Blue-grass blade., 1891-01-03

have done similar ones before, tn,
utterances of prominent Catholi
dignitaries, to show that the,
regard that they are rejecting tn
wishes of Leo XIII. when the,
advocate the Prohibition cause
The Catholic Irish of thi
country are almost solid for De
mocracy, but the Democrat,
party has appealed to the very
worst element in the Catholic
Church to gain the Catholics aI
allies, and the Irish saloon keeper
the very class of the membership
of the church, that the Pope anG
these good Bishops are trying tt
influence in favor of Prohibition
are those who have most heartily
responded to the Democratic call
and to day l suppose there is no,
an Irish Catholic saloon keeper
in the State who is not a Demo.
crat, and his loyalty to Democ.
racy seems to increase in the
ratio of his ignorance, and to be
marked and aggressive just in
proportion as his saloon is low
and disreputable.
Nobody has seen anything from
the Pope showing that lie had
any preference as to whether his
people should be Democrats or
Republicans, nor has he expressed
any sympathy with the Farmers
Alliance, or with any Labor
Union, and 1 guess that nobody
can recall that Plus TX. ever had
anything good to say for Know
Nothingism. But late letter
from the Vatican to Bishop Spal.
ding in this country, though It is
an expression of his personal
preferences rather than an official
utterance, is quite as plain an
expression of his sympathy for
Prohibition as that lately made
by the Supreme Court.
1t is the first time in the his.
tory Of this country when the
best men in the Protestant, and
the best men in the Catholic, min.
istry, have shaken hands across
the bloody chasm which for cen.
turies has divided them, and
thoroughly agreed that they were
in unison as to a measure that
Christianity ought to try to
acrompliah. -A9a e 70 the best
means of accohplishihg It.
As political measure, to say
nothing of morals or religion,
there is no question for the ven-
tilation of which there is a greater
necessity than the status Of the
Catholic and Protestant churches
toward each other; and yet
have never heard from any pulpit
or any press, Catholic or Protest
ant, a dispassionatc discussion OF
this question, and of all Of
our prominent political orators
there is not one that would dare
say a word about it, and there is
not a paper in Lexington, Demo-
cratic or Republican, that would
dare print an editorial taking any
definite position on the subject.
And yet, while no man can
reasonably say that he sees any
strong probability of a conflict at
arms between the Catholic and
Protestant Churches, almost any
man of sagacity, who is looking
out over our hOrison for political
war clouds, would say that thif
ecclesiastical status seemed more
pregnant of so dire q result than
anything else. How it may come
about, II ever, l do not know
but it is not hard to imagine how
it might be.
The Catholic immigration here
is much greater than the Protes
tant. Then we occasionally hear
of some Protestant going over t.
the Catholic Church, and have
instances of that sort from oul
finest society here in Lexington
the case of Tom Major, for in
stance, who leaves Professionalism
to become a Catholic clergyman
But if any Catholic in this cit.
were to become u Protestant,
would be an eight days wonder
St. Johns Episcopal Church in thi
city is simply Catholic kinder
garten managed by Protestants
But a greater possibility for tn
predOminance of Catholicism tina
these, is the increase of Catholi
. power in this government, whel
Canada and Mexico and Cuba vii
almost certainly ultimately b
, added to this government. Th
: solidarity Of Catholicism will al
most certainly continue to encroac
upon the division Of the Prote'
tants.
The short-sighted and temper
. izing policy of our leading polit
clans especially the Democrats,