The Press., 1893-08-03
PRAYING FOR CONVERSION OF
 CATHOLICS.

CATHOLICS.
 The following letter, printed In the Great Harrington (Mass.) Courier, was written by Prof. Painter, former we'll known pastor of the Congregational church at Stafford Springs: .4
 "The Courier of last week published q communication from Catholic com- blaming of the bigotry shown by the First Congregational church of Great Barring ton in setting apart the Mth of August next as day of special prayer for the of Roman Catholics
 It seemed incredible that such ground of complaint could have any foundation in fact-incredible that the Congregation al church, which stands for broad cath olicity of feeling toward all sister church. es, could have been guilty of such dis courtesy, but reference to the Parish Bull letin, page "A, for the current year, dis closes the amazing fact that this discour- tesy has been shown, and in a most ag- gravating manner, for the fact that the day selected for such intercessions is the anniversary of the massacre of the Huge nots August 24, 1752), is duly set forth 1; and the scripture reference (Ezekil xiv, 5, 8, by any fair interpretation, shows that the Congregational church regards Cath olics as idolators, estranged from God through their idols.
 It is not surprising that the writer of this communication should say: How con- temptible' for contemptible it is, and will be so regarded by every fair minded man, regardless of denominational affilia- tions, and as member of the Congrega- tional church, and citizen of this town, living in this nineteenth century of the Christidn era, I wish to disclaim any knowledge of such action by my church, and to enter my protest against it, as would have done, had been present at the meeting of the church when this pro- gram of experimenting topics was sub- mitted by the church committee and ac- cepted by the church.
 Had the church devoted this day, or any other or many others, to prayer for un- converted church members, it would have been well. Had it mentioned as the ob- ject of it's prayers the unconverted chu1c oh members of this town, 1t would have been we'll but to have selected the unconvert- ed church members of the Methodist or Episcopal church, would justly have been regarded as discourteous in the extreme, and strongly favored with the self-right- | eousness of the Pharisee. But this is a call for the prayers of the church for the conversion of the whole Roman Catholic | church, as if, as church, it needed tho conversion of it's entire membership, tht scripture reference showing that 1t Is re garded as vast assembly of idolators But this is not enough. The anniversar. of the St. Bartholomew massacre is spe officially mentioned as the fitting time fol such prayers-thus, by implication, no 1 only holding the church, as such, guilty of that terrible crime when 1t was com
 mitted, but the church of to-day as in
 dorsing and approving, and therefore te | be, through our prayers, brought to re- pentance.
 What student of history does not know
 that this crime had as it's instigating cause
 that she-devil, Catherine de Medici, who
 lived only for her personal ambitions, and
 would as willingly have excited the Huge
 nots to slaughter the Catholics if it hae
 suited her plans that it was planned anc
 executed for political and family and per
 sonal, rather than for religious reasons 1 No doubt religious fanaticism aggravated it's horrors, but not religious fanatics
 alone took part in it. Debtors disposed
 of their creditors, masters were slain by
 their servants, fathers by their sons,. il
 haste to enter upon their inheritance
 The distinctions Of creed were confound
 ed, and every man or woman who had , l quarrel to avenge: lawsuit to settle, ,
 husband or wife grown inconvenient, or
 prospective inheritance if obstacles coult
 be removed, found a ready road to the ob ject of their desires,' so says Froude
 who. it cannot be said, has ever been dis
 posed to color events so as to make then
 look favorable to the Catholics.
 It can be truly said that Pope Gregor,
 XIII ordered special 'Te Duem' on re
 ceiving the intelligence, but it should als
 be said that his information of the even
 and of it's causes were received directl
 from Catherine de Medici through tn f French Cardinal of Lorraine, who repre-
 sented that the king had narrowly escape
 assassination through an uprising of tn Hugenots. At the same time, also, cam
 intelligence that two powerful protestan
 princes, the King of Navarro, and tn
 Prince of Condo, had joined the Catholi party, and that the great victory of Lt panto had been gained over the Turks. It is not the object of this paper to ez ~ cuse whatever part the Catholic churc had in this horrible crime, but rather protest, formyself, against the action of m church, when, two hundred and twenty or . years after the event, 1t seems to chare the guilt of it upon that church, and prs that it might undergo change of hear Why should not the Catholics pray on til l, anniversary of the burning of Servetus, ( : of the hanging of the witches in Salen for the conversion of all Calvanists ar
 Puritans, thus teaching their youth tn, . we are the same as our fathers were whe n they committed these crimes?
 I am no Romanist, but do not belle, , that Roman Catholic is, by virtue e that fact, a heathen who needs conve t sion. am no apologist for crimes COT e mitted in the name of religion in the ce l. turtles gone, or for superstitions fro t which the church has not yet been able
 free itself. But I remember that crim : of this character were not all commits v by the Roman church, nor is it that chur'