SPIRITUAL STRENGTH.

New Zealand Tablet, 10 April 1919, Page 38

SPIRITUAL STRENGTH.

Canon Wm. Barry, writing to the Catholic Times, expresses the opinion that "the Irish cause will he won without aid from Bolsheviki,” and, referring to the world’s asking in a doubtful mood, "Is it peace?” makes an appeal to “the faith of the Catholic Church and the enthusiasm of the Irish nation,” both of which, he says, “are, in a true sense, conservative principles. With pleasure Canon Barry observes “that wherever Catholics prevail in the late Central Empires, respect for law and order keeps the upper hand.” The Canon quotes Mr. A. Williams, a well-known Daily Chronicle correspondent, who, dealing with the spiritual crisis hanging over modern society,, defines Bolshevism as the revengeful shadow of reckless modern materialism. ."If,” Canon Barry urges, "our spiritual strength is exhausted civilisation, will go down. But the Catholic Church has a source of strength which cannot be exhausted in her creed. Sacraments, and traditions. She is called upon to regenerate mankind. It is a task for all Catholic nations, and, among them, in the first rank, for Ireland. We have suffered terrible wrongs; our rights lie beyond, dispute. . . . When a nation has the faith and is clear about its rights, when it neither yields to violence nor breaks into disorder, it may calmly reckon on a sure triumph. The spiritual strength is there.”