Current Topics

New Zealand Tablet, 15 May 1913, Page 21

Current Topics

Mr. Chesterton on * Little Bethel * .. ~- Mr. G. K. Chesterton has.evidently small respect - for extreme evangelicalism either as a creed : or : as a religion; and his new book on the Victorian Age in Literature has some biting and more than ordinarily contemptuous references to the narrower type of Non- • conformity. Here is a sample:—' Thus, for instance,, he [Dickens] hated that Little Bethel to which Kit's mother went; he hated it simply as Kit hated it. Newman could have told him it was hateful/ because it had no root in religious;history';, it was not even a sapling sprung of the seed of some great human and heathen tree; it was a monstrous mushroom that grows in the moonshine and dies in the dawn. Dickens knew no more of religious history than Kit; he simply smelt the fungus, and it stank.' That is certainly strong; and the passage has naturally elicited some vehement andvigorous 'replies.' Anglican Attitude in N. 5. Wales Official Bible League speakers and publications are continually assuring us that the League sysetm in New South Wales gives absolute and universal satisfaction, that not a voice is lifted against it, and that no one—saving the Catholic body—ever expresses the .slightest wish or makes tne slightest move for anything better. This is one of the many statements promulgated by the League which are certainly not so. Time and again representative Anglicans have complained of the inadequacy of the system; and have urged on their people the necessity for having schools of their own. Here is a recent instance in point. We give it as we find it in a letter addressed to the Sydney Church Standard of April 4, a paper which is now one of the most influential Anglican journals in Australia. It will be noted that the communication represents not only the writer's own view but also that of an Anglican paper, tho Southern Churchman. * The Church Standard correspondent writes : 'Sir, — The editor of the Southern Churchman speaks of the need of Lenten discipline in days of almost unparalleled laziness, selfishness, and indifference, and that our only hope is with our children, and he wisely pleads for more Church schools. What, indeed, can be grander than having Churchmen placed at the head of these schools ? And that, of course, implies men and women leading (example is better than precept) the children on Prayer Book lines, leading them to love the Church of their forefathers and to obey her teaching: teachers who ought to be full of enthusiasm for the Church, looking only upon the school as it were one of the branches of activity. This is, indeed, the only reason for such schools— to Christ and His Church. Then, to my mind, the multiplying of Church schools is impossible till the Church has a teaching Order of devoted men and women, who, out of pure love for the Church's children, are willing to devote their l'ves in this direction, and who are supported by the Church's leaders, and who are ever found in sympathy with the parochial clergy, working hand in hand. This is the only solution. For a Church school working unsympathetically towards the parish is almost inconceivable: and surely Rome is not the only organisation which possesses devoted and self-sacrificing men and women who are willing to devote their lives in this direction. Faithfully yours, ' Chas. E. Burgess.' The Catholic Attitude As to the attitude of the Catholics in New South Wales towards the system, it could not be better expressed than in the words of his Grace Archbishop Kelly in an address delivered on April 23 at the opening of a bazaar in the Bible —words which dispose once for all of the suggestion that because Catholics are not every other week protesting against the system they must be regarded as approving or at least as

