New-York daily tribune. [volume] (New-York [N.Y.]) 1842-1866, 1855-03-30

ssVpcrt Of rehsiou. shall in 10 case ce ~. =. law
ul for my Board q Trustees, or one, % epbs5 ooron. Of
srourd or .c6c,s couseersted 10 r.son for any
kavips even an eeeis.e. w .eeoun.s
~ 70 ~, B.h for hs dsesion Ant with vles % .
n. evil, Of The trustee system .1e.ndss ss o,s.asd
" ~, ME Of he Diocese Bord Of Irasse. -. nm
At liberty vote .,P.bd OF :pp,or 1,e 70, Which they
sppoinse to .dDs ;Iesp,ins ss s,nys .ed sppob
stove alluded TO- s'eou' we And far her od.iasd
h. even thus Toree. Of the 70 enp-r an sor1t
q p. rs.or h. ~ S sn. d sSsdsd do yea,
sto. he eor'.ni the Bishop approving OF
'n1p sn,s that no member of the Ls1satnre not
even MI Putnsm will be soie 70 usc.'ei ~ 'do'o
.son,s,iors spyihpg utjust u9wl.e, or oppros'Ve:
rt ,ok from the Boards OF Trustees the po yer OF
ad,t,sctirg debts ad httam, and oequee'os 70 tnsr
.nccessors in office the lees pleasant cuty OF making
payment They took from Lay trustees ~. ,gi, %
ffmpjoyirg church property for the payment Of per
sons connected with religion, against whose hoess or
moral character the PASTOR of the church might have
afro no and well founded objections In these fesua,
,ons will be found the only GROUNDS that ever exs'ed
tor The r. sistspce TO Episcopal authority which the
Trustees of St. Louiss Church, Buffalo, pleased 10
All the other Boards Of Trustees in the Diocese az
oniesced in them and the Catholics az large saw in
them prudent measure and vie precsufion. Ioe
only exception the TRUSTEES of 81; Louie Church
They would be Catholics after their oEn fasnlon, an1
they have resped the consequences Nj under
Pastoral TO he translated into German. Then in their
corpcrafe cspscty IS ley trustees they took 1t into
"naiure anO respectful consd 7ration, ana reviewed
il paragraph by paragraph They were kind enough
TO approve Of parts while in the most polite Ian.
euaee which a French gentleman knows 50 well
how employ, they sigbifed 10 me- That other por-
TORS Of the document did not meet their appro54-
ton Their objections were chi'hy l may say
exclusively sesiDst the regulations contained 10
the above exuact ON the PASTORAL Letter. 1ney
would not allow either bishop or priest to examine TIER
church books, or their treasurer accounts. lazy
wonld not allow the pastor TO have anything 10 DO
with the APPROVAL or disapproval Of persons whom
they might think t TO employ ia connection with the
services of the Chsrcl. Irus, by implication, they
would reserye 10 themselves the right 10 employ an
foe TO teach cate ebi-m TO the children Of the con-
or, estior-the tight to employ Jew TO perve the
Prif st a, Mass ard scoher at ali religion TO play
The organ sunday chant the prai-es OF God 10
bis oily temple Their refusal to scqu'esce In tbs
above reg ulations of the Pastoral tier was CON
rnuI icated TO me accompanied by polite expressions
Of profouno respect for cpl. copsl authority In re-
DIV. I expressed TO them briefly my regret at the
ee"rss MSsa .s. S.,.. W. ..,, d. sss ,ls
cese they should be content with their conaitlon
lsymeD-thst under no circumstances would quarrel
or have auy controversy with them-thst il they
thought proper TO persevere IN their resolutions
should part company ia pesce-that Bishops ana
Priests religion tself quite as free in this
country az were Icy trustees.
In the Pastoral Letter il had been made kno yn
that at the period Of Elk months from its pr0m1lga
ton priest should be wlt5rawnfron every church
whose trustees should refuse 10 comply with the
above regulations The Trustees of 81. Louis's
Church alone persevered in the refusal The priest,
however, not withdrawn by me- but wac actu.'ly
compelled by the ilh.restment he received from the
Trustees sDd their adherents to quit his post and
return TO his native county. From the time he lett
did not send another priest, another priest
permitted to ofjciate in their church But as the
Catholic people, whose interests these men hal so
msmsD8eed whose peace they b ID destroyed whom
~ I,fw1 1at,n~.
deperded on II en-, were sill precous portion of
my Catholic flock, sent two other priests, not in
deed to be under the ignorant tyranny of Lay Trus
tees in st. Lous's Church but TO be free ministers
of God freely dschargipg their duties tow srd all the
people.
The Almighty gave blessing to their ministry aud
labors. new temple was soon commenced, and this
church of ST. Louis remained, aaress pile, which
lite owners might have disposed of as they thought
proper. On my second episcopal visitation, one
Two years afteiwerd, the trustees then in Office ad
dressed me note soliciting me to receive them for
the purpose OF On Interview in regard to It's ni'ion
informed them in reply tbst unless they were pre-
pared 10 ecquiesce in the OF the Pastoral
Letter, and thus come back TO the starting point of
their sctism, interview would be useless and coud
not be granted. They csne, not outstanding, at the
hour bich they in their note They asked
TO explain the meaning of certain passages in the extract
Iht Psstorsas quoted above This readily given,
al IFS close they alleged apology for their
schtpnt cal course up to that time, that they were
uDacquainttd with the value of Eogliah words, that
Mr.. VIM. H. lie Couteulx had been their interpreter
ard that be bad always assured them tina, the
Bishop was endeavoIiDg 10 get possession of their
Church property 10 order TO give 1t TO the Irish In
short they state that is, some OF them stated and
the aimed silent that if my Interpretation of
the Pastoral Letter correct, Mr. lie Couteux had
been deceiviDg them from the beginning, and that
| DOW they were prepared to submit in all things to
the general discipline of the Diocese set forth in
the Pastoral Letter. Their submission was complete
and unconotioDal-it was spoDtane Gus, for l nei.
tier argued with them, nor suffered them TO ar
que with me. l congratulated them, intimatipg
at the same time that their acknowledged and
caustless obstinacy had given CREST scandal which,
az good Christians they we've bound to repair as
far as possible. This they admitted and were pre-.
pared TO ak pardon of God and of their shop for
the scandals they hsd given. They besought the
Bishop, however, to open their church and preach in
II on the following day, which Sunday. / replied
that before opened their church thsy should ms axe
the amende honorable to their fellow Catholics Of the
Diocese and Of the world which they did in the after
noon papers by public expression of their regre, for
| the course which they bad hitherto pursued. Here
the matter ended, as between the Bishop of New York
| and the Trustees of St Louis Church ne pastor
was appointed and things went peacefully till the
| Diocese was divided.
| With the details Of the subsequent history of this
controversy am unscquainted, but | an quite per
suaded that the Trustees Of st. Louis Church have
had as little reason 10 complain of their present zeal
Gus and devoted Bishop as they had to complain Of
me.
Whether, in view of the foregoing facts, the Legis
Iafure can do anything 10 relieve those gent euea
from the laws of the religious denomination to which
they profess to belong, il will remain for Mr. Putnam
and his colleagues 10 determine.
Their petition ststes as follows viz:
The Trustees Of their number VIM X L. ",
eux Esq to Europe for the purpose of preventing this ab
tary ard as We claimed, this ile.a action OF the Bbhon
clio in Paris Mr. L. succeeded in his ms.ion No further
efforts sde at the time BY Bishop Hushes to disturb
the title to the church ard its fopdy hoped that
peace was eTDentDtly restored