The morning star and Catholic messenger. [volume] (New Orleans [La.]) 1868-1881, 1871-04-30
sectarian Arguments.

tuC ScCtdNiau obSouo NV hOe
deal in real arguments, or arguments that,
if well founded, would prove something.
They argue from no principle, and their
logic is to draw general conclusions from
particulars-to conclude against the Church
from the alleged misconduct Of this or that
Pope, this or that bishop or priest, of this
or that Catholic, man or woman, just as If
the Church taught that the Pope, the
bishop, the priest, or that all Catholics are
impeccable. If this were so, why should
the law of the Church insist on the Sacra-
men, of Penance, and require all her chill
dren, laic or cleric, not excluding the POPE,
to confess their sins aud receive absolution1
The sectarian organs do not really discuss
in the light of great principles the questions
at issue, but revile the Church, invent all
manner of fables against her, denounce her
clergy, calumniate her faithful children,
and 60 through all history with their mud
rakes to find piquant anecdotes, true or
false, that simply appeal to popular
ignorance and to popular prejudice against
them. There is in this, we will not say an
entire absence of the Christian spirit, but
an entire absence of natural justice, and OF
the moral dignity and poiity which we
might reasonably expect from an inte!i'genS
and cultivated heather.
| All this ia the more ineXcusable because
! no Protestant sect dare deny that Catholics
are Christians, that every Affirmative Chris
| tian truth, even Protestants beng judges,
| is maintained by our Church, or that saliva
ton is attainable in her communion.
| Whatever differences there may be between
Protestants and Catholics, they can be, on
tho part of Protestants, simply matters OF
| opinion, and, therefore, not essential. why,
| then, should they violate, in our regard, all
the rules of ordinary civility, good breed
ing, and fair dealingf
Take paragraph from the Observer, ZOE
instance. 1t asserts that the Pope takes TO
himself the attributes of God. which every
Catholic child even, knows to he absolutely
unfounded. The passage it cites from the
address of the Catholics of the diocese OF
Rhodez, in France, to the Holy Father, 20
prove its assertion, does not prove it, BUS
even in the terms in which it is cited,
proves the contrary. The language is not
the language Catholics ordinarily use IN
addressing the Holy Father, and we nave
no guarantee that it is correctly quoted,
OF, if so, that it is correctly translated out
to be Established on the earth in the place
of the Messiah" can only mean that the
Pope is, &c o6fcio, constituted the Vicar OF
Christ on earth the vicar is not identicai
} with Him whose vicar he is, and If consti-
tuted or established as Chrst's vicar, it 10
, by that very fact denied that whatever ~. u
vine authority he may exercise 10 claimeI
as being his own right, or as his persona.
, attribute. He may, like Christ, whose
vicar he is, show the way, and the trueo'
, and the life; but it can be only in a vicarlal
sense that he can be said to be them, tol
, |
distinguished from it. Has the Observer
ever heard Of the old dispute between the
Homoiousians and the Homoenisiansf Doei
l it hold that to be like God Is to be God, o.
to be God 10 only to be like God
The Pope is man, and he claims to b'
nothing more than man. He claims II
his Office of teacher to be infallible, bat h
> does not claim infallibility as his persona
D attribute, and claims to teach infallibl!
Q only through the supernatural assistance Q
. the Holy Ghost, promised to his Office b..
Our Lord Himself. He does not attribute
the infallibility to himself, and it is not his
8 but belongs to the Holy Ghost, who is God
f 1t is NO more the attribute of the Holy Fa
n tber, aud he does not claim that it is, thai
!. the infallibility Of the Divine inspiration
O was personal attribute of st. Paul, or ST
John. So of all the other things the Pops
!, claims as inherent in his Office as Vicar O
Il Christ on earth. It 10 ignorance OF malic
9 on the part of the Observer that leads 1t T.
9 assert the contraryf Be it either, 1t
g editors are to be pitied.