The Elk County advocate. [volume] (Ridgway, Pa.) 1868-1883, 1870-04-16

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THE correspondence of the catholic
priest to which we referred last week will
be found in another column.
Without commenting on the rare courtesy
and Christian meekness exhibited by Mr..
Wirzfeld, we invite the special attention
Of our readers to the claims of the catholic
priesthood, as set forth in the correspon-
dence.
The sentence "These poor idiots cannot
understand that catholic priest in the
exercise of his pdrochial duties is subject
to no human law, is under the control Of
no earthly authority whatever" is very
suggestive. 1t claims for the catholic priest
such authority and control over his parish,
and such superiority to the civil law in the
exercise Of the same, as is utterly repug-
nant to the principles of our government.
If the ministers Of religion, whether cath
olio or Protestant, think they have divine
mission and fought to obey God rather
than man." very well. But if they trans
gress the laws of the land in the prosecu-
ton OF their work, .hey must submit to the
penalty just like anybody else.
According to Mr.. Wirzfeld, all who are
not Catholics are infdels ; and to allow a
catholic girl to become Protestant is "to
make an iufdel 2her." 1t does not ap-
pear that Mr.. McCauley has restrained the
child's liberty to attend the Catholic
Church, OF that he has even tried to per-
suade her not to go. But he refused to
compel her to go, or to permit the priest to
drag her there against her will This is
"wicked and unlawful opposition to the
priest" in the fullfiment of this sacred du-
ty, namely, to see that the girl came to in
struction, was brought up catholic, and
therefore saved, whatever human law might
stand in his way. For he claims that
Catholics alone are in the way Of salvation;
all others are infdels and hare no rights
,ohich Catholics are bound to respect. If
Catholic priests do show any respect either
to the laws of the land or 20 the opinions
and wishes of Protestants, it is only be-
cause they are Obliged to, or think it will
he policy to do so. Give them the po,cer,
and, if Mr.. Wirzfeld rightly expresses
Catholic sentiment iu this respect, there
would be no more federation for Protestants
than there was centuries ago
The underlying principle of Mr.. Wirz-
fields communication to the Gozette, as well
as his letter to MCauley, is nothing less
than this that as all power in heaven and
earth is given to Christ, SO Christ has CIV
en- all po,cer on earth to the pope, as his
vicegerent, whose deputies are the bishops
and priests of the Roman Catholic Church
This is their d3ctriae, which will be carried
into practice as soon as circumstances will
admit
Such are the monstrous claims of for
eign ecclesiastical power which is seeking
to gain the asceudency in this country. We
thank Mr.. Wirzfeld for letting us know
the truth and Wish that all his coreligion,
lists would be equally honest and out-spoken.
Since the above was written Mr.. NJ Cauley
has shown US the original letter which he re.
ceived from the Catholic priest. From this
We supply the portions enclosed in brackets,
which did not appear in the Gazette. Mr.
M'Cauley wished US to state, in his name,
that be has acted, and will continue to act,
precisely according to his agreement; that
he did not agree to send the girl to the
Catholic Church, but only to allow her to
go if she chose that she was going to the
required instruction to please her mother,
though she did not think they could make a
catholic of her ! but when the priest insisted
that she should leave M'Cauley's till after
Easter, then she did not wish to 90, and he
did not choose "send her" against her will
For it was expressly agreed that she should
be free to go to the church of her mother
or of her deceased father, as she saw fit.
II was ne,os to M'Cauley, as we'll as tc
the girl herself, that "the mother took the
girl home, but she ran back again, defyine
her mothers authority" They are no
aware that anything of the kind has hap
pened out would not impute to Mr.. Wirz
field roiyM Misrepresentation Of the fact
A numersly-signed petition has been pre-
scented to Congress asking for an arpropri