Knoxville weekly chronicle. [volume] (Knoxville, Tenn.) 1870-1875, 1871-05-17

with Father Finnegan because he is n
friend of civil aud religious liberty, and
rejoices that the issue has been made, that
the people may see and learn. The trouble
with both "Rusticusn and zone of Very
Many is, that they are great friends of
civil and religious liberty for Professionals,
but not for Catholics. Indeed, they show
a sad want of that spirit of christian chart
ty which is conveyed to us in the admoni-
ton of the Master when He says, Judge
not that we be not judged" "Rusticus"
says: "The Catholic Church holds these
tenets that the true religion is preserved
and taught only in and by that church,
and is to be found only within its folds"
"That the education of children and youth
i'm day schools should not only be not secu-
lar, but positively religious" | now ask,
does not the Protestant, in fact each sect of
the Protestant Church, believe the "true
religion"i is to be found only in his denom-
ination, and not in the Catholic? If So
and hardly think one so orthodox as
"Rusticus" will deny it, so far as his sect
is concerned-I ask in this respect is the
Catholic more intolerant than the Protest
ant? / also, in this connection, commend
to his consideration the different dogmas,
altogether incompatible with each other,
that are to be found in the articles of belief
of the various Protestant sects. 1t fact,
there is but one thing which holds them
together, viz jealousy and hatred of the
Church of Rome. He then goes on to say,
ut follows, by an obvious deduction -
which, of itself, he is pleased to term an
innocent dogma of the Romish Church
that so far as the mind and will of that
church is concerned there should. morally
considered, be no popular education which
does not include religious instruction ac-
cording to its own dogmas and creed"
This sentence is rather ingeniously con-
structed, and, while seeming to mean a
great deal, really means nothing unless
it be, that the Catholic Church manages its
own school system in its own way, much
to the disgust of Protestants, inculca-
ting its own doctrines and rapidly
making proselytes all over the land.
'Rusticus' also says: eve distrust Rome,
and have good reasons to do So" and
after this loud sounding utterance in phi
lippic robbed of its force by being point
less, shows hOW tolerant are those of his
own faith by declaring that of his imagin-
AIRY enemy proscriptive, and its ecclesiasti-
cal system oppressive, corrupt and dos
tr1tctire. 90 for the rarity of chris
tan charity under the SUM-" Like most
persons who make gross assertions, he does
not seem to understand the necessity of
proving them, but simply presents them
as naked charges. In the prejudiced state
of his fancy he sees a cloud of evils SPRING
ing out of the propagation of Catholic doc
",
magoria assumes the shape of great &C.
clesiastical Romish hierarchy.
/ imagine / can detect Just here, that the
writer fears some future political combina-
ton between the Romish Church and the
Democratic party, doubtless something
analogous to that between the Northern
Methodists and Republicans, the conven-
ton of which church, so well informed a
gentleman as "Rusticussu will recollect
xrnG HpGt lnAx 10 o;,,of 70 nj
Grant for the Presidency in 1868. More
recently too, it will be remembered, that
the ministers of the same church in Wash
ington City, on the eve of the late election,
read out from their pulpits on Sunday
morning proclamations advising the mem
bers oftheir flock to vote the Republican
ticket. So far as the history of religion is
careful study will show, that in
all the great events that have occurred in
Europe and elsewhere for centuries past,
it has been interviewer with politics.
And upon these great events each sect has
its influence, and in each produc-
ed its effect Let prophets of evil, how
ever, rest easy; they need fear nothing,
from the Protestant Church, II, as they
claim, their faith is founded on the Rock
of Ages. "Rustieus" regards the Catholic
as pros9riptive, intolerant and corrupt, and
says they have ever been so. He is doubt
less fresh from the perusal of Motley's his |
tory of the Netherlands, or some other
work equally as authentic. Let him read
the records of Protestant prescription and
intolerance, and he will find that persecu-
ton has not always been confined TO one
side. So with zone of Very Many" who
refers in holy horror TO the inquisition, but
says nothing of the burning OF witches,
and the outrages committed by the coven-
lnters, not only upon Catholics but upon
of the Church of England.
"RusticusF also most graciously remarks
that instances of religious piety have been
found in the Catholic fold. His meaning,
however, would seem to be, by implica- |
ton, that such instaces are rare. If so, he |
Is mistaken. To the religious piety of her
children and their sOorks, to the cathedrals
and churches she builds, to the hospitals
and other eleemosynary institutions she
POUNDS, TO her Sisters of Charity and her
schools for the education of penniless or
phan children, Rome points with pride
and says "by these let us be judged" To
the general charge that the Catholic
Church is seeking TO seize political control
Of this government, / simply say to those
making it, you cannot point to Catholic |
Priest in America who holds, or has held |
Or even aspired to hold political Office !
Can Professionals say as much? During the !
late civil war did Catholics combine their
religion with their politics? No. Can any
Protestant denomination say as much? |
Did Sisters of Charity in nursing the !
and sick i'll our hospitals ask |
whether their charges were Catholics or
Protestants, Union or rebel soldiers They |
did not, but on the contrary went about |
their missions of mercy unmindful of the |