St. Paul daily globe. [volume] (Saint Paul, Minn.) 1884-1896, 1886-03-15
CATHOLICS AND KNIGHTS.
Correspondence Looking to a Settle.
nent of Difficulties.

correspondence LOOKING To u Settlea
ment of Difficulties.
Special to the Globe.
New YORK, March 14.-The labor ques-
ton is forced upon Archbishop Corrigan in
the form of a choice between action and
non-actiOn against the Knights of Labor as
a secret society. All organizations involv-
ing an oath of secrecy are under the ban Of
the Roman Catholic church. Here in the
diocese OF New York the enforcement OF
that rule has long been lax, and especially
so under Cardinal McCloskey, and
| during the reign of Pope Plus
TX. Cardinal McCloskey, as an
lrishman, was in sympathy with
his countrymen and indisposed to be rigor-
Gus with them as to their membership in
secret societies. Occasionally a parish
priest would deny admittance to his church
for societies in regalia, and that action
would be sustained by the cardinal, but that
was about the extent of the suppression un-
dertaken. The Clan Na-Gael, the Sons of
st. Patrick and the Hibernians tiourished
without serious hindrance from the Catho.
lie clergy. The present pope, Leo, has had
tirmer policy of antagOniSm to secret So
cieties. The understanding in high Catho-
lie circles here Is that in refusing to give
New York
SUCCESSOR TO MCLoSKEY
in the cardinalate, and especially now in
deciding to go to Canada for second car
dinal in America, he expresses a rebuke for
the failure to effectually diScountenance
| secret orderS among Irishmen here Arch
bishop COrrigan has received within the
month an official letter from Rome. among
the contents of which, his secretary adj
mitS, was a passage on this matter That
the injunction to enforce the power of the
churcn to break up the knights of Labor
was imperative is indicated by the fact that
simultaneously, the archbishop of Quebec
Issued his denunciatiOn of the Knights and
forbade all Catholics TO remain
members. That Archbishop Corrigan
has lost a cardnalate through his
leniency, as some of the attaches of his
official establishment imply, seems improb-
able, since he is rather too young in COM
parisOn to other candidates to have reason
ably expected the appointment. The do
ings of The knights of Labor are pro-
foundry secret until they show for them
selves, and it has proved impossible to de-
termine whether the order has received anv
direct communication
FROM ARCHBISHOP CoRRIGAN
but it is certain that individual members
have very numerously been spoken to by
IHeU pastors through the confessional.
Your correspondent has further learned
that John n. Mccarthy, car-driver on the
Dry Dock Street railroad, who struck with
his fellow-employes, and belongs to the
Empire Protective association, which is a
section of the Knights of Labor, decided
that it was his duty to withhold nothing
from his confeSsor, the Rev. Father Preston
of ST. Anne'S church. He wrote to the
headquarters of the Knights of La
bor in Philadelphia, asking if the
disclosure of Knights of Labor Sc
crets to confessor who was
bound by his holy vows to maintain the
confidence inyiolate, would be construed as
a disregard of his own oath. The reply
came from Grand Master Powderly, and it's
purport was that the point would probably
be settled within ten days. Since then
several letters bearing the printed title of
the Knights of Labor on their envelopes.
postmarked Philadelphia, and addressed to
Archbishop COrrigan, have been delivered
by the carriers at the archbishOp's palace.
connected with st. Patrick's cathedral. The
superstition is that POwderly and the arch
bishop are in correspondence.