McCook weekly tribune. (McCook, Neb.) 188?-1886, 1885-01-08
THE CATHOLIC PASTORAL
OF the Plenary Council to Catholics in the
United States.

United states.
The pastoral letter of the archbish'
ops and bishops of the United States,
composing the third plenary council
of Baltimore, to the clergy and laity
of their charge is made public through
Tile Catholic Mirror. 1t is lengthy
document, but the following abstract
gives the main points of leading mat
tiers which engaged the attention OF
the council. Reference is made to the
past eighteen years. especially in the
west. The assembling by Plus TX.
of the general council of the Vatican
is alluded to as one of the most inn
portant events of our age, and de-
tailed account of its work is given.
The Catholics of Prussia are commend
ed for their good work in availing
themselves of every legal means to
check the advances of despotism and
save their own freedom and that of
their country. The letter then dis
cusses the laws of the church and this
country
IN THE FOLLOWING TERMS
"We think we can claim to be ac-
quainted both with the laws, institu-
lions, and spirit of the Catholic church
and with the laws, institutions, and
spirit of our country, and we emphat-
ically declare there is no antagonism
with them. A Catholic finds himself
at home in the United States, for the
influence of the church has constantly
been exercised in behalf of individual
rights and popular liberties. And a
right-minded American nowhere finds
himself more at home than in the
Catholic church, for nowhere else can
he breath that atmosphere of divine
truth which alone can make us free.
We repudiate with equal earnestness
the assertion that we need to lay
aside any of our devotedness to our
church to be true Americans and the
insinuation that we need to lay aside
any of our love for our country's prin-
ciples and institutions to be faithful
Catholics. To urge that the Catholic
church is hostile to our great republic
because she teaches that there is no
power but from God'-because, there
fore, back of the events which led to
the formation of the republic, she sees
the providence of God leading to that
issue. and back of our country's laws
the authority of God as their sanction,
this, evidently, is so illogical and
contradictory an accusation that we
are astonished to hear it advanced by
persons of ordinary intelligence. We
believe our country's heroes were in
struments of the God of nations in es-
tablishing this home of freedom. To
both the Almighty and His instruments
in the work we look with grateful
reverence ; and to maintain the lnher-
itance of freedom which they have
left us, should it ever-which God for
bid-be imperiled, our Catholic citizens
will be found to stand forward as one
man, ready to pledge anew their
lives, their fortunes, and their sacred
honor No less illogical would be the
notion that there is aught in the free
spirit of republican institutions incom-
patible with perfect docility to the
church of Christi
The attempt to grasp the property
of the Propaganda is severely con-
demned, and our government warmly
thanked for the action that saved the
American college from confscation.
1t is declared that in all the wide cir
Gle of the holy fathers great response
bility, the progress of the church in the
United States forms, in special man.
ner, both source of joy and an object
of solicitude.
A considerable portion of the letter
is devoted to discussion of the educa-
ton of the clergy and their pastoral
rights. With respect to
CHURCH PROPERTIES AND CHURCH
DEBTS,
the letter says: 1.-The properties are
held in trust for the church for the
benefit of the people. 1t often be-
comes necessary to contract church
debts. Where the multiplication of
Catholic population has been so rapid,
rapid work had to be done in erecting
churches and schools, and if, under
such circumstances, pastors had to
wait till all the funds were in hand be-
fore beginning work, generation
would be left without the necessary
spiritual aids and might be lost to the
church and to God. 1t is our earnest
wish that existing debts should be Ii
quidated as soon as possible in order
that funds used in paying interest
might be employed in the great i'm
provements still to be made, and es-
pecially in helping on the glorious
work of Christian education" This
latter subject is treated at great
length:
Childhood and YOUTH says the
letter, 'are periods Of life when the
character ought especially to be SUBJ
jected to religious influences. Nor can
we ignore the palpable fact that the
school is an important factor in form
ing childhood and youth-so important
that its influence often outweighs that
of the home and the church. 1t can
not, therefore, be desirable or ad-
vantageous that religion should be ex-
cluded from the school. On the con-
trary, it ought to be one of the chief
agencies for moulding young life to
all that is true and virtuous aud holy.
To shut religion out of the school and
keep it for the home and church is
logically to train up generation that
will consider religion good for the
home and church, but not for practical
business and real life. But a more