THE CLERGY AND CONSCRIPTION

New Zealand Tablet, 23 August 1917, Page 27

THE CLERGY AND CONSCRIPTION

MANIFESTO OF THE CATHOLIC HIERARCHY OF NEW ZEALAND. . We, Hie Catholic Bishops of New , Zealand, feel that the time has come for us to place clearly before the public the Catholic ..position in regard to the Military Service Act in so far as it affects our priests, Brothers, and theological students, in order to remove misunderstanding and justify the attitude, that, in .the interests of true patriotism and religion, we feel, called upon to take up. . . ' Our priests, religious Brothers, and theological students from time immemorial have been forbidden by both Ecclesiastical and Civil Law to take part in warfare. This is still in part the law of England. . It needs no argument to .show how incongruous it would be for men, who have consecrated their lives to the service of the Prince of Peace, to shed. the blood of their fellow creatures. Because it is unbecoming their sacred calling, and because it outrages Christian, feeling and sentiment, and because it is contrary to .the Law of the Church, we object to the conscription of our clergy and religious. But there is another reason why we oppose the calling up of our priests. These men are the servants of the people. Night and day, it matters not, they are at the beck and call of the faithful, to carry on public worship, to administer the Sacraments, and to give spiritual consolation to their flocks. They discharge services that Catholics consider essential to their welfare and happiness, both here and hereafter. And to be deprived of such ministrations would be looked upon by our people as the very worst form of hardship. The theological students, who number about thirty in (he whole Dominion, are the sole reserve from which losses amongst the priesthood are made up. Some of them are already clergy and come under the same law as the priests in regard to warfare. The training for (he Catholic priesthood is a long and difficult one. Naturally, then, the .number of young men who offer themselves lor the life is limited. Those for whom we are asking exemption have been living apart from the world for a considerable time, and have entered upon their final preparation for the priesthood. I he Brothers serve I lie people by devoting their lives to the work of teaching. They receive no salaries in the sense that other teachers do. They number throughout the Dominion less than fifty, and they are absolutely necessary for the carrying on of our Catholic school system. Our people are making huge financial sacrifices to give their children Christian education, which is the only kind they can conscientiously accept. Thousands of pounds are annually saved to the State in the matter of education, by the Catholic body. To further penalise us, by taking our Brothers and so compelling us to close our boys’ schools, would be an intolerable act of oppression. . For we cannot carry on these schools without the Brothers. It is true that the State school authorities believed that they could carry on the public schools efficiently, without the services of the male teachers who are in the First Division, but the position is quite different with us. .. The Brothers are serving their country right well, and they have educated hundreds of young men, who have voluntarily enlisted from the beginning, of the war, who have fought bravely and died gallantly for the Empire. We contend that the conscription of the priests, students, and Brothers would inflict upon the Catholic body hardships that the necessities of the war do not justify. Call it by any name you please, it is nevertheless equivalent to religious persecution. It is being looked upon as such by. our people, and we will adopt towards it the same attitude ‘that we would be compelled to adopt towards any other form of religious persecution. We are confident that our legislators, in framing the Military Service Act, did not forsee, much

less intend these consequences. We feel sure, moreover, that once the. public realise the true state of the case, the vast majority of our non-Catholic fellowcitizens, who are just and fair-minded, will understand our attitude and sympathise with it. They will surely realise that we are not asking for privileges, but for what is of absolute necessity to us as Catholics. Come what may, as long as the war lasts we are - bound in duty to our Catholic boys to keep up our supply of chaplains at the front. We have sent away nineteen priests to act in this capacity, and there are fourteen at present on active service with our soldiers. In addition to this one has laid down his life on the battlefield, and another was so severely wounded at Gallipoli that he may never again resume duty. While thoroughly at one with the Government in its efforts to give every assistance to the Empire in this unhappy war, and conscious that our Catholic young men are bravely and nobly doing their part in giving this assistance, we feel that we owe another duty to our country — viz., the duty to preserve its religious institutions, and to provide the children now at school with an efficient Christian education. While material injuries inflicted on the nation by war can be afterwards repaired, injuries inflicted upon the rising generation in the matter of education, can never be made good. In all confidence we therefore appeal to Parliament and to the fair-minded amongst our fellow-citizens, knowing well that their sense of justice and their Christian patriotism will never allow them to be a party to a policy which we regard as religions persecution, and consequently would feel bound to resist to the end by every constitutional means in our power. Given at Wellington on the 17th day of August, 1917. * THOMAS O’SHEA, S.M., V.G., Archbishop of Gortyna and Coadjutor of Wellington. * MICHAEL VEBDON, Bishop of Dunedin. * MATTHEW J. BRODIE, Bishop of Christchurch. WILLIAM 11. MAHONEY. V.G.. Administrator of the Diocese of Auckland.