The Mason County journal. [volume] (Shelton, W.T.) 1886-1927, 1894-03-23
The Curse of Sectarian Politics

1t is matter for roget that the
OF sectarlanism in politics has receiv-
ed Endorsement in Portland, Or. in
the election OF school director who
Is reported to have been supported by
the A. ?. A. The A. P. A. by it's lee
lures, its publications and its activity
IN politics is only repeating the
"knownothing" blunder and crime Of
forty years ago, and is attempting to
.lnaugurate religious warfare between
neighbors in every community.
This attempt is in direct repudia-
tion of the spirit of our institutions
VI course, if the A. P. A. is an orga-
nlzation Of American citizens for pub
Tic and patriotic ends, non-sectarian
and non-partisan, it has no need to
surround itself with secrecy. to prac-
tlce dark-lantern methods and to TINS
arouse natural suspicion of it's inten-
tlons. The orators of the A. P. A. in
many parts of the West indulge in
that gross and frantic abuse of the
Catholic church which has hitherto
been confined to such cranks as the
Rev. DIR. j. D. Fulton, of BROOKLYN.
The end of the A. P. A. will be like
that OF Knownothingism. No politi-
cal party of consequence can afford
to exhibit sympathy for a secret poll
tlcal society of any description, much
less give it shelter, and the A. P. A.
will be ultimately obliterated between
the upper and neither milestone of
the two great political parties of the
country as Knownothingism was forty
years ago.
The melancholy transient effect of
all such sectarianism in politics is that
it throws the American Roman Catho-
lies on their defense. Prejudice begets
prejudice, and bigotry always begets
bigotry, and the cause of free institu-
tions suffers by this folly, which
breaks up that religious tranquility
which our constitutional separation
church and state was wisely intended
to nourish and maintain. Our public
schools need no defense save the law.
and these public schools enjoy the
sympathy and support of all the pro-
gressive Roman Catholic clergy of the
country. 1t was in the interest of
these very public schools and in SYM
pathy with the spirit of American in
stitutions that the prog, essive Roman
Catholic clergy appealed to the pope;
the pope sustained their appeal and
sent his viceroy, Satolli, here to COM
municate his views. 1t was only the
other day that Archbishop Ireland, of
Minnesota, said that that the Roman
Catholic church under the constitu-
tion had all the rights and privileges
she desired. Referring to the anti
Catholic agitation, the archbishop said
it would soon die out if not noticed.
He strongly deprecated mixing church
affairs with politics, and said it would
be great misfortune if the church
were to be an ally of one special party.
Surely nothing fairer or more pa
triotic in spirit could be said than this
by Roman Catholic prelate Arch
bishop Ireland would not find fault
with an open declaration that we as
Americans intend to sustain our
schools and our free institutions, and
that no interference will be tolerated
from any ecclesiastical authority or
system, whether Protestant or Catho-
tic, for that would be only the reaffir
nation of our non-sectarian constitu-
tional doctrine of the total separation
of church and state.
Of course theoretically many Roman
Catholics do not believe that our pub
lie schools should be non-religious
because they are non-sectarian, but
this opinion has been expressed by
many distinguished Protestants, both
clerics and laymen. The Catholic
clergy are not peculiar in their sup
port of parochial schools. The two
great Drs. Hodges of Princeton Theo-
logical seminary urged Presbyterians
to establish parochial schools of their
own. The late James Russell Lowell,
the poet, son of a famous Protestant
clergyman of Boston, held that the
demand for the division of the school
fund was perfectly equitable. The
Rev. DR.. R. L. Dