The Irish standard. [volume] (Minneapolis, Minn. ;) 1886-1920, 1888-09-15
A few FACTS FOR FANATICS.
Salutary and Beneficial Influence Of
the Catholic Church in the
United States.
A GRAND AND GLORIOUS RECORD.
An Article Which the Anti-Oatholic So
ciety Of Minneapolis Gould
Parlse With Profit.

ciety Of Minneapolis Gould
Perlse With Profit.
Whenever our Protestant friend
meet together in their annual confer
ences, they feel constrained by the cus
| toms Of their forefathers, rather tina
by their own real convictions, to bea
witness against "Romanisn, and ca
the attention Of patriotic thinkers t
it as "a menace 60 our civil institn
tions.
Now. we do not object to this, fo
however effective such libel denuncia
tions may have been some years AGO il
fostering prejudice against the Catholi
Church. tLey have lost their force.
| For patriotic thinkers who know
the history Of the. Catholic Church O
"Romanism, as our Protestant friend.
most courteously, style it, also know
that ''Romanism'' is ''power'' which
may claim not only their attention
but also their unqualified admiration
because of its priceless service to every
interest that true patriotism cherishes
and values; to the inalienable rights o1
man as an Intelligent, free moral agent
created and fitted by Cod for an exalted
and eternal destiny; to civil liberty, to
social and civil order, to industrial and
intellectual progress, to morality and
virtue.
Who was it but the Catholic Church
who long ages ago encouraged and fos-
tered .(fOunded and maintained would
not be too strong words to use) the
confe Grated cities Of Lombardy, the
Republican Government of Switzerland,
the free cities OF Germany and Fland
ers, the municipalities OF France, the
local free governments Of Spain, and
the growth and personal liberty in Eng
land 1t was the ''power' Of the Cath
olic Church that brought tyrannical
despots, whether Emperors Of Germany
or Kings Of FraLce and England CT
Dunes or Counts in Italy, to their
knees, and compelled them to respecy
and enlarge the rights Of their subject
peoples.
And now, to pass at once to our own
country, OF what Protestant sect have
the members rendered such signal SER
vice Of patriotism and true loyalty to
the interest Of our country and it's Civil
institutions and made such sacrifices
to establish and preserve them. as have
the members of the Catholic Church,
in proportion to numbers and wealth
Who was it but Father subsequent
ly Archbishop CarrolD, that by the LETT
ters with which he armed Benjamin
Franklin-letters to Rome and letters
to the Papal Nuncio to the French
made the mission Of Franklin effective
and secured the interposition and aid
Of France in the crucial crisis Of our
struggle for the independence of Brit
ish rule
And to come down to our own times.
what American citizen was ever more
thoroughly identified with the spirit of
our free institutions and the necessity
OF preserving the unity Of our common
country and worked harder for it than
the Most Rev. John Hughes, Arch
bishop Of New York, q foreign-born
Catholic z 81
And, then, as to our soldiers, take
the testimony Of the Generals Of our
armies, from Washington down to the
present day, and what soldiers of any
Protes tant sect have been 50 loyal, so
faithful, so gallant as those of the
Cathulic faith !? Ever TO be relied on,
unuismayed by any odds, they are
known to always have been the first
to advance and the last to retreat. No
tories, no traitors, no towards have
ever been found among them. And to-
day, who is it but the Catholic Church
,.ho resists as wall of steel the as
saults Of Anarchists and radical Social-
lists on the one hand, while on the other
it opposes the tendency, under the I'M
pulses Of inordinate cupidity, Of power
ful monopolies and mammoth capital
lists to Cypress and tyrannize over the
poor
Virtue and intelligence are COM
monty and rightly believed to be the
foundation stones Of our free institll-
t1ons. First virtue. For to train peo
pie in intelligence without virtue is
simply to arm them with weapons Of
tremendous potency, but leave them
destitute of the moral principles and
resolutions to use these weapons for
right purposes. There was wisdom and
struthsln the homely saying of the on,
.ponents Of public schools q, generation
ago, that to give ecu lar noWledge and
tual 5tl ainlin 8 to chill dren without
religions training was simpl toprepasa|