The morning star and Catholic messenger. [volume] (New Orleans [La.]) 1868-1881, 1872-05-12

any candid man living believe that Bishop
Elder meant that the Pope's action in the
premises had been accompanied with all
the guarantees of infalAbility, when every
school-boy knows betteri Bishop Elder
did not mean it, he did not say it, lie did
not intend anybody so to understand him,
nobody did SO understand him, not even
the Presbyterian, and that paper stands in
an unenviable light for having attempted
to escape from the discussion through SO
ea'i'''"' " channel, L.,
Our neighbor finally makes faint at
tempt to answer our argument from the
Fathers. 1t quotes from Archbishop Ken
rick in speech "habenda at non habita
before the Council. This means o speech
which he prepared but never made, and
for the authenticity, therefore, of which we
cannot voach. We leave the responsible
ty of that to the Presbyterian. 1t is
perfectly we'll known that there were some
Bishops-able ones among them-who op-
posed the definition. They based their ar
gument upon their construction Of texts
from the Bible and the Fathers, just as the
Presbyterian does now. But their construc-
lions were liable to error and the vast body
Of learned men there assembled found err
ror in them. The Pope approved the de-
cision of that majority, it is now of faith
and the minority believe now what the
majority believed then. Archbishop Ken
rick was one of these doubters. His mis-
Interpretation Of Fathers is evident on the
face of his argument. The first three
schools of doctrine that he quotes are based
on several names common to each. Thus
be has. Orige, Cyprian, Jerome and Angus
tine as sustaining the first school and pre-
cisely the same names sustaining the second
school. He has one of the same, viz St.
Augustine, sustaining the third school, too,
besides Cyril, Hilary and Leo the Great
who also teach in the first school. These
schools were different interpretations of
the text "Thou art Peter" etc.
The truth is that there were no such
schools at all. The different interpreta-
tions pretended to be given by the Fathers
are not different. The Archbishop makes
distinction without difference. Whether
the Church were founded on Peter or Cd
the faith of Peter is all the same. This is
evident from two facts. LIST. The same
Fathers make the various interpretations
in different passages of their works show
ing that they did not consider them incon-
sistent. ~ I'd. The Fathers themselves
never heard of these different schools ex-
listing among them. No one of them con-
sidered that another differed from him in
opinion. There was no discussion. There
was no intimation that one considered an
ton of modern days to get up distinctions
upon accidental variations Of expression
and to found thereon schools, which the
authors themselves never heard of.
AS to the Archbishop's concluding line,
its fallacy is remarkable-" There is NO one
infallible but God" We might equally as
we'll say" Every man is infallible." Both
proposition are true in q certain sense, viz
'"Every man is ipfalliPle in his knowledge
Of his own existence and some other things"
and "There is no one universally infallible
but God" Also, eff God chooses to make
man the organ Of His infallibility in
limited way, this does not clash with the
fact that God alone is infallible."
In Its attempt to reply to our argument
from the authority of the Church, we are
misrepresented by tho Presbyterian as say
ing that the Church has always taught the
Papal InfaliibIhty.. The argument was,
not that tho Church has always taught that,
which is true enough, but that the Church
has recently defined it as dogma, where
by it becomes of faith. The former fact
might be questioned, the latter cannot.
We demanded that our opponent should
put its finger on any novelty that the
Catholic Church had ever introduced. In
reply it points to the dogma of infallibiiity.
This is no novelty. Il has been taught
from the earliest days of the Church.
What does the Presbyterian understand by
novelty Is a doctrine new because only
defined as of faith to-day Were the doc