The Indianapolis journal. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1867-1904, 1885-02-17
THE o,EE1lL INCIDENT.

THE O'NEILL INCIDENT.
Attention is directed to the card of Bishop
Chatard, elsewhere printed. The Journal can
have no quarrel with the right reverend adj
minstrator of the diocese, and in what we
have to say there is neither captiousness nor
desire to offend. But Bishop Chatard is too
much of a man of the world, knows too much
of the relation between cause and effect, and
apprehends altogether too readily the effect
upon the public mind of such an act as he has
just performed, to blind himself to the patent
truth that the alleged antecedent causes for
Father ONeills removal will be almost uni
versally regarded as an afterthought There
was never a whisper of the proba-
bility Of such removal before
the "silly cane episode" to use the
Bishops words. Neither priest nor parish, nor
secretary, nor vicar general, so far as the
record GOES ever dreamed of the probability
Of peremptory severance of the pastoral
relations until the 'silly cane episode" ''The
silly cane episode" is fairly and irrevocably
fixed, by all the usual rules of evidence, as the
beginning of the trouble which has eliminated
in this harsh and, it is to be hoped, entirely
unprecedented exercise of the episcopal
authority. In his card, Bishop Chatard says
the reasons fer the removal edo not affect the
moral character of Rev. Father O'Neill, who,
for T ooI md
thy priest" May we ask the Bishop, in all
kindness and candor, if in his administration
it is usual to make "a tramp out of man
whose moral character is unchallenged, and
who lis good man and worthy priests"
Father O'Neill said, in his pulpit on Sunday,
that he had been denounced as can Irish
tramp" since he took the cane to Mr.. Blaine,
and the action of the Bishop had turned the
taunt into a sorry fact. With part Of his
salary unpaid, with the work of the parish
proceeding in such manner as to call forth the
commendatory resolutions passed by the con-
gregation, with no charge affecting his moral
character and with the Endorsement of the
Bishop that he 'is good man and worthy
priest, Father O'Neill is peremptorily turned
out of employment, made "a tramp of,
stigma put upon him that, in the rigorous dis
cipline of the church to which he has
given his life, will remain to in
jure him for years, if, indeed, he
ever fully RECEIVERS from it. We submit that,
upon Bishop Chatards own statement, this is
harsh and unjust treatment. Conceding, for
the moment, that what is so apparent as the
real cause of removal, however remote it may
seem, had nothing to do with it, there is no
one either in or out Of the Catholic Church,
who will not say that the treatment accorded
Father ONeill is unjust and arbitrary, mex
plicable upon any reasonable grounds. If he
has not been thus hardly dealt with for the
"silly cane episode there must be personal
causes why this priest has been singled out
for such special disfavor. What they are we
do not care to inquire, but we fancy that
Bishop Chatard will not find acquiescence with
his discipline among the Irish Catholic
people of this city and State, who love fair
play, who, with warmhearted and impulsive
generosity, are eager to accord to all men the
common justice they demand for themselves.
In any light it may be viewed, the ONeill in
cident is unfortunate. If it be not repri-
mand for the indulgence of freedom of thought
and action, it is an indication that the Bishop
of Vincennes is neither just nor merciful in
his administration, when he can so harshly
treat servant whose moral character is I'M
assailed, and who Sis good man and worthy
priest"