Current Topics

New Zealand Tablet, Volume XLIX, Issue 40, 12 October 1922, Page 14

Current Topics

Irish. History ; . '/. v •■■ ; A few of our friends have already replied to our circulars concerning the History Competitions, but so far we have had only three notifications of the number of pupils, intending to compete. As we want to know definetly two things: —-(a) .the number from each school and (b) if the local priest is willing to help by superintending . the examinations, we., respectfully beg those among the clergy who do take some interest in the encouragement of the study of Irish History to give us a practical proof of their earnestness by sending in the details we require as soon as possible. Before long we will publish a series of - articles written specially to supply the children with clear and up to date knowledge of the Gaelic League and Sinn Fein. We meet any amount of people who tell us what a fine thing the study is for the children but we want more than words. We want those who think in their hearts that it is worth while to go to the trouble of helping us to make the matter a • success. The War Scare Unkind people are saying that Mr. Massey put his foot in it by his premature readiness to rush (others)' to the colors. What a convenient thing this war would be if it gave him the excuse for repeating that wonderfully original remark about, swapping horses while crossing the stream, and holding on for three years .more,without an election. He seems to have overdone things by his reckless denunciation of the Liberal Party and those who take him seriously have been rather sharp in their criticisms of him: ~ He was not playing the game certainly, but perhaps he is trying to find in the flag-flapping a substitute for the sectarian strife policy which helped him to win last time. However that may be, it is evident that himself and Lloyd George and the Ulster Orangemen are about the only people who want a war at this stage. For the present the Empire might be just as well off without it. A Presbyterian Cloud _ There are other clouds besides war clouds just now. For instance, the Dunedin Presbytery complains that the general statistics are not consoling. The report says: I “Some, columns showed an increase, but those were columns of not very great importance. There was a decrease in all the columns that mattereda decrease in attendance at public worship of 532, a decrease in admissions to membership by examination of 80, a decrease in baptisms, and a decrease in total revenue. There was an increase in the indebtedness of the Church.—(Laughter.) > The analysis of the figures was not. Very encouraging. Though 426 new members had joined, including 80 from overseas, yet there was an increase of only five, on the total roll. He thought that was a matter for serious consideration. Some columns could well be dispensed with from the schedule but two should 'be added showing the number of persons received by certificate and the number of disjunctions. He thought the whole position was serious. • There were only 7718 members in the whole Prsebytery and he did not think that was at all in proportion to the Presbyterian population. He had analysed the statistics . for the past five • years and had come to the conclusion that the Church was not a going concern. There had been a total decrease in the membership- of the Church of 85 during y the past five years. }, .It ; was about time the Presbytery had. a<■ conference and mad© searching inquiry ;as | to what was really the matter with the religious life of the people and of the Church. The difficulty was either. in the home life,, the Church fife,;or the civic life, and they ought to get right down into it.” * .

- - / . i Evidently the large Prohibition - posters at “ the ; chqrch gates and the P.P.A. stunts of Professor Dickie and his friends are not a paying proposition. American Charity - I ’ • « During the war and . after it America set a noble example to the effete and hypocritical Powers of Europe v whose policy is solely ' inspired by selfishness: Not long ago, at Farm Street, Father Vaughan paid a well-deserved tribute to the American people in the following words: “Language is altogether inadequate to express, horrors of the universal famine which,' since the war, has pervaded the civilised world. No man, unless his heart has been tom out of him, can help bleeding over the tragic pictures that come before his mind's ieye as he peruses the reports of the starvation of whole peoples because of the famine and its consequences which is desolating the earth. The one comfort as one reads the story of starvation, plague, and misery is that the United States knows something about it, which means that they have ‘ got there on both feet/ and are grappling with the situation while others are groping about it. • “If European Levites and others pass by, the American Samaritan pauses over the starving multitudes, and like the Divine Master, has pity on them. When Jesus Christ saw the multitude in want He opened His eyes to see, He opened His heart to feel, and .He opened His hand to give. God bless the citizens of the great Republic for following the Master’s example. God bless my untiring friend, Mr. Hoover, and all the American citizens, and may they never want, blit be ever, prosperous for doing to the least of the little ones what they would do for Christ, our noblest pattern of virtue arid our strongest incentive to its practise.” » Whatever be America’s faults there is no need to despair of her as long as she continues to act the Good Samaritan to the Levites of England, France, and Italy.- ■; '• . The German Centre Party From the Catholic Times we learn that the “leaders of the German Centre Party have decided on a change of programme, returning to the old idea of appealing for support as a Christian party. Of course the move has been prompted by the desire to improve the electoral prospects of the .party. The fact is that defeat in the war has been telling against the outlook of the Centre as of other parties in Germany. The .damping of hope deadened religious enthusiasm, and amongst the people there has been to some extent a falling away from religious associations. ’V ' Why Programme was Extended. .-> “The Centre have had a difficult struggle in making their political influence as a Catholic party felt by the public, and it . has occurred to the leaders that if the basis of the party programme was extended the result would be to increase the number of their supporters and generally to attract to their ranks people who have been"'suffering from the deadening effects of political despair. They have therefore issued &n appeal to the people as a ‘ middle party.’ Doubtless one of the considerations by which they have been actuated at a time when all classes in Germany have been shocked by the murder of Herr Rathenau was to show that , the Republic could safely count upon their friendliness. The. party's appeal is signed by Marx, chairman of the directors. It declares, alluding to the murder; of Herr Rathenau, that the events of the past few weeks have proved how near ; the German people are to a precipice. . The simplification and clarification of the atmosphere ,of the party was a vital question for Germany. ' : ! s : New Party’s Aims. “The country was in need of a strong party with x fixed aim, promoting unity ;by , its attitude and its , work of- concentration. ' This party . must incorporate modern ideas '- without abandoning , what was best iin v the past—the struggle for religious and moral progress. .

yv.;« ? ysy\ : -y- - ~y.y ; y ''\• • -y ■ ... ; •' • • ■ • .. ■ • ' ■ It must grapple with great social problems of the " day, overcome the tendency towards the separation of y classes and bring ‘ together different classes and (de- ; nominations in reconstructive political labors. It must be faithful to the constitution and have root in all , parts of Germany. This was the line which the Centre had actually followed, and it. was therefore a party fit to undertake the great task before it and to serve .the common interests of the community.” I .. ■ Programme of Christian Labor Conference y % The representatives of twelve European Christian Labor, Unions, assembled at Innsbruck in August, || adopted ' a fundamental charter which appeals for the y re-organisation of the economic life of the world on / -Guild lines. In addition they advocate the strengthen- - . ing of the labor unions and a programme of social legis- ; lation which includes minimum wage commissions, where labor unions are not strong, and social insurance against . sickness, old age,,, accidents, and unemployment. The - eight-hour day,, Saturday afternoon off, a family livingwage for all adult workingmen and additional* wages V to correspond to the value which they put in the product, to compensate for skill and to pay them an indemnity for the risks of their work, are included in their programme. .Declaring that they are working to have Christian ■ principles of faith and morals penetrate the.social and |y economic organisation of the world, they say that “society ought to be organised so as to guarantee every . man the possibility of acquiring the greatest possible . moral and social welfare,” . ■ V What is needed, the programme states, is an economic order in which “capital and labor will share in the management of the productive process, and in its | returns in proportion to their moral and economic importance.” This can be reached, according to the proy gramme, “especially by means of. labor shareholding : ' and other similar forms of participation” such as works’ councils and. industrial councils, , National guilds for each industry are outlined in the programme. .These guilds are to be composed of, organisations of the employers and the employees are y to be recognised by the law as agencies for the regulay tion of .their industry and, in time, should develop to the point where they will act as general supervisor of the whole industry. The guilds are to form then a national congress which will act as an economic parliament to fix the economic policy of the country. Still a .further step is the international federation of these . national guild congresses to organise production and the I distribution of raw materials. The Government is not ■ to assume charge of production except “where private economic action does not secure the necessary -purposes, or where the general economic and cultural needs require it.” Vaudeville Religion , The most amusing column of a daily paper is usuy ally that which in the Saturday edition advertises the . sermons to be preached on Sunday in the varjpus .• churches of the towns— of Dunedin, at any rate. The £ preachers are . not devoid of imagination, as is clear , y ; from the fantastic - titles they display; and if the sermons are as sensational, or as high-flown, or as poetic j as the announcements we fail to understand why they,/ ■ fail, to draw crowds. But fail they do, and while we, || poor Catholics, stick to the plain Gospel and do not < advertise, -and nevertheless have full churches from ; \ half -past six in the morning till eight in the evening, , ■ most Protestant churches are neither inconveniently . crowded nor made stuffy by a large congregation. Inv. deed, we are sure that if we did try'to imitate the methods of the parsons and indulge in sensational heady lines our people would very .properly resent it as unbe- . coming levity. You can imagine ■ the disgust on the face of some pious, simple Catholic .if he bri.she read : on- Saturday evening that Father Antonio or Father y Patrick or Father James was going to - preacK in the y Cathedral-on “Why Jonas Swallowed the Whale,” or ;t g “Did She Fall or Was She Pushed?” (i ,We can read > c with sympathy the following article from an American exchange 'V' . , ■ & ' - '

We sincerely sympathise with ; the . scholarly, and eloquent Protestant minister of New Jersey, who asserts : that he is forced to resign his pastorate because of his inability, or unwillingness, to amuse, entertain; and astonish his exacting congregation. The reverend ex-pas-tor laments the vitiated^bastes of his former flock. “If . I made my pulpit a circus,” he says, “I’d be a winner. If I stood on my head or rah a minstrel show I could hold these complainants.” It is undoubtedly true that young men entering the pulpit are made to feel now that elevated thought in sermons is not as needful as personal mannerisms and entertainment ability. It is, indeed, to be regretted if the Protestant pulpit has ceased to be the rostrum for the exposition of solid and dignified truth. It is lamentable that' the craze for frothy vaudeville has penetrated into the sanctuary of -■ Protestantism. Gan it be that the knock-about comedian is best qualified to satisfy the tastes? and court the favor of our dissenting brethren ? We had not as much as suspected that the much-vaunted principle of private judgment and private preference would work itself out to such a bizarre conclusion. Acrobatic stunts and minstrel jokes can hardly be interpreted in terms of religion. But if any Protestant congregation wishes its religion served out to it by the “funny man with his side-splitting gags,” we are at a loss to understand how it can be constrained, even though it may be censured. When each one has the inviolable right to judge and choose for himself,' we cannot complain, nor should we be surprised, if his personally selected brand of religion does not square with that of his neighbor. Such a faith is bound to change. It will vary, as do the fashions in dress or the styles in hats. It will continuously be accommodated to personal whims and caprices. It may demand that its salaried minister stand on his feet to-day, and on his head to-morrow. It may select three-ring circus tactics for next /Sunday and a spicy, cabaret programme for the, Sunday after. A minister may stand on his head; take off his coat: introduce the “movies” and ,the graphophone into the pulpit; permit smoking and drinking at church services; but all these will not and cannot make his flock more religious. They may draw crowds, but the *■' crowds will not come through motives which are in any way religious. A church is a church, a theatre is a . theatre; a minister is a minister, an actor is an actor; they are as separate as the poles, and if they are combined, the church and the minister are completely absorbed and disappear. - / -