The Irish standard. [volume] (Minneapolis, Minn. ;) 1886-1920, 1890-06-28
4 CON j VERT'S REASO Hs.
Why an EpiseoDalian Clergyman Has
Honn,nr :. nn%lnr,4 Is, 4 ,stass

Why an EpiseoDalian Clergyman Has
become Oathol1c.
The following communication from
M. IL. II, Mueller, well known as an
Episcopal minister at Chippewa Falls
and in Menomonee, Wisconsin, at which
latter place he became q Catholic will
prove interesting
WHY LEFT THE EPISCOPAL CHURCH
Since through the columns Of several
journals my adhesion to the Catholic
faith has been noticed and severely criti-
sized, venture to make public my rea-
SONS for that step. Had these reasons
not been pressing, had there beena via
media between the duty on the one and
hypocrisy on the other side, I should
not have taken that path. But such was
not the case.
The question, then, in my mind had
come to be this all important inquiry,
sis it true that the Episcopal church is
the Catholic church - Now, to many
of my former co-religionists it may seem
almost incredible that such an inquiry
should ever have seriously occupied my
mind. A radical Protestant and RATIONAL
list seeking the Catholic church !? I'M
possible Yes; neither possible nor ex-
plicable unless the grace of meroiful
God has shed upon the erring soul, the
soul lost IN unbelief, the ways OF His
winning grace.
He has many ways to appeal to and
make effective His appeals within the
souls of His prosecutors. Sickness,
sorrow, disappointments, hopes. fears,
observation-disclosures are some of the ordi-
nary outward means whereby He draws
the soul away from its own self seeking,
it's own vain pursuits, and wins hearing
for the words of the Paraclete.
How often, oh how often, had His ap.
peals been neglected, quenched, des-
pissed, rejected ! Attic reading of some
familiar passage ''Peter, Satan had de-
sired thee. but I have prayed for thee
that thy faith fail not. "Feed My
lambs; feed NJ Sheep my
church. and the gates Of hell shall not
prevail against It," But no, We shut
our eyes, we 20 ahead: we dare not
listen, we cannot afford to argue. so the
dark deepens, the conscience warmed,
paralyzed, hardly speaks at all. and we
sleep. But then comes sudden knock
"a disappointment In our pastoral work
here, sad experience. a shocking dis
covery there, loud and louder; we wake
up; we look about us and all is dark.
So, after our first remuneration of here
tical beliefs, we are driven to go another
step and to examine the claims of the
Episcopal church to be the Catholic
church. We would gladly stop. We
cannot, so we plead, break with the past.
What will the world say? But mol l
prayed in agony that He who had begun
good work within might not leave me,
but perfect the same. prayed to her
through whom the Saviour has been
given, that I might receive through her
intercession, wisdom and courage. Thus
prayed, halting between two opinions.
refused to spend my life IN the service
G~I- hal
that Professionalism, and with it Episco-
palianisn. as one of it's phases is apos-
tasy: but it seemed impossible to take
the decisive step.
Nevertheless I had courage to begin a
critical analysis of this thing called the
Protestant Episcopal church. let the
critical understanding have full play.
And tried each of the characteristics of
the Catholic church Oneness, hol,-
ness, Catholiclty and apostolicity, but
found clearly that she does not possess |
one Of them.
For she is not one. Breaking through |
the current sophistries could not bat
see that there is no heresy that human
brain and devllish fraud ever invented
but can somewhere be found in her
bosom. Her party Esprit is too sad to
be described. It can only be in blind
prejudice or penal worldliness that she
can be called one.
Nor is she holy. Not one tracesof SUI
pernatural sanct1ty, of the holiness of
the primitive church can be found; we
have IN its place, at the very best, only
natural virtues.
Nor is she Catholic; for nlne.tenths of
her own nominal adherents refuse to be
called Crtholics; nor is her universally
as to time established by reference to
st. Paul, who, according to ritualistic
writer's, founded this Independent church
of Britain. st. Paul has not, surely,
made an exception for peculiar people,
but this peculiar people have made
most lamentable mistake in their unfor-
- ckonx ,- j