The Irish standard., 1891-01-31
Folly Or Fanatioism. Will It Never End?

Folly Or Fanatiolsm. 1t Never Lind?
To the Editor Of the Irish Standard.
It is strange that some OF your city
ministers, with their Gospel of love, can
not be fair all around. They have a
gracious word for every one save Catho-
lie. No matter who comes the way or
what his color, " lite or black, they have
some kind of welcome for him; but when
a Catholic comes in sight, or when the
Church is spoken Of, they lose their heads
and show bad faith, ignorance or credul-
ity. say some. for in the ranks of
Professionals We can find able and upright
men. Some like Rev. Mr.. Newman are
courageous enough to give the Church
credit for her work in saving the family
and society, then others inv. te us in,seat us
among the elect, and praise the Church's
doctrine and ritual, as does Thos. K.
Beecher in his work, "Our Seven
Churches" But in the Protestant min
istry we can find too many narrow
minded, prejudiced creatures-a lot of
busybodies, who mistake their halluci
nations and imaginings for the truth,
and who remind us OF what Cardinal
Newman said some thirty years ago OF
similar declaimers, causing men in Their
implicitly to run away from Christ as if
He were the devil, and to run into The
arms of the devil as if he were Christ"
Everything would be lovely were it not
for the papacy and the priesthood. They
are the everywhere, there, everywhere.
Here is the latest proof from one of your
Presbyterian ministers: "Ireland has
passed into the hands Of Pope Leo XIII.
and his hierarchy. All her foes can now
be merry. The priesthood 'had already
extinguished all the lights in Ireland K
cept the candles on the affairs; and in
their hands, it needed no prophet to see
that the cause of Home Rule was
doomed A Presbyterian m mister
should have some regard for his ances
tors. The American people are begin
ming to see that it is high time for Ire
land to pass into some ones hands. Irish
men believe so too, for they know too
much about the extinguishing business
in the sanctuary and everywhere else
They know too much about the extin-
gnishers--Harrv and Bess and Cromwell
and all that gang. They know too we'll
the ''to hell or CJnnaught' policy that
has always characterized British rule in
Ireland. Every farm .nded Englishman
from Cardinal Manning and Mr.. Glad
stone down to the humblest worker in
the ranks of the Liberal party, acknowl-
edges England's guilt. It is only ignor-
ance or prejudice that would think OF
charging Ireland's woes to her priest
hood, only fanatic or one afflicted with
the "big hear would speak contempt
uousiy of her religion. Religion means
all that Col Germs Gods honor and glory
and mans wei are and happiness. AS
Bishop Spalding said the other day at
the conservation of San Francisco's Ca
thedral, lit is morality, it is knowledge,
it is freedom, it is growth and progress,
it is reverence, not for God alone bat for
hoover is higher than ourselves; it is
the gradual and progressive penetration
of the world by the divine spirit of wis
dom and love- In all ages aud nations.
priests have been the representatives of
intelligence and moral worth. IF this
truth were not in the minds of the peo-
pile, Protestant ministers would soon
have to stop preaching or lecturing. The
Irish are the most virtuous people on the
face Of the earth and their religion has
made Them so. To reproach them for
being faithful to it is to talk folly or i'm
piety. No, there is no danger to Home
Rule from the priests. There is danger
from some quarters from those who cry
"down with the Pope and the priests"
from those who would shut up the priest
in the sanctuary, under the plea tnat it
is an awful sin and scandal for him to
take part in politics., or other movements
affecting the welfare of his people. The
priests of Ireland understand that re-
l,gion means more than saying Mass and
administering the sacraments; and so we
see them defending their people from
oppression, and sharing their sorrows
and trials, since they cannot give them
the liberty they so ardently desire. AS
for the booming of Home Rule-it just
suits the party of greed and misrule-
Balfour and Co.'s-but then it would
not be profitable to say so in some quar-
tiers in Minneapolis.
Oar PRESBYTERIAN minister ought to
provide b >mself with good conscience,
stop bearing false witness, and strive to
be fair all around. The barriers of ig-
norance and hate are going down in all
directions. The American peaple are
beginning to see that the priest is the
peoples best friend. Why is j. j. Hill
spending five hundred thousand dollars
on Catholic university? Is it not be-