The Indianapolis journal. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1867-1904, 1884-12-14
THE CATHOLIC PASTORAL.

the centrifugal tendencies of human nature,
and III this age of unrest and disquet is not
in the best condition to meet the infdelities
of the times. We say the boast is not alto
gether unmeaning; for it must be confessed
that the weakness of Professionalism is here
indicated, as well as is the strength of the
church for which the Union specially speaks
The Catholic Church holds unique and
an honorable position in the world. The
late plenary council, and the pastoral letter
made public but day or two
ago have centered public attention
upon it, and will serve to cause
review of judgment upon a hierarchy that
has filed the world as no other. Faith is ever
higher than reason; and the strength of the
Catholic Church has been, and still is in the
fact that in its bosom doubts are quoted, and
men may find rest In this fact Matthew
Arnold finds his chefest argument for the Es
tablished Church. The weakness of establish
ments of any sort is their ineptitude to the
notifications and advances rendered neces-
ssry by the changes of circumstances and the
progress of ideas, ard this want of adaptable
ity has been most marked in the Catholic
Church. The non possumus of Plus was
weight the retardation of which can scarcely
be estimated, while the ever-recurring cry of
the prisoner of the Vatican" is not
only irnpotent but pitiable. When the Holy
F :her comes to recognize that his temporal
power was only weakness and in its absence
will drop all ideas other than to spirit
ualize the church of which he is the head, he
will do more for the world and for his trust
than can be accomplished in centuries of
wailing and useless moping.
A few days since the Journal, in speaking
of the work of the council, said that when its
DEGREES came to be published it would more
than likely be found that a strong effort had
been made to align the church in America
more in harmony with the genius and spirit
of the country The pastoral letter
breathes this desire and purpose and
in so far, at least will commend the church
to the considerate judgment of those, both
inside and outside its communion, who have
felt that it was out of line with the Republic
and with the age. Bat upon the vital ques
tons affecting not alone the church, but
society and the state, the deliverances of the
council will attract most serious attention,
and in their spirit and influence will be
warmly welcomed and applauded by all who
look with prudential alarm upon the spread of
the evils against which they inveigh
Whether all men believe in God and the Bible
or not it is yet ground into the intelligent
consciousness of the vast body of the Nation
that this government is founded upon the
moral and religious, and that no truth is higher
and more imperative than that the nation
which forgets God shall be cast into hell
Not in the spirit of a sectary, but in the
wholesome outlook of those who have read
history Alright, the fundamental virtue of
patriotic regard for the authority of the gov
ernment-for powers that are ordained of God
lis strongly inculcated. There is no fact
more necessary to be impressed upon the peo-
pie than that if there is to be an orderly and
symmetrical developement of this country, it
must be along the line of its germinal princi
pies and what those principles were cannot
be doubted after even cursory reading Of the
first pages of our history. The United States
can have no harmonious and safe expansion
and growth upon any other basis than that
upon which the Nation was started. This is
well put in the Catholic pastoral by saying
that 'there is naught in the spirit of our
free institutions incompatible with perfect do
cility to the church of Christ" The sentence
may well be commended to the attention of all
the people-Catholics and Protes tants alike.
The country is not in sympathy with the
general attitude of the Catholic Church toward
the public school system Of the country; and
yet there is no little force in the argument
that the schools have been too much secular
lied" The free school is the peoples school,
and must forever continue to be. To an eX-
tent scarcely appIeciaole INC SCHOOL mas taken
the place of the home in the matter of all
education, and when in the school the Bible
is not only not read but is under ban; when
the relation of the pupils to God are not only
not allowed to be alluded to in the most gen
eral terms, but too frequently absolute irrelig-
ion is in the very atmosphere of the school
ROOM the influence upon the children minds
and hearts can but be bad, and in such an air
and with such surroundings the public school
system is liable to grind out citizens educated
Intellectually, but with the moral perceptions