The morning star and Catholic messenger. [volume] (New Orleans [La.]) 1868-1881, 1876-01-23
Qeruy and LaIty.

eatitis them 20 IL. These men do no, De-
lieve in the infallibiiity of the Church, al
though they may claim 20 do 90, and on
various. practical Questions do not hesitate
to prefer their own opinions to the tscsA
Says Of the Supreme Po1tih.
Perhaps the most ordinary eIsmplifca-
tioa Of this proposition Is foand in she mat
ter Of education. The Pope says that &c
calaE and religions education must 60
hand in hand /: the hickory Catholic holds
that such an idea is entirely erroneous, shas
there ia no necessary connection between
the tGo processes He finds the public
school good enough for his children and
the paroehial school too great bartheu.
He actually believes that the Pope il be-
bind the age and the Church gone wrong
this time, At least Yet, in general terms,
be sticks to the infAllibility of the Church,
With the mental exception, of eourse. of
the points where she happens 70 be wrong.
The editor of the Sunday Morning
Gazette of Erie, Pa, mus. have fallen in
with some of these Liberals, judging from
an article which recently appeared in that
paper, and from which We quote tie follow
ing sentences
school system comes from the Catholic
clergy. TIE Catholic clergy, we say, for
We are veil convinced that whenever and
wherever the public schools are kept strictly
secular in their character, there the Cath olic
laty may be depended on TO Il AXE seriocs
Opposition TO them They viii not provoke
differences with the clergy By noisy advocacy
of the schools, but where the clergy are not
remark ably vigilaut the Catholic children will
be sent TO the public schools IN preference to
the church schools, and il is the latter and not
the former the support OF which Is felt as
burden. This statement, which has an in
portant bearing on the question under consid-
GRAFTON, need not be credited on our authority.
Anybody who chooses to inform himself on the
make no secret of their feelings on this sub
ject-to ybody but the clergy. The latter,
as.ute though they be, are, We believe, FAY
froml compromising the sentiments of their
Catholic clergy are substantially alone in their
opposition to the schools.
Catholic opposition to se.ular education 10 As
old as the Catholic Church itself
The Rt. Rev. Bishop Mullen of Erie, took
exception to this article and wrote to the
editor pointing out a. Objectionable sab
stantialiy the following propositions, Ist,
that the pAroehial school support, and not
the public school tax, il the more dis
tasteful burden to the Catholic laity Pod,
that the laity do not sympathiDe with the
clergy in opposing the common school
arrangement and Sd, that Catholic OPP
position to secular education is as old as
the CD ureh itself. These the Bishop request
ed to be either withdrawn or substantiated
by procf
The editor, whose name appears to be
F. A. CrandaIl, replied at length sustaining
these propositions by general allegations,
not by facts. He failed to give the name
OF any individual or the details of any
Circumstance in connection with his argu
meut, and to this the Bishop took strong
exceptions in his subsequent reply. He
had asked for pToof, not argument. The
Bishop vas logically right facts were
wanted. Still, though delicacy may have
prevented SIR. Crandsll from giving names,
We doubt not that be could have furnished
q good many from the class Of which we
have spokeB above. Theae associations
bad led Sir. Crandall astray, and, though
be was 10 error, We ought probably to give
him credit for really believing all I've said.
For the future, however, there can be
no invincible ignorance on his part as to
facts connected with the first aud second of
his propositions. The be
tween him and the Bishop beconiing
known, a mass meeting of Catholic lay
men was called by several prominent citi-
zens, and held without any participation
of the clergy. The public hall aelected
was found not large enough tn admit the
crowd of Catholics who assembled to ex-
press their Dissent from the views an
nouuced in the Gazette. Many could not
even effect an entrance, so great was the
concourse. A number of excellent speeches
were made by gentlemen present, evidence
ing as reported in the Lake Shore Visitor of
Erie, a thorough appreciation of the question
at issue and great ability in handling it.
The tone of the resolutions adopted by the
meeting may be OWNED from the following
selection
Tbok