Plymouth banner. (Plymouth, Marshall County, Ind.) 1852-1855, 1853-07-28

vival Of Catholic life. the action of the
hirarchy is yet regulated by concordats
and placets. 1t is not in Austria, al
though great praise must he accorded to
the pre- sent emperor for what he has done
toward removing the shackles of State
control imposed upon the church espe-
cially by Joseph the I'D. In Italy itself
we cannot call the church free. harrassed
as the uthority of the Holy Father is by
home and by ungenerous dip!omatists
from abroad. And what shall we say of
France? Why, there, although religion
is encouraged, and the hierarchy honored
and strengthened, more than in Austria.
perhaps; and though the episcopate OF that
country are mostly men who know and
are ready at any moment to assert the
liberty of religion and the Catholic church
yet we feel that the principle has not
been acknowledged. even by the present
government of France, that religion in all
its parts and in all its acts ought TO be
free and to need no permission or good
will from the civil power-otherwis all
may change with the change Of rulers.
Switzerland, Holland, Prussia. and Great
Britain are powers at this moment ac-
lively striving 20 Cypress and injure the
Catholic church.
From the preceding comments of the
Madison Banner. it appears that ii would
have its readers believe that quite radi-
cal change had taken place in the creed
of the Freeman's Journal, but we are not
quite so easily convinced of this fact un
less we can have something more than is
contained in the preceding extract.
The most dangerous and anti-American
doctrine yet advanced since the agitation
of church privileges in relation to the
common school question. is called in
question in the extract from the Journal
vet the Banner yields the question, and
in the same breath would have its read
ers understand that ii has gained the vic
tory.
This extract advocates the propriety Of
placing church government totally indie
pendent of the civil power--that the
church should enjoy the right to govern
and "to make laws for her members. and
to manage her own affairs in her o1cn
rag" AS an argument, it asserts that
religion in all its parts and in all its
acts ought to be free, and to need no per-
mission or good will from the ciuH polc-
err This may amount TO a sufficient
change in the Catholic creed, to satisfy
some editors, who have unequivocally
denounced the hazardous step taken by
that organization in this country, in re-
lation to the school question, but it is not
sufficient concession to satisfy us, either
of the correctness of the FIRST position
assumed by Catholic prompters, or that
any modification Of that position is man
ifest in the extract quoted. A careful
reading of it shows clearly that the Jour
nal wishes the Catholic church placed be.
/
it's members are 10 be amenable TO The
laws of the church in preference to the
civil law of the State, when the two con-
fict--tacitly sanctioning the right oil
that body to beat into conformity to its
will. all conflicting rights to govern.
That complete religious freedom is the
first essential element of a successful re-
public, we dare not question; but that in
the exercise of that liberty by each de-
nomination and every constructionist Of
the word Of God. they "need no permits
sion or good will from the civil power
is more than the Madison Banner or the
Freeman's Journal can successfully es
tablish in a republic.