FRANCE

New Zealand Tablet, 4 January 1912, Page 47

FRANCE

ANTI-CHRISTIAN TYRANNY. " ° ' The Paris Eclair states .that,the Abbe Carrier has been imprisoned at Grenoble. His offence is that in giving catechetical instructions to children, he spoke to them about the history of their country. It appeared -to him quite fitting in describing to Catholic children the beginnings of Christianity to inform them how it was introduced into France, how it became associated with the destinies of the country, and of the part it played in the formation, training, and expansion of the nation. This teaching the abbe imparted in familiar conversations, the object of which was to lend increased interest to the particular subject with which he was dealing. He was summoned, appeared before a court, '■ and was condemned in a fine. He refused to-pay it and has been sent to gaol. Is it not clear when the French Government is thus punishing a priest for communicating knowledge to the minds of the young that it is pursuing a policy the outcome of which is bound to be national decay? Ever since the warfare against the Christian religion was commenced by the Government, of France the policy of the authorities has become . more and more degrading for the country. A Govern- • ment could scarcely display its ineptitude more glaringly than by casting a man into prison for having explained to children the grounds for glorying in the past of their country.