SIDELIGHTS ON THE WAR

New Zealand Tablet, 16 August 1917, Page 31

SIDELIGHTS ON THE WAR

GENERAL. Reports declare that Turkey is looking toward the Pope for aid in an eventual separate peace. The relations between the Holy See and Turkey have improved to such an extent that the Apostolic Delegate at Constantinople has practically assumed protection over the Allied prisoners held in Turkey. While requests from the Allied Governments to send food and clothing to the prisoners have been refused, when the same request was made by the Pope it was immediately granted. The Daily Chronicle joins in the demand for the appointment of a Reconstruction Minister. Already the Cabinet has done something in the way of looking to the necessity of prompt reconstruction and development of industry after the war, but the agency appointed is too cumbersome and slow-moving to meet the necessities of the case. Whether peace may come in a year or longer (Mr. Hoover, an American authority in close touch with things, places. the date at from two to five years hence), we must be found ready. The Chronicle frankly tells the Premier, to whom it is always friendly, that he has far too much to do, and that he would be well advised to devolve his responsibilities by appointing a Reconstruction Minister. The German press affects to belittle and disdain the entry of America into the war. "The American Army is not to be taken seriously." Some German writers recollect hearing this sort of stuff before. Herr Harden, the Labouchere of the German press, reminds his compatriots that they heard that "refrain" before in the days when Germany scoffed at "a contemptible little British Army." America has a hundred millions of people to draw from—more than twice the population of these kingdoms. And if we have expanded our fighting forces by millions since the war began, then much more are the possibilities of the American expansion once Uncle Sam puts his back into the job. Doubtless German press scoffers are fully aware of that, but meantime their war-weary people must be sustained on a diet of hope. There is nothing in the way of victory available. In the course of a reply to a circular issued by the Middlesborough branch of the Peace-by-Negotiation Society, Bishop Lacy, Middlesborough, says:—"ln reply to your query, let me say at once that if the present inhuman war is ever to be brought to an end it will only be brought about by negotiation. It seems to me that, in the interests of humanity, we have reached a stage in the war when the belligerents should seriously set about making an interchange of ideas with a view to peace. It may not come at once, but much might- be gained by such a preliminary interchange of views. Sooner or later it will come to this, and why not sooner than later? We can always retire from the conference, if we are not satisfied. There is so much to be gained by such a course that the experiment is worth trying. Meanwhile rivers of blood are flowing and countless hearts are made desolate." C.SS.R. CHAPLAINS. There are 18 Redemptorist Fathers serving as chaplains at the various war fronts. Just lately one of the Fathersthe Rev. Father Aherne, C.SS.R., received the D.S.O. distinction for conspicuous bravery on the battlefield. Among the chaplains is the Rev. Father Haig, C.SS.R. Father Haig is a convert to the Catholic Church, and a brother of General Sir Douglas Haig, the Commander-in-Chief.

CATHOLIC CHAPLAINS. .From the diary of a Catholic chaplain we take the" following note: "The Tablet (London), in the course of a highly laudatory notice of a pamphlet, entitled Catholics of the British Umpire and the War, remarks that in the pamphlet "there is full recognition of what the Admiralty and the War Office have done to meet the spiritual needs of Catholics in the Army and Navy. . . . To-day there are 486 Catholic chaplains in the Fleet and the Army, and soon there will be 600. At present the Chaplains are distributed thus: Army, . Navy. British ... 372 British ... 30 Canadian ... 36 Australian ... 1 Anzac ... 32 India ... „ 5 South Africa 2 Trinidad ... 1 Malta ... 5 South America 1 New Foundland 1 It will be noted that while India, Trinidad, Canada, and even Malta are duly credited with the number of Catholic chaplains each has sent, there is no word of reference to the Irish priests, to the number of over 150, who have left their homes since the beginning of the war to minister to the spiritual needs of their fellow Catholics in the British Army." In another part of the diary we come upon a complaint made by Archbishop Walsh regarding the "needless difficulties put in the way of priests wishing to volunteer as chaplains." But we have long ago ceased to wonder at anything done by John Bull in his misgovernment of Ireland. The Archbishop compares the stupidity exhibited with regard to chaplains with that of the whole recruiting campaign. After all there was reason in the expression by the Orangeman of their preference for German rule, although they did not have to put up with 'the insults suffered by the Nationalists. WOMAN'S WORK IN WAR. More than 3000 members of the Sodality Union of the archdiocese of St. Louis, the majority being women, listened to Archbishop John J. Glennon's address on "The Place of Women in the War" at the third annual demonstration of the union at the new Cathedral on a recent Sunday afternoon. "Women's duty is to serve and conserve," the Archbishop declared. "To serve those' who have left their homes, and to conserve the homes they have left. It is a man's place, with his strength, to serve at the front. The women's place is to follow him who serves with sympathy and support. She can be a nurse at the base hospital back of the firing line. In that capacity she has a consecrated mission, for in serving humanity she is serving God. Back of the base hospital, she can work at home. She can supply hospitals with equipment, the work of her own hands; she can preserve in the home all the erstwhile virtues that peace promoted ; she can keep alive the flame of purest patriotism so that the little ones may be reared in the true meaning of patriotism." The Archbishop emphasised the unique place that the home holds in time of war as well as peace. He urged the women not to follow modern gospels that represent the home as a place of drudgery. "The home is a place of service," he said, "and it is only in time of war that we realise the real significance of service. Too many of our young people think the home is obsolete. They care only for-enough money for honey-mooning and expect after that to drift around from place to place. You women must keep the home so that those who return may find a welcome, where the torch of patriotism is unquenched and the faith of other days preserved." The conservation of food and diligent planting were urged by the Archbishop. "There is no law," he said, "that can create the food supply after the harvest time is over. The women must plant, and, after the harvest they must conserve so that of our abundance we may feed the nations that are dying of'starvation."