White Cloud Kansas chief. [volume] (White Cloud, Kan.) 1857-1872, 1871-08-10

The Catholic World, which is the chief Po,.
Catholic organ in this country, says that .h ..bl
the State has the rights, she has them only IN e
the and by the permission of the superior antbaI
the church." This is the unqualified assert;o, g
the supreme political authority of the church ~,
doctrine of Gregory, and of the midnight az me I
middle ages. Such declaration explains tbshae .ne
tiiity of the European Statesmen, even of tSo~-
attached to the Roman faith, to the doctrn.of,Ie
Papal infaEbility and it justifes the iealons sn
picion with which the political advances of tLa,
church are regarded in this country. Those TI
have thought that to oppose these advances il ~
persecute o certain church will now underst,nJ
that it is not the religious faith of that cbnrrS
which has been assailed but its political purnosal
which have been exposed.
1t is, indeed, part of the craft of ecclesaste,1
managers to blend as far as possible the religion.
and political character and aspect of theirchurrb
SO that when one is satirized the other NAV sesn'
to be ridiculed. Thus the figure of the pope sym
bolizes both the spiritual character and temporaI
assumptions of the Roman church; and when Mr.
Mast, or any other artist, exposes the worldly de-
signs of the hierarchy, under the typical fisr- d,
the pope, he is accused of deriding bishop dear
to millions of Christians. Yet it ia not the bisbo,
it is the king that would be- that he scouryes: anil
if the pope were content 10 be bishop. like tbos
of other churches, subordinate to the laws of tb
land, and not assuming to be superior TO them he
would be no more proper subject of political
II
is the priests of any church, seeking the suprema
cy of ecclesiastical authority in civil affairs that
we oppose and not We only, but the very geniuS
of American liberty, opposes them. When they
declare in the article of the Catholic Uorid that
the State exists only in virtue of the superior an
thority expressed through the church, we renIy
that the declaration is total denial of the finIa
mental American principle that the State exists
only in virtue Ofthe superior authority of the
whole people,
this time, and in this country, is only surpassed
by its folly. 1t is repugnant to every tradition
and every conviction of the dominant race in the
United States the only race which has ever COM
pretended and developed constitutional freedom
and which, by reason of that capacity and tenden-
cy, early resisted and long since abolished eccles
astical political supremacy. If father Hecker is
correct in his reported expectation that by the end
of the century, the Roman eccleSiasticism will be
supreme in the country, it will only be because
the dominant race will have entirely changed
and because all the great traditions and mnn-
ments Of civil liberty will have been forgotten
and reinqu;shed. Such result would be a re-
lapse to political barbarism
This can be seen in illustration. few days
since the twenty-fffh anniversary of the pontif-
cate of the Pope was celebrated by the members
of his church in this country wherever and in
whatever manner they chose. And the members
of any church have always the same liberty. 1t
is of the very essence of our political system. But
while in this prosperous and intelligent and truly
civilized country such is the principle and the
practice, a few years since in the city of Rome
the capital and seat of the Roman ecclesiasticsm
the ordinary protestant services We're not allowed
within the walls. The ignorance, the squalor, the
stagnatiOn, the superstition of the city of Rome
were the necessary result of the doctrine of the
Catholic Worfd, that the State exists by consent
Of the church. The intelligence, the prosperity,
the progressive civilization the civil and religious
liberty of the United States are the necessary
.I,.x.