The Portland daily press., 1889-03-25
The moral Tendency of Roman
Catholicism.

sf Catholicism.
To the Editor of the Press:
Please correct the quotation from the
Vicar General of Boston which we sent to
you about two weeks SINCE First because
we have no disposition to misrepresent any
person, and second because the opinion of
any one man is of less Importance, in this
discussion, than the actual facts seen in the
the national life of the great peoples to whom
the quotations referred.
We took the quotation from pamphlet in
which the words Of the Vicar General, and
the testimony of one of the most reliable
American writer's respecting the influence of
Roman Catholicism in Spain, Italy and Mex
leo. were grouped under the same quotation
marks. l
The words of the Vicar General were:
The attitude of the Catholic church toward the
public schools of this country, as tar as we can
determine from papal documents, the DEGREES of
the Council of Baltimore and the pastorals Of the
several bishops, is one of nnn-approval of the sys
TEN itselfi OF censure Of the manner of conduct
ing them that prevails in most places, and of SOL
emn admoniti0n to pastors ana parents to guard
against the dangers to faith and morals arising
from frequenting them.
Possibly the Vicar General does not be
lieye that the general tendencies of Roman
Catholicism, among the masses in Roman
Catholic countries are demoralizing, but, if
the author of the following meant what he
said one of the ablest Roman Catholics in
our age may ha,e held that opinion.
"Her adversaries, with the finger of dersion.
point out these facts and proclaim them to the
tugal, Spain, Bavaria, Austria, Italy, France and
what do you see? Countries subjugated or eners
waited, o. agtated by the internal throes of reyou-
ton. EVERYWHERE among Catholic nations r.
ness only and ineapacity are to be discerned.
This This Is the result Of the priesty domination and
then has brought about this most deplorable state
OF things? = Can it be true as their enc
mics assert, tnat Cathollcity wherever 1t hes still
Catholic church bas given over as others imagine,
and has accomplished her task, etc." An Expo
sition Of the Church. London Basil Montague
Pickering, 1876
Among the reasons given by Roman Catho-
lie authorities for their severe assault upon
the public school system of America, are a
depreciation of the Importance of the secular
education OF the masses and the American
izing tendencies of the public schools. The
Catholic Review of April 1871 said:
"We do not indeed prize as highly as some of
our countrymen appear to do the ability to read
write or cipher. Some men are born to be leaders
and the rest are born to be led. The best ordered
and administered State is that 10 which the few
are Wen educated and lead, and the many are
trained to obedience"
The late DIR. o. A. Brownson, one of the
ablest Roman Catholic writers In this coun-
try declared In his Review when referring
to Roman Catholic Parochial schools:
These schools must be taught chiefly by foreign
ers, or not by foreigners at least by those whose
sympathies and connections, tastes and habits are
un-Amer1can, because what is wanted by their
founders and supporters is not simply the preser-
vation OF Orthodoxy but the perpetuation of the
Iorelgnlsm hitherto associated with it, Schools
which should associate real Americans with Or
thodoxy would be hardly less offensive or more
acceptable than the public schools themselves"
In an article by Dexter A. Hawkins A. M.
Of the New York Bar, on "The Relation of
Gducation to Wealth and Morality and to
Pauperism and Crime" after showing 'tbat
one-third of the crime in the country UNITED
States is committed by persons wholly or
substantially illiterate," he proves from the
census CT 1870 that
From every ten thousand inhabitants the
parochial school method on the average turned
out fourteen hundred illiterates, four hundred
and ten paupers and one hundred and sixty Grim
lnals, while the non-sectaran free public public
scDool method turned out from every ten thous-
ana inhabitants only three hundred and fifty illit-
crates, one hundred and seventy paupers and
sssyent,y.fye sew M criminals: Or il we take Massa
model Of our free public schools, with its 1,1O4-
O32 native inhabitants in 1870 the number is
nine paupers .and eleven criminals to the ten
tnonsand:" Pages S3 to s5, Christian Educators
In Council.
To this Mr.. Hawkins, Cardinal Antonelli
said, that he
grow up In Ignorance than 20 be educated In such
system OF schools as the State of Massachusetts
supported" page 2, Tract No 2, Committee
OF One Hundred Series. Dec. 1885,
1t is not pleasant to be obliged to refer to
this feature OF the influence of Roman
catholicism and its advocacy by its ac-
knowledged representatives but Bishop
iheaiy's attempt to introduce sectarianism
INTO our State Reform School on the plea
tnat the good morals of the children of
Roman Catholic parentage demand Roman
catholic instruction, his intemperate dennn
clation OF all Protestants in his late pastoral
letter respecting matrimony, the strenuous
efforts Of Roman Catholics to secure noliticaj
control in the affairs of our country and the
manner 10 which some Protestants have lih
orally furthered this object ali make If the
Imperative duty of American citizens irres-
fuence Of Roman Catholic instruction.
III 1t Is true that the moral terpitude of
Mexico, the illiteracy crlminalty and
pauperlsm OF its people are the result of the
dogmas OF the Roman Catholic Church, its
claims to have power to grant indulgences
thereby remitting the temporal punishment
OF sin, that such indulgences are salutary
and that its priests at the Mass by Extreme
Unction, or at the Confession can remit sins
including adultery and theft. provided the
guilty, party Is sincerely kenitent, then the
OF Quebec can be understood and the explain
alton Of the fact which appeared in your ex-
cellent paper Of March Goth, viz: "It ap-
pears from recent statistics that there are
not less than 100000 criminals, vagrants,
paupers, idiots and insane persons In the
State of New York. seven-eights of whom
parents"
Ii In any of our communications we inad-
yerdently fail to express the exact quotation
m aAA
only aim is to present the exact facts
without any desire to misrepresent or malign
any denomination.
Respectfully yours,
Portland, March %, 1889. -D'