acquiescing in it. I. am speaking to " Australians ;in| general,'said his Grace, 'and I say that it (the N.S. Wales system) is most objectionable to Catholics, that it is in itself unstatesmanhke, and that from a religious point of view it is nothing better than a. delusion, a mockery,-"" and a snare. Allow me to draw attention to the position we Catholics are placed in: If we are silent our silence is taken as praise; if, ion the other hand,- we keep on 3 complaining about the "public schools system, we : are j told that people are tired. of our complaints,' that the / public is satisfied with the State schools :■ system, and that we are an unreasonable,' intractable > recalcitrant minority. -' •* ' What has been our. policy, therefore? Now and ' again on given occasions we have emphatically protested against the system of having Bible or Scripture lessons given by a teacher who may or may not have any religion as altogether unsuitable for Catholics. We have gone into the. history of this system also, and .we f have shown that it is not at all to the credit of Australia to have taken it up." At the Education Conference, convened in 1904, I think, by the then Minister of Education, Mr. Perry, the "late Cardinal spoke to this effect. So did others, including myself. At the last Catholic Congress, held in Sydney, I devoted considerable time to showing that these Scripture lessons given in the public schools had been garbled, and did not present the Gospel truth fairly to the children of New South Wales, even on most important points.. . .: We have not been altogether silent; but our legislation that our Catholic children, when they are compelled to attend public schools, should not be present at these lessons continues. Catholic parents would fail in their duty if they did not see that their children were absent from these lessons. Therefore, it is false for anyone to say that the Catholics of New South Wales are content with the present system of Bible lessons and religious instruction imparted in the name of secular instruction.' A C.T.S. Publication Some time ago we felt it our duty to comment unfavorably on a pamphlet issued by the English Catholic Truth Society and purporting to give the story of the life and work of Nano JNagle, foundress of the Presentation Order of Nuns. The publications of the C.T.S. have a high reputationand deservedly so — for fairness, accuracy, and ripe scholarship; and for ourselves we have the most enthusiastic admiration for the magnificent work which the Society has done and is doing for the defence and propagation of the faith. But the Nano Nagle pamphlet is neither fair nor accurate. Its unfairness lies in the exaggerated and highly colored description which it gives of the moral condition of the Irish people of Nano Nagle's day, a description which is based largely on some emphatic and heated utterances of her biographer, Dr Hutch. Had the pamphlet writer made it clear that the lurid picture she paints was only partial and local in its scope it might have been allowed to pass; but put forward, as it virtually is, as a general description of the condition of the Irish people it is not sustained by the facts and testimony of sober history. According to the C.T.S. pamphlet the Irish of the penal days were without a knowledge of God, steeped in heathen darkness, and 'sunk in immorality';'according to the Rev. E. A. D'Alton's monumental history the people, while undoubtedly crushed and degraded in many ways, 'looked to God alone for deliverance,' and 'clung to the faith they loved,' and ' their standard of domestic morals was the highest in the world.' On such questions the historian, with his judicial mind, due sense of proportion, and truer perspective, is surely a safer guide than the almost necessarily partial and partisan biographer. The English C.T.S. can have no possible inducement or desire to over-state the facts; and if D'Alton's review of the period is even approximately correct it would seem clear that in all fairness some modification of the pamphlet is called for. The popular and highly esteemed secretary of the C.T.S., Mr. James Britten, K.S.G., has written to us to say that his com-, mittee have gone into the matter, and have decided to take our representations into consideration when a fresh

