Memphis daily appeal. [volume] (Memphis, Tenn.) 1847-1886, 1882-11-22
The Creditors of Archbishop Purcell
Appeal TO the Roman Catholics
of the Country
For Payment Of Their Claims-A Peti.
ton to the POpe-SOme Very Grave
Accusations Made.


creditors. The creditors say: With view
10 the payment of the debt thus incurred in
the cause of religion, the archbishop and his
br1ther, the Very Rev. Edward Purcell,
made an assignment of all their real and
personal property, that it might be sold for
the benefit of their creditors. The assignee
asked the courts 10 order the sale, but
Bishop Elder, the present administrator OF
the diocese, and few German priests, OPP
posed the sale of the churches, schoolhouses,
seminary and other properly record
ed in the name of the archbishop,
aud paid, or agreed TO pay, $4,000 10
attorneys TO Illustrate the designs Of the
archbishop and the assignee, and thus de-
fraud the creditors out OF their legal rights.
The case WAS tried in the District Court OF
Hamilton county last spring, but decis-
ion has vet been rendered. Should tine de-
cision be adverse to Bishop Elder and his
advisers, they will have it appealed 10 the
Supreme Court of the State, where il may
lie for q generation without action. TOTAL
defeat of the creditors in the courts, or pro-
crastiuatiou of litigation, Is the scheme OF
the bishop and priests who oppose the pay
ment of the debt, in hopes that most OF the
creditors will be dead before final judgment
is rendered.
In 1879 subscription was taken up in all
.be dioceses of the United States for the
benefit OF the creditors; but, strange 10 say,
no part of the money thus subscribed was
ever paid 10 the CREDITOR, nor has any &C.
couut of the sum collected ever been given,
other than it was handed over to Cardinal
McCIoskev and a committee OF ecclesjastics
in New York. The creditors and the public
are alike ignorant of the amount and its
destination. The trustees of the fuud are as
mum as oysters on the subject, and we deem
il a duty we owe the subscribers to acqusint
them of the diversion OF their subscriptions
To other uses than for which they were given.
In the meantime many creditors have died
from want; many have become insane over
their loss. and several have committed sui
eide from despair. In 1880 a petition
on behalf OF the creditors was sent 10 the
Pope, advising him of the extent and
ruinous character of the failure, bat no
reply has ever been received. A lew
weeks ago another petition was sent to Pope
Leo. signed by a committee of creditors, de-
failing the opposition OF Bishop Elder and
few German priests to the payment OF the
debt, and imploring him to invoke the
charity of the church 10 redeem, some at
least, of the $4,000 sufferers from the failure.
Copies OF this petition have been sent to all
the bishops of the United States, that they
might be correctly informed OF the destiny
of their former subscriptions, and the stern
opposition of Bishop Elder and his disciples
to The payment of the debt. Some of these
repudiating priests are the benefciaries OF
the archbishop, who picked them up shoe
les urchius from the streets; ssnt them 10
France, Rome, and our local theological
seminary, fed, clothed and educated them
out of the funds inlrusted to him for safe
keeping by 1000 depositors.
These are the men who now repudiate the
debt that made them what they arei lifted
them from the Indulgence of the bucksaw
and ash pits into sffiuence, and made them
celestial bosses over the minds OF men. Even
infallible Rome can make mistakes In the
appointment OF bishops, as in the case OF
Archbishop Purcell's successor, who is doubt
less very good Christian, pious and devoted
to church externals, but is said to be entirely
untitled to govern this diocese. Three
fourths of the lower clergy and all OF the
laity are arrayed against him on this subject
of paying the debt, yet, with the obstinscy
of Julius ii, without. the mental caliber OF
that eccentric pope, besides with a minority
of ecclesiastics who lure him from the paths
of Justice with the Establishments of the
sweet German accent" The creditors Ger
man, French, Italian and Irish, never here
tofore known TO doubt the honesty of a
bishop or the infallibility of the church, are
in open rebellion against both, and the short
sightedness of Bishop Elder prevents him
from seeing the lowering cloud OF unbeliei
that hangs over the church in this diocese.
