The Donaldsonville chief. [volume] (Donaldsonville, La.) 1871-current, 1883-03-24
! THE CATHOLIC goNTRoYERsY.

t THE CATHOLIC CONTROVERSY.
The interest and excitement oecasioneo
by the dispute over the management o1
the temporal affairs of the Catholic
| ChREch i'll this town, have increased
rather than ,abated, and the breach be
tween the opposing factions seems daily
widening.
As we have stated, u climax i'll the
/ controversy was expected to be reached
tomorrow, Easter Sunday. when the an
nual sale of pews takes place. It was
understood that Father Ceuppens and his
supporters would gather inside the
| church and go through the form of sell
| ing the pews, while tho Board of War
dens and their friends would conduct a
similar ceremony inst outside the church
but the situation has been materially
changed this evening. The Wardens
represented by their President, Mr.. Jean
| Feyrier, have obtained from the District
| Court an injunction prohibiting Bishop
| Perch6, Father Ceuppens, or any OF their
employees from proceeding to II sale or
Lease of the church pews or from in any
manner hiudering or interfering with
| the WarGens in the administration of the
| property or revenues of the church i'll
| volved i'm the pending dispute. The
| petition for injunction is very lengthy
and traverses the controversy III it's en-
tircty, beginning with the original dona-
ton of lands to the Roman Catholics of
the parish and coming down to the pres
ent day and the present points of differ
ence.
This will bring the whole matter before
the courts for settlement according to
the forms of law, and was the only prop
er course to pursue in default of all ami
cable understanding between the contest
ants.
Tomorrow, therefore, the Wardcns
will offer the church pews for sale, while
Father Ceuppens will take no further
action in the premises until advised 10y
the Bishop and his attorneys.
We publish today Il list of $40 signers
to the protest against the course taken
by the organizers of the new corporation
entitled Congregation of the Roman
Catholic Church of Ascension, appended
to which is !. sworn certificate that there
arc 733 other signatures on the lists now
i'll possession of, Father Ceuppens. ~4In
addition to these, list from New River
containing about 80 signatures has just
come in, making ii grand total of 1853
signers Of he protest, including many
who previously attached their names to
the list approyiirgitlle formation of the
new corporation. This is. certainly a for
midable showing and demonstrates what
we have heretofore stated, that Father
Ceuppens and the Bishop have Il strong
following among the members of their
church III Ascension. In fact, from pres
elit appearances the pastor was justified
ill making the announcement that lie
" is satisfied that the position lie has as.
snmed is approved of by large major
ity of the Catholic congregation Of the
parish" Whether this position of af-
fairs can be changed by Il thorough ex-
position and discussion of the various
matters involved in the unfortunate
controversy, remains to be seen.
We had Intended publishing i'll this
issue Il French translation of an article
reviewing the whole subject and vinili-
eating the attitude Of the new corpora
ton, but in making up our forms we are
compelled to crowd the matter ont
owing to its length. 1t will appear in
our next number..,