THE. WORD " CATHOLIC "
[To the Editor of the SPECTATOR.] Sw.,—Mr. Noyes would filch from the Church Of Ireland its good old name of Catholic and bestow on it a new name of his own choosing. The Church of Ireland is a Church that is at 'unity in itself, but the name of its baptism is not "the United -Itieh Church.'" . Surely the whole point Of the cerrespondenoe in your columns about the word " Catholic " is to obtain clarity in the use of terms. It only confuses the Issue to introduce another term that is a misnomer.
• When the - Archbishops and Eli-hops of the Church of Ireland communicated their statement on the word " Catholic " to the General Synod in 1902,- Archbishop Alexander was Primate.: I have - heard hinr describe in his -inimitable language the spell that Newman threw over his contemporaries at Oxfoid, and relate how much it cost him to battle out for himself the quettion of Catholicity: A theologian- of Archbishop ' Alexander's standing-and with his experience of Newman and the Oxford Movernent was not likely te allow a statement made on behalf of- the Archbishops and Bishops of the Church of Ireland to contalh "a' very obviOus question-begging phrase." . • - • • Mr. Noyes asks me whether If remember' the effipendoris answer given at Caesarea Philippi ? Yee. All Chtietian ebuches bow their heads before the supernatural force that rings and re-echoes through the words of that answer. Will he allow an Irishman to tell him a story ? I once sat for a viva-voce prize examination on the Gospels in Dublin University and; when the dialogue' between professor and candidate had proceeded for a period, the professor put to me the question, "Sir, may I ask you did you ever read the Gospels ?
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