The Cairo bulletin. [volume] (Cairo, Ill.) 1872-1878, 1876-05-28
TINE rREEDMkN AND THE CATH"-


The Methodist church Of the North,
m ante .bellum days. as an organization,
was opposed to slavery. 1t was one OF
the original abolitionists. Its ministers
denounced the sin Of slavery. Preachers
and laymen alike prayed for Its abolition,
and when at last, the chain servitude
fell from the bonu!lan and
he was free, the church
rejoiced as one man and for the time be-
ing forgot the privations, the suiierings.
and sorrows. engendered by the war, In
their JOY over the emancipation OF the
colored race. Since then, the church
has looked OH the freedmen Of the South
as its children by adoption and by right.
its spiritual children who should seek sal
walton at its affairs and find eternal
life through its portals only. It's
jealous of the proselyting efforts of other
sects, and does not look with patience on
their attempts to steal away Its children.
II Is alarmed at the influence extended by
the Roman Catholics among the blacks
of the Southern States, and in the general
conference held nj Baltimore dur
ing the past week. called especial atten-
ton to the means taken by tn,
Catholics 10 draw the colored race '.ott
that church, and warned the Nett odist,
and Protestants of America ITO aear apt
heed at the peril Of their own religion.
faith" The report Of the Committee OF
freedmen, read at the conference saws
rThe duty ofeducatipg and even evange
LIKING this people belongs peculiarly ant
emincntly to the Methodist Episcopal
Church.
ut is the only church. with a single ex.
ception, that has large membership
among the colored people in the South,
that Is doing anything for their cduca-
ton
The report urges forcibly the duty Of the
church TO make proper provisions for the
education, moral and mental, OF the
freedman Of the South. Under proper
influences, "it asserts. "they will continue
to form large protestant element In
American Christianity and civilization.
But it should not be concealed from
ourselves that they may become to a
large degree perverted to Rome. Ennis
'saries Of this church are already at work
among them, aud they are meeting with
success. They are filling their schools
with children and their asylums with
orphans OF .hc colorcd people. The
plans Of the Papal propaganda arc far
reaching, and they never make haste.
1T 10 very well understood that whoever
shall educate the freedmen will also
possess them enthusiastically, and the
'Romish church has earnestly entered
upon this work. Ii is said that there is
a large class Of eolorel young men
from the South, some say nearly hun
'drcd, under training in Rome tor the
priesthood, who will, after few years,
'reappear in their native land as propa-
gators of the Romisl faith.
The report concludes with rccommen-
dations that the Freedmen's Aid society
retain its present organization that the
church should contribute literally TO
its income and give to 1t the fullest con-
tidencc and its largest charity, assuring
Its preachers and laymen "that 10 more
worthy charity calls for their aid, and
that no field of Christian effort promises
better returns for the money and labor
expended than this work among the
freedmen Of the South"