issue of 'the- publication is in hand. While promising so much, they suggest that the passages to which we have specially taken exception are descriptive of particular localities. That is only partly the . case; and what we object to is that even in such instances not a word is said to indicate the exclusively local application of the description, but the reader is left to infer that the condition depicted is normal and typical. For the rest, such expressions as 'lreland,' ' the people there,' etc., are 01 frequent occurrence; while such a sentence as ' The various branches of trade and commerce for which Cork was noted had gathered within its walls as numerous and uncivilised a crowd as could be found inside any Irish city,' leave no room for doubt as to the authoress's intention to include the generality of the people in her denunciations. The C.T.S. have a record of .which they have good reason to be proud in regard to the unexceptionable character of their publications; and it would be a pity that even' one should remain on their list in a form which could justly be made the subject of criticism and blame. What is Good Church Music? We are not ourselves about to answer this delicate if not difficult question. We ' wadna preshoom.' But we direct the attention of those interested in the subject to some pertinent remarks made in a recent address by Mr. •William A. Spalding, Assistant Professor of Music in Harvard University. Mr. Spalding is not a Catholic ; and it, is all the more interesting and significant, therefore, to note how closely his ideas and ideals follow along the lines of Papal legislation on the subject. 'Just what is good church music?' asks Mr. Spalding. In this matter there is an abundance of confused and reckless opinions. While it is true that all music which is a vital and sincere expression of the imagination and shows good workmanship is great music, and hence sacred, none the less much of it when introduced into our churches is a right thing in the wrong place. Certainly church music which is and which sounds just like the music of every day is condemned by one of the worst indictments which can be brought against any form of art, namely, that of incongruity.' ' Far too much modern so-called church music is based entirely on dance rhythms, and the whole harmonic basis and structure is that which we associate with hunting songs, with barcarolles, serenades, waltzes, rullabys, or even drinking songs. How. such music can be expected to stimulate the worshipper to ideal considerations of human existence and the real meaning of the mysteries of this and of the other world it is difficult to understand. The object of secular music is to excite. The object of sacred music should be to elevate. The best church music in the world was written for and has been rendered by men's voices, and consequently the mixed quartet is coming to be loss and less in favor. In these days of fierce discussion as to the alleged failure of the churches to hold their congregations, I myself am convinced that any church which institutes a really noble type of church —and there is a large amount of it in existence, both that of the great Italian masters of the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries and of the Protestant German composerswill be availing itself of a most vital form of appeal to the higher sensibilities of congregations and of worshippers who far too often at present are seen to be in a state of lethargy or open hostility.' The « Assistant-President ' of America Although no Catholic, so far as our information goes, has found a place in the new "United States Cabinet—and this notwithstanding the fact that plenty ■ of Catholic public men of Cabinet stature were available— is satisfactory to note that President Wilson has selected a member of the Catholic body to fill a position of greater responsibility and importance than even that of a member of the Executive. The position we refer to is that of private secretary to the Presi-

dent; and ■ the gentleman*'■; appointed c the position by the new; President is : Mr. Joseph Tumulty, a Catholic young man—-for he is still well under forty—who was trained in St. Bridget's Parochial "School and the: Jesuit College of Jersey City, from which he graduated in 1899. We can well imagine that noPopery gutter-journals such as the Menace and Watson's Magazine, have been thrown into a condition of purple rage over the appointment; and even papers from which better things might have been expected have displayed the cloven hoof of bigotry in connection with the matter. Thus an organ of the Methodist —the Christian Advocate of New York—denounces the appointment on purely religiouk grounds, and urges its readers to 'Keep Your Eye on Washington.' But even the Christian Advocate has to unreservedly acknowledge the personal fitness of Mr. Tumulty to discharge the duties of the delicate and responsible position to which he has been called. 'He is doubtless entirely capable,' it says, 'of performing the duties of his confidential and responsible position, and the fact that Woodrow Wilson has retained him as private secretary during his term as Governor of New Jersey is sufficient guarantee that his personal character is abovo reproach. We shall not intimate that he would ever consciously engage in dishonorable conduct.' * The following comments from the New York correspondent of the London Daily Telegraph, wall give some idea of the high importance and responsibility of Mr. Tumulty's position. Referring to the newly inaugurated policy of an 'open door'.. for pressmen and others at the White House, the Telegraph correspondent remarks:'lf I can't see you, Joseph Tumulty will take my place,' Dr. Wilson says. Mr. Tumulty is the President's private secretary, and in that capacity ranks with a Cabinet Minister. He is a sort of lord chamberlain, confidential adviser, controller of the household, and private secretary rolled into one. Mr. Tumulty, aged 35, son of an ironmoulder, who rose from poverty by his own unaided efforts, is now Assistant-President of the United States. When the last special pleader has vanished, there enters the man whose duty it is to lay cold, hard facts before the President; Mr. Tumulty has the last word always. Next to the President he will be the busiest man at White House, beginning work at 8.30 a.m. and ending indefinitely.' There has never been, so far, a Catholic President of the United States but it is satisfactory to know that under the present regime Catholics are to some extent represented in what seems to be generally regarded as the power behind the throne.