The morning star and Catholic messenger. [volume] (New Orleans [La.]) 1868-1881, 1876-05-28
LIBERTY OF W0RSHIP" IN SPAIN
TLondon Tablet. May 81


fLondon Tablet, MaySI
The agitation for legalizing the introduc.
ton of foreign forms of belief into Spain
for this is what the liberty of wQrship
movem+ mt amounts to-has been formally
condemned anew by Papal Brief, and this
authoritative appeal to Spanish Catholicity
to remain worthy of itself has provoked to
the utmost the innumerable organs of the
anti Catholic party throughout Europe. As
usual, misconceptions and misrepresenta
tions enter largely into the attacks which
are directed from all sides against the &C
ton of the Supreme Pontiff. The Church
of Rome is declared to be acting with ira
| ditional duplicity, crying up the principles
of federation in Non Catholic countries like
Great Britain and Russia, but as obstin-
| ately intolerant whenever it sees chance
of suppressing religious liberty as in the
days of the Spanish Inquisition. In all
this there is fundamental error. 1t ia
perfectly true that the Church permits and
demands the utmost liberty and federation
in countries of divided religious belief. 1t
is equally true that in countries which
have the most complete and real unity of
Catholic faith the Church resoluteIy con-
demos, and must ever condemn, that arti
fetal fostering of heretical disunion known
by the misleading name of religious liberty
aud liberation. The only e!igion in Spain
that requires freedom, the only Church in
Spain that can suffer from Intolerance, is
this Catholic religion aud Catholic Church {;
and how can that Church be less oppressed
how can it be more thoroughly tolerated,
than when it is recognized In law, as it is
in fact, as the sole and single religion of the
country, to be respected by all authorities,
and to be defended against all outrages
Is the legislation of a country to be guided
by the evident welfare of the population or
is it mott Without going beyond the con
sideration of plain common sense ques
ton of this sort, it is possible to dissIpate
the whole of the clouds of words which has
been raised over this subject. Tbere are
some seventeen millions of Spaniards in
Spain, and these seventeen millions want
no Church but the Church of their fathers
Does anyone desire to deprive them of the
free exercise of the only religion with which
they care to be acquaintedf Certainly not
the Supreme Pontiff or the Spanish Epis-
copate. What then, can he alleged in
support of this preposterous demand for
the Introduction, of foreign worships
There are some scores, or perhaps some
hundreds, of English, German, and Ameri-
can diplomatic officials, traders, railway
servants, and mining engineers, together
with few dozen of Protestant Biblical
agents, with abuse of the Spanish national
religion III their mouths, and bad editions
of the Scr ptures for circulation in their
hands; and this is to be a reason for de-
claring that the Church of Spain ought to
lose it's old rights over Spaniards, and that
Spaniards ought to be deprived of their
old right Of having their national religion
protected from offensive and often BIAS
phemous attacks.
There is really, and there can really be,
no question about liberty OF worship even
as regards non Spaniards in this matter.
The agitators for this pretended liberty
know very well that If all they want is |
really permission for handful of foreign |
Protestants to perform their particular de. |
xuifh g.,
and without offence to others, nothing can |
be less difficult than to obtain this permits |
sion to the utmost reasonable extent. III
wherever there is a colony of Professionals /
of numbers sufficient to require some spe-
clal facilities for the exercise of their wOr-
ships the proper representations are made
to that effect, and the proper securities
given that legitimate devOtions shall not
be made pretence for offensive prosely-
tism, it is perfectly certain that the reQuis-
lite license could be easily provided for. A
dozen or q score of meeting houses or tenn
pies for such foreign residents in dozen or
q score of cities and seaports could be
easily arranged for between the Spanish
on the one hand and the
foreign Governments on the other. This,
however, is very different from the sweep-
ing and universal license which would let
loose q flood of foreign itinerant anti,
Catholic controversialists, often of no
doubtful antecedents, upon a Catholic ma
ton, setting up their discussion booths and
tract agencies by quiet country sides, pla-
carding the corners with denunciations of
'Mariolatry," with selections from Mr..
Newdegate or "Maria Monk" on conyen-
tnal institutions, or quotations from Prince
Bismarck and DR.. Falck on the Jesuits and
the Pope.
If Spain indeed were as England or
Germany, broken up into a Thousand sects,
,r devoid of unity and careless of unity,
of worship" in the sense which ia
meant by the agitators would indeed be
impossible to be denied. For here, lust as
q Spain, the same test of what the mnss of
he rAoplo reoniFeR yVould akiU nnR0oo e. |