The Irish standard. [volume] (Minneapolis, Minn. ;) 1886-1920, 1890-06-07
ATH OLICS N PR JSSIA.

CATH0L ICS in PRU SSIA.
b Tho Bountinul Concessions" Pro
ss posed BY that Country.
!, Amount Due to the Religion 10 six-
,, = Millinn DIar1ks Only y Small Sub
81 for the Epdowments swept Away
In .s.ssssSA ,er Years.
In the spring Of 1876, when the Gull
turkampf was at its height, the Prus-
sian Government proceeded to forge
two weapons which they thought could
not fail to bring the Catholic bishops
and clergy to their knees. One of them
was what is known, in the familiar
history of the struggle, by the name of
the ''Bread- basket Law )" the other was
the Suspension Of Payments Law"
BY the first, all payments made to the
clergy out of public funds as remuner-
alton for their ecclesiastical work, were
forfeited, unless they declared their
submission to and acceptance of the
legislation of the country, including
the May laws. This law has never been
repealed, although there has been so
much Boosting of the conciliatory atti-
tude Of the Prussian Government in
late years, and Of tho great "conces-
sions'' made to the Catholic Church
What has been done is simply this
The Government, as an administration,
has been authorized to pay, or allowed
to be paid, the salaries without exact
ing the prosecuting declarations i'm
posed in April, 1875. But the other
law, suspending the payment of con-
tributions from the State for the main
= tenance of churches, schools, orphan
ages, &c., has not been touched since
its enactment on April %, 1879. Now
the Government have wakened up to
che fact that such law is irreconcil
able with the spirit of the legislation
of the last ten years. They have accord
tngly introduced bill, us we should
say, into the Prussian Parliament deal
ing with the matter, which, although
1t has been published only u few days,
has already been the subject Of q pretty
active controversy.
The moneys dealt with by the new
Bill, so far as the principle and system
on which they rest, date from the Con-
cordat concluded in 1921 between Prus-
sia and the Holy See. When taking
over the important western provinces
of Westphalia and the Rhineland, as q
great addition to his monarchy, the
King of Prussia, Frederick William I'LL,
promised his new subjects that they
should have the fullest enjoyment of
their religion as heretofore. He GER
tainly deserved little praise for this,
seeing that the population was Catho-
lie by great majority. The principle
of recognizing the Catholic religion as
the religion of the region was conse-
Grated by the Conoordat above men
toned, under which the Prussian State
bound itself to provide q suitable en-
dowment for the Catholic Church in
Prussia. When we remember that the
Rhineland especially was a Catholic
electoral principality, it would seem
only reasonable that compensation
should be given for the Church reven-
ues and endowments that had been
swallowed up in the revolutions of the
preceding quarter of a century. And
from tho conclusion of the Concordat
up to 1879 things went on improving
Is to the attitue of the State towards
the Catholic religion. People in our
part of the world used to praise the lib
arality of the Protestant King of Prus-
sia towards his Catholic subjects, al
ways forgetting that those Catholics
had been themselves an independent
state, g. member of the old German En-
pire, and that Prussia held them as
part of her territory under solemn
treaties binding her to treat those
Catholic subjects as Catholics. But
whom, after the restoration of the Ger
msn Empire, Prince Bismarck chose to
take umbrage at the attitude of Catho-
lies in Germany, then the attitude of
Ahs State changed, and all the sad story
of the Culturkampf began. The Con-
cordat was abrogated; all the so1sm
engagements made by his father sixty
years before were repudiated by the
King of Prussia, and system of perse-
cution of Catholics, especially of the
clergy, specifically because of fidelity
to Catholic principles and practice, was
commenced and carried out to it's logi-
Gal developement. It fell short of what
our forefatkers had to endure under
Henry VIII. and his daugh ter, simply
because the temper of the times was
900 pronounced against such conduct.
Il was In the full swing of this trouble
that the law We have above referred to
was enacted Catholic churches might
fall into ruin and the priests might
starvs, but this would not matter 80
,ong rs they refused solemnly to ac-
knowledge the absolute supremacy of
The State. The law, however, suspend
Ing the, payments did not con6scate the
amounts suspended; but stated that
these amounts were to accumulate I'M
til another special law should declare
what was to be done with them. At last
che time has arrived when the Prussian
authorities conceive that the matter Is
ripe for settlement. The amount &C
cumulatsd during these fifteen years
->y~-