INTERNATIONAL CATHOLIC DEFENCE UNION

New Zealand Tablet, 20 April 1911, Page 705

INTERNATIONAL CATHOLIC DEFENCE UNION

OFFICIAL LETTER OF THE HIERARCHY OF IRELAND By Rev. P. J. Dowlinc, CM. Although a week later than my promise, I have now much pleasure in submitting to your readers what I may term as the first stage in the development of this project which has aroused practically world-wide interest. ■ There is less attention given to federation by the English-speaking section of the Church than by their brethren on the Continent. In all the Continental countries there is a considerable effort made at combination amongst the Catholics, and the object of these unions is to defend Catholic interests against the Socialist, to support the Catholic press,, to. help the Catholic workman, etc. There is a great lack of enthusiasm amongst us in all these respects. Naturally , therefore/before we could ask those federations to fall into the ranks of an international union the first step should be to form national unions amongst ourselves in order to possess a unit for the bigger amalgamation by and by. Nothing could or should be attempted in this direction without the approval of the Bishops. Accordingly, as soon as possible after the Leeds Congress, I placed before the Bishops of Ireland and England an outline of a scheme for the International Union. t • , T! i r .°\ lgh the k ind of Most Rev. Dr. Browne, the Irish tfishops did me the honor of allowing me to make a personal explanation in the presence of their meeting: in October, and whilst giving a very cordial hearing to the outline of my plans, they asked me to hand to each Bishop V*- 1 " 11 C< W, of lie schem e and promised me to have t officially _ considered at the meeting of their Standing Council in January. ** Bishop hands- '" * C ° Py ° f the paper laced in the INTERNATIONAL CATHOLIC DEFENCE UNION. Scheme Proposed . by Rev. P. J. Dowling, CM. , 1- The object of this Union is to join together a number of bodies .already existing, and other Catholics that may wish, to join, m one common league to assist the Catholics m defending themselves against the organised attack of Freemasonry in various countries. The Union is strictly for defence. H fl ,y) T- ans adopted , will be (a) to watch the press and utilise it in exposing the plots and calumnies that are employed in the warfare against the Church, (b) to provide an international trusteeship, registered as a commercial company which in case of need will undertake the guardianship of threatened Church property, (c) to make common cause and concerted action with regard to the. commerce 01 a country that engaged in a. warfare against the Church and to use every means to ban all products of that country ?, 7 ,S Vh /n t he V ™ n f x «ts so long as that hostility continues, (d) to supply funds to fight the cause of priests and religion when attacked before local tribunals (e) to use any other means the Council may adopt as legitimate defence against the,attacks of the enemies of the cS 8. The purposes.of. the Union will need a,number of paid agents or organisers. It is proposed that every member will pay one shilling per year to the-funds. If twenty million Catholics join the Union it will mean that a war chest of one million a year will b. at the disposal of the

4. The governing body of the Union will consist of (a) an international Council made up of bishops and priests and laymen in equal numbers, presided over by a Cardinal to be* nominated by the Pope, (b) There will be also a National Council for each country, similarly constituted. The International Council will direct the general policy of the Union. The National Council will direct the local organisation, keep it in being, and extend it and assist the International Council in deciding local methods of action. ■:' 5. The times of meeting and place will be decided by each Council as circumstances may demand. 6. The International Council will consist of delegates, one ecclesiastic and one layman, chosen by each of the National Councils. The I.C. will elect its own officials. 7. The National Council will consist of three bishops and three priests chosen by the bishops of the country, and of sis laymen chosen by the majority votes of the heads of the various organisations that join the Union. The National Council will elect its own chairman and officials. 8. Each Council will draw up its own standing orders. Your readers will observe that it is not my plan to create new bodies specifically for the object of the Union. We have, as I stated previously, numerous bodies which may be described as the 'pick' of the faithful of both sexes. My hope is that these associations will join the Union, each in a body, and that their existing machinery will carry out the work of the Union under the direction of the National and International Councils. For example, let lis suppose the Catholic Young Men's Societies —bodies which should form the Household Guards of the Churchdecide to join the National Union. Then through their officers they will keep the registry, collect the. subscriptions, and receive and publish the instructions from the headquarters of the Union; all such bodies exist as isolated regiments at present, all that is wanted is some central staff to issue the orders of the, battle in defence of the Church and how to fight it with all arms in action. ";'• I think the constitution of the two Councils is simple and effective. It secures in the first place immediate touch with Rome by having a Cardinal as president of the Union. Then by the composition of each Council there is secured the co-operation of the laity and the guidance of the clergy. The secretary of the Standing Council of the Irish Episcopate did me the honor of forwarding the following letter : Bishop's House, Queenstown. ■'•• The Episcopal Standing Committee of the Irish Bishops, which met on the 17th inst., and considered the statement of the Rev. P. J. Dowling, CM., setting forth the proposed constitution of an International Catholic Defence Union, directed the secretary to reply 'that, while they approve of the object of the proposed Union, especially of an International Catholic Press Agency, they cannot approve of the detailed proposed constitution of the Union till it has been submitted to and approved by the Holy See. The Episcopal Committee do not approve of the proposal in Section (c), namely to introduce concerted action in regard to commercial business.' ROBERT BROWNE, Bishop of Cloyne, Secretary. 24th January, 1911. It is a source of great gratification +o me that a body whose decision will be so widely accepted and venerated has approved of the principles of the Union. I am sorry that there is exception taken to what I consider a very strong feature in the programme, concerted action against the commerce of a country that attacks the Church. The keynote of my scheme is that of defensive war, and I think there are few theologians that would not allow the blockade of ah enemy's posts and the harassing of her commerce in a defensive war. The least we can do is to knock the weapons out of our enemy's hands. I think that we fail

to grasp the fact that we are the objects of a war, a most relentless war, which aims not at subjugation but at extermination. The battle cry of the Continental Mason is ' Ecrasez l'infame.' : > However, I shall be well. satisfied if the other points of the programme;, are carried out, and it would be, only an._act of prudence to sacrifice this feature of the scheme if such action ■ would save the general plan. Your readers will now see that we possess a great advantage in approaching Rome for the confirmation of the constitution of the Union in having the approval of the Irish Bishops for its principles. lam certain, too, that in the Church of Australia, of the United States, of Canada, and South Africa, the fact of this approval of principles will rouse renewed interest in the Union. The next step will be the humble approach to the See of Peter. As soon as possible the constitution of the Union will be submitted to the Pope, and if he gives his approval and blessing the hour is not far distant when the enemies of the Church will hear the tramp of the International Guards marching into battle line. I must thank several friends for subscriptions towards the initial expense, somewhat considerable, of working up the Union.