In defeating Tommy Burns, he practically routed all his enemies; and he can afford to be forgiving on the principle of the dying Spanish Noble who, asked by the priest if he forgave his enemies ,looked up with a seraphic smile, saying, ' Z_ have killed them all.' The Catholic Paper The S.H. Review quotes an interesting extract from a collective pastoral letter recently issued by the Catholic hierarchy of Lombardy (Italy) to their flocks. ' Preaching,' they say, ' especially catechetical preaching, is excellent, indispensable — but to-day it is not enough. . . . Humanly speaking, there is no preaching that can prevail against the strength of an evil press. It is imperative, therefore, that we should oppose press to press if we are to prevent the spread of impious teachings among the people. To-morrow it may be too late. . . . Everything points to a great battle in the near future in the social and religious field, and the principal arms employed in it will be the arms of the press. Let every tiling be done, therefore, to help the Catholic press. We earnestly recommend the clergy to give the utmost possible circulation to the Catholic press.' Cardinal Moran on Sport Worship The Cardinal-Archbishop of Sydney sees in excessive devotion to sport the seeds of national decay. ' When Imperial Rome,' said his Eminence to a Daily Telegraph interviewer, ' entered upon her period of decay, the youth of the city were pursuing the same sport worship that is characteristic of Sydney at the present day.' In his Table Talk Leigh Hunt remarks that 'the moment a man finds a contradiction in himself between his sports and his humanity, it is a signal that he should give them up.' This is, in substance, the plea of the Cardinal against certain boxing exhibitions that in our time have come to be little less brutal than the old contests with the naked fists such as that which took place between ' Donnelly and Cooper who fought all on Kildare.' 'When I was a young man at college,' said the Cardinal to the interviewer, ' we had our boxing amusement without the gloves, and no element of brutality ever entered into our sport, as it apparently does, even with the gloves, to-day. The worst feature of all is that money is just now playing such an important part in all our outdoor amusements. It cannot be argued that the same honesty of purpose pervades the doings of the athletes when stakes and side-wagers come to be an important factor, as in the case of horse-racing. Leave that part of the business on one side, and there will be no need to talk of the decadence of sport, nor will the brutal element present itself. I marvel to see how the question of monetary gain has insinuated itself into sport, for in my day there was none of it.' Mixed Marriages A Spanish ' wisdom ' places a discount on advising a man to go to the wars or marry, and an Irish proverbial saying cautions young people to be slow and guarded about 'tying a knot with their tongue which their teeth can t open.' For Catholics some such caution is very necessary in regard to unions in which there is a difference over go intimate and practical a matter as religion. In Germany all such marriages are registered as mixed, and with the religion in which the children are' brought up, are made the subject of statistical returns. In his Kirchliches Handbuch, Father Krose, S.J., gives, from the official statistics, some melancholy figures showing the results of mixed marriages in the German Fatherland. Of the children born of these unions, 423,895 (56.8 per cent.) were brought up as (at least nominally) Protestants, and 321,955 (43.2 per cent.) as (more or less) Catholics. Catholics in these countries need not go so far afield .as Germany for a warning example as to the evils of mixed marriages — from which the ranks of the churchless, rather than of the churches, are year by year recruited. Our own countries' experience affords a more than sufficient ground for the appeal that is made in the churches on each succeeding second Sunday after the Ephiphany.