DOES ROMAN CATHOLICISM ADVANCE OR RETROGRADE?

Auckland Examiner, Volume III, Issue 141, 12 March 1859, Page 3

DOES ROMAN CATHOLICISM ADVANCE OR RETROGRADE?

(To Editor cf Auckland Examiner). 'Sia, —Mr. Hamer truly says that *• the banners rare now unfurled.” No owe, after reading the letter «of 4 ‘ Fidelis Defensor,” in your last number, but one can .doubt it for a moment. Mr. Fidelis Defensor been .careful enough to tell us that “ Popery,£by the aid »®f the Civil power, has fined, imprisoned, fenefcftnto pieces on the wheel, orauurdered millions.” Now, Il do licit .deny thatmilli-ons of lives have been •acrificed throughwedigious persecutions. Nor do I assertthat Popery, as he calls it, has been blameless. But this I do assent, and that on . the strongest evidence, that the authors of-the Reformation and its votaries should be the last to talk of the persecutions of the Church of Rome.

The Protestant champions make a charge against the Ctinrch of Route for keeping her children in ignorance, while they ou their own part distribute to their members “ the heavenly light of the Gospel.” If the Church of Rome has got such a large amount of ignorance and superstition, her persecuting the authors of the Reformatien and their disciples will be set down to their ignorance, But I ask Mr. Fidelis Defensor—What will the indignities offered to the Catholics in England and Ireland be set down to? What will those tyrannical and monstrous laws ©gainst the Roman Catholics, which no longer disgrace the statute book of England, be attributed ? Not to ignorance—why? Because I presume they, the authors of such disgraceful and unchristian law’s were no longer cursed with ignorance, having been able to see clearly through the errors of the Church of Rome. Having become enlightened, and put on the robe ofßeformation or Protestantism, they ought not to have been guilty of those crimes which were only the result of ignorance when committed by the members «f the Church of Rome. Was it an enlightened judgment that attributed the plagues and the burning of London to the Papists ? Was it an enlightened judgment that sanctioned nnd encouraged the perfidious revelations of Titus Oates? Fidelis Defensor, let me beg of you to let those who are free of persecution cast the first stone. I he .Church of Rome “ a store of soul destroying errors ! —witness unhappy Ireland!” What has been the cause of this unhappiness ? Fidelis Defensor says ■*' the soul destroying errors of the Church of Rome. Now, if he means that the Irish were too noble a race to renounce their religion, and adopt a religion which was attempted to be forced upon them at the bayonet’s point—if he means that such' has been the cause of Ireland’s unhappiness—l perfectly a n ee with him. I cannot admit that the cause of Ireland’s unhappiness was owing to any error in the - religion of its inhabitants ; but, on the contrary, it was the irreligion of the English rulers and colonists. Prior to the Reformation Ireland was a happy country. The venerable Bede tells us that it was customary for the English of all ranks, from the highest to the lowest, to retire for study and devotion to Ireland, where they were hospitably received, and supplied gratuitously with food, with books, and with instruction. Bede's contemporary, Aldhelm, bears distinct, though reluctant, testimony to the crowded state of her schools. Why should Ireland, whither troops of students were constantly transported, boast of such excellencies, as if, in the rich soil of England, Greek and Roman masters were not to be had to unlock the resources of divine knowledge? Let it be borne in mind that Ireland was then, as.it is now, Catholic. Let me ask—On what principle of justice and reason can it be shown that, if a son abjures the religion, of his father, he is at liberty -to deprive his parents of theirs! On what principle of right or reason can it be shown that Catholics are not entitled to hold property at law ? Fidelis Defensor will, perhaps, reply that Protestantism was in the ascendant and supported by British bayonets! If it had not been for the English Colonists residents in Ireland, Irishmen would not have been willing instruments in the hands of Tvreonnel. . 'Fidelis Defensor rests his faith on ‘‘ the unerring

standardof truth,theProteslant Bible,"andsaysthat ‘•the Church of Rome will be anihilated, for .the mouth of the Lord has spokenit!” Where, when, and how, has the Lord told either FitLlisor any one else that the Church of Rome would be annihilated ? This is certainly exquisite! He quotes from a book which we Catholics preserved for upwards of fifteen hundred years —before there were any Protestants —and makes use of language used eighteen hundred years since to prove that we Catholics are being annihilated! In reply to which I beg to inform him,- on the authority of a number of geographies and the best of living writers, that we are more in number than all the other Christian l sects put together. Fidelis Defensor, who finds fault with the Bishop’s grammar, and sneers at the letters of Reynolds, McCabe, and others,-should be Very careful how he himself writes. While he finds fault with the Bishop’s grammar he should look out for bis own logic. In one part of his letter he professes to show the present success of our Church, while in another p art (using the present tense) he says it is rapidly approaching annihilation. To avoid any charge of unfairness I quote his own letter. He says:—

•* I would ask the Bishop—What is it that is mainly conducive to the present success of the Romish Church? I answer because it is essentially a Compromise of the claims of God and the duty of man. Are not the deluded followers of this system commanded to resort to that abominal Confessional to receive that absolution from sin which our Bible teaches us can bebestowed only by God our heavenly Father!”

Here is the reason given for our present success. I beg your readers just to put the following language in juxta position, and then they will be able to congratulate this great champion, Fidelis Defensor, on his production of as perfect and complete a paradox as ever could be perpetiated by the most ignorant and careless :—

•‘And further, that our Bible most assuredly teaches us that the Popish system is fast travelling to its downfall.”

According to Fidelis Defensor we are making progress and going back at the same time. I will not attempt to answer him except by referring him to the columns of the English newspapers which give accounts of unprecedented Protestant demonstrations, held in the principle towns in England, with a view to check the onWard march of the Church of Rome. In some <of the speeches and articles it is broadly asserted that there are upwards of 500 ministers of (he Church of England—some of them the most talented, the most learned, and have been the most popular—who are in favor of the introduction of the system of Confession into the Church of England. Read the speeches delivered at Liverpool and at the great Protestant demonstration in proof of the above. Space says stop. Yours, &c. A Roman Catholic.