The petition proceeds in this vein TO great
length, and contains some pretty plain talk,
of which the following extracts may serve as
samples;
The payment of 900 by the bishop and
| the lambs who phil the celestial wires, to at
torncys to euchre the depositors, mas not only
scandalized the best Catholics in the do
cese, but has driven hundreds from the
church. The spouse of Christ" supposed
to be spotless by all of her communion, has
received dreadful stab in The dark at the
hand of her own shepherd and his pets, that
opened the eyes of thousands, who have here
tofore accepted the dictum OF Rome, without
inquiry, as the voice of heaven, but who are
now engaged in the uncatholic practice of
doing their own thinking. "Men will no
longer stsrve for the glory of God" nor
crawl to the grave on penitent knees to save
q church or schoolhouse from the hammer
of the sheriff. The natural wants of the
creditors have prior claim to the fruits OF
their toll, and they will not quietly yield
either 10 the dicium of the priests their
money "fed, clothed and educated" nor the
assumed necessities OF heaven. The woods
and mountains were the temples of the
Savior, while his pseudo disciples among us
must have churches and tall steeples,
erected in the highest style of art, with other
peoples money, without consulting the own
ers thereof
The archbishop left the debt as legacy
to the archdiocese to pay, as he declared it
in duty bound TO d., and is well able, if the
proper steps were taken but our repudiating
bishop and his hangers-on prefer 10 pay out
OF the congregational funds large fees TO
cunning lawyers, 10 fight the claims OF the
creditors, step by step in the courts, in the
Christian hope that the pass-b books and dne-
bills will fall with the holders into prema-
ture graves before the litigation they have
organized will fad solution.
1t may be new to the Subscribers TO the
fund in the keeping of Cardinal McCloskey
to know that it ie said thst the money il
held to buy 10 any ecclesiastical property
ordered sold by the courts, and it is given
out that over $4,000 OF il has been used 10
pay for property sold adjoining the bishops
residence. 70 use the fund subscribed for
the swindled creditors for such purposes,
however it may be cIosked by theology, ia a
fraud upon the subscribers and the credit
ors. The failure to divide the
funds among the objects among whom il was
subscribed has had a bad effect upon all the
thinking minds in he Catholic Church
and has driven hundreds into rank infidelity.
And the people are beginning to un-
derstand that the shepherds of the Lord are
more prone TO crook the temporal good Of
their focks into the trea.ury OF the Church
than the stray sheep into the crib of saliva
ton. The answer TO our last appeal TO
Rome will chow whether the love Of Peters
pence is more potent at the Vatican than
that of miuistering justice 10 a large part Of
"ihe body of Christ" who are, Lszarus-like,
standing at the gate Of Peter collecting the
crumbs that fall from me table of the Holy
Father.
The statement, as published, is signed sim
ply "Creditors of Archbishop Purcell" The
petition 10 the paper, which Is published in
connection with the statement TO the clergy,
bears the date: Cincinnati, O., Sept. 10.
1882. 1t is much to The same effect as the
o: her document, but is clothed in more re-
speciful language. 1t says that the action
OF Bishop Elder and his ipjudicious advisers
has created a spirit OF discoaient among the
mass Of Catholics, who look upon an unpaid
church debt as a serious scandal, and a
heavy crime in ecclesisstIcs who oppose its
payment. Your Holiness, say the petition
ere, is the visible head, an! 20 you we conf
IDENTIFY appeal from the scl ion of our bishop.
An order from the Holy See to sell the prop
erty into which the PEG, les money has been
put, or TO insugurate subscription 10 pay
the debt, would evoke the everlasting grail
tude OF your petitioners, and stop the ieet OF
thousands who are marching from the church
into the camp of inhdelity and unbelisi.
We are aware that in the latter days laymen
are seldom permitted to approach your
Holiness with complaints OF ecclesiastics,
though the day Was, when; az our cstechism
tells US, "lhe congregation Of the faithful COM
posed the church" As laymen have 70