The morning star and Catholic messenger. [volume] (New Orleans [La.]) 1868-1881, 1873-07-20

the pope could exercise 1t, were lie, as he
Is not, disposed to revive 1t. He could not
exercise Is in country like ours, for there
is in such,a country no one to depose. He
terdict, but that would only punish Cath
olice; non Catholics would ct heed it, or suf-
fer any deprivation in consequence. The
power can have practical effect only in
Catholic nation, where the prince processes,
and 10 bound to profess and maintain, the Ca.
tholic religion to which the civil law is held
to conform. For the pope to depose the
heretical or infidel sovereign of an hereti-
cal or an infdel nation, deprive him
OF his dignity, and absolve his subjects
rom their allegiance, would avail nothing.
Neither the sovereign nor his subjects
power can be exercised only in Catholic
nations whose governments are Catholic
and form constituent parts of Christie dom;
and, strictly speaking, there is no longer
Christendom, and there are now no Cath
Ole states or governments. The pope de
Henry VIII, and absolved her subjects
from their allegiance, because she was
member of the Catholic Church and had
been crowned as a Catholic sovereign
but the English Catholic were more Eng
lish than Catholic, and chose to fight for
Of their rights and sent them to Tyburn to
Re hung, drawn, and quartered for their
religion, rather than to join the pope in
recovering their own freedom and that of
their religion. Yet tie pope never alb
solves Catholics in heretical or infdel ma
tons, under heretical or infidel princes,
from their allegiance, for he never absolv
ed them from their allegiance to the pagan
Cae sars he simply commands them not to
do any thing the law of God forbids, and
| to submit without murmur to the injus-
tice they are obliged to suffer in conse-
quence, and to look for their reward to
their heavenly Father. No, you must
which existed in the middle ages, or the
power in questian must lie in allegiance
Tie bishop of Cleveland calls upon the
Catholics Of his diocese to be united aud
to insist on their rights at the polls, and,
as far as in their power, to defend them
by their votes. Nothing is more just than
that Catholics should do 30, or than that
they should refuse to vote for any man who
Will not pledge himself to use all his infiu-
stance, which taxes Catholics for the sup
port of schools which their church con-
demns, and to which they cannot, without
violating their conscience, send, their chill
dren. The state might as we'll tax them
for the support of religion they abhor.
violates the equal rights of citizens before
the state, and 10 manifestly unjust a1d un-
constitutional. But whether we can do
any thing to redress the wrong by our
votes, rs another question. Catholics out
number any one oP the sects in the Union,
but they are feeble minority as against
all combined. If we enter as a Catholic
party into the elections, we can effect any
thing only where parties are 30 equally
divided that We hold the balance between
them, and 1t becomes an object of impor-
lance with each to secure our votes. Such
n SkafA Of martina nYiete IN
State of the Union and if it did, on poll
teal questions, the two leading parties
would unite to oppose and defeat Catholics
on the school question. The right .rever-
end bishop will permit us to doubt the
mends. The old party, founded by Jeffer-
son, Madison, AID Monroe. and which had
some respect for equal rights and religious
liberty, although it had not much religion,
is virtually defunct; and we know no party
at present in the country that has in its
principles or its measures the slightest re-
gard for equal rights, or the faintest con
ception of what liberty in any proper sense
of the word really means. 1t is useless to
shut our ey es to this fact. We count for
less in elections than we did dozen years |
ago, when our numbers were fewer.
Tie party now in power represents fair
~ enough the dominant tone and sentiment |
OF the country, and is a.decidedIy anti
Grant; and General Grant, without a
spark of religion, and eaten up by nepot-
ism, is ruled chiefly by the hodsts, the
most unprincipled, interruptions, and Bit
terly anti Catholic sect to which Protes-
tantsm has ever given birth. All the
Evangelical sects, so called, are allied with
it, aud, so far as Catholics and Catholic
rights are concerned, form with it but one
body. The only sect in the country that
to sone extent stands aloof from the ALI
ance are the Baptists; who have hot abso
lutely forgotten the religious liberty they
asserted when they were prosecuted by the
Standing Order" or !Congregationalists
then, we must say, that we do not see any
chance to obtain, through any possible
political action, the rights guaranteed
TO US in nearly every State in the
Union. We are in fact politically null,
and cannot help ourselves. 1t is enough |
to know that we, as Catholics oppose a |
measure or policy, to fasten it on the coun-
try. Professionals win even make large
sacrifices Of their own possessions, out Of
hatred to Catholics and fear of the pope. |
Even Catholics, if electedto Office, are less |