The morning star and Catholic messenger. [volume] (New Orleans [La.]) 1868-1881, 1872-08-11


making such wondsrfnl yaiscoy eries ~
sore hidden meaning in = casual and IN Il
formal note. Of the b.. Rev. Biihop Elder;
and has been advsncins sush wild a.seF-
tions about his position or the InfaH ibiity
question, that his Grace has thought 1t
proper to send to th.t paper q formal state +
ment disavowing the errors which, IL had
been pleased to attribute TO- him One
would have thought this sufficient as be-
tween gentlemen of courteous dispositions I
and that the matter would drop there, bat
NO, the Presbyterian, while giving to his
Grace the benefit Of a sincerity conceded
to 'exiat on his part, proceeds, to argue
moro strenuouaiy than ever thse from the
premises which he has admitted, Infa!libili-
~ is Certainty, overthroWn, though the Rt.
Rev. Bishop does not know it. saa"
Those premises are simply as follows
F." The interest that the Holy. Father has 80
| reauently maaifested of late in Catholic
Associations, ought 70 be sufacient evil
dsnce that tho Divine Wisdom sees il them
IN inporfant means for advancing che well
fare Of men. For tho. Holy Ghost is the
soul Of tho Church and He speaks through
the Sovereign PonhR, the Vicar of its
Divine Head -sH .st.- - "a
From this premise the Presbgterian
argues about, aa follows: Bishop Elder
holds that the mere sympathses. Of the Pope
or interest felt BY him are an Infallible in
dication Of the Divine Win. II is evident
that he 80 holds, because he adds that the
Holy Ghost speaks through the Pontiff.
hovl. a Dovo1 Vrf
not at all trammeled by the conditions as
| signed in the dogms as defined. There is
NO limitation as to his opinion, sympathy
or interest taking the shape of a formal
definition, as to its being expressed eek
cathedrar a. to its being upon matters Of
faith or morais, etc. This being the case,
his idea Of 1nYallibility is untenable, be-
Ecause ST.. Peter, after he was Pope, If he
ever was Pope at all, entertained certain
very erroneous sympathies and interests,
for which ST.. Paul reproached him and
Peter himself was not infallible according
TO Bishop Elders idea Of Infallibility.
Il To all Of which we say: ae a-ls4a... .
= f. lst. Why abandon q discussion Of the
dogma of Infallibility as clearly expressed
a and defined By the recent Council, and 60
Into . discussion of somebody's private
aud totally erroneous idea of Infallibility,
: supposing that somebody to really entertain
such an idea. This Abandonment Of the
; true issue aud effort to divert attention
from the defeat by setting up a straw man
somewhere else and vigorously pitching
into him, is not calculated to give one q
very high opinion of either the ability, chi
, valry or sincerity Of the party adopting
such policy. .... -a-.
, I'd. If, however, our courteous cotem
porary will insist on discussing an errone
GUS version of Infallibility, we must entel
upon the discussion 90 far as to say that il
, very unjustly charges Bishop Elder will
, holding any such views. It's first deduo
ton from his premise is totally groundless
1 may urge you to respect the sympathie
of the Pope by saying that he is infallible
without meaning that he is infallible il
: those sympathies. The Pope is infallibl'
under certain conditions, therefore when b.
expresses himself very frequently and yer.
strongly ON certain questions, even though
those conditions be not complied with, W
may reasonably consider it Sufficient evi
. denee that he would express himself in tn
ssme way under all the conditions requisit
TO q solemn definition. This is only com
= mon sense. Bishop Elder virtually says
. "The Pope is infallible within his spher
!. and when speaking officially. In tho mat
=, ter Of Catholic Associations, which is with
in his sphere, he has not, indeed, spoke
officially, but he has shown such open an
- confirmed approval Of their fuudamenta
. idea that we may reasonably find therei
Sufficient evidence of divine approval, no.
: however, iafallible evideace of it,"
No doubt the Rt. Rev. Bishop woul
a have expressed this distinction more dis
tinctly in q formal communication OF
any writing which would probably com
before those who might misunderstan
% him, bnt it is Impossible to seriously sup
- pose him to mean anything else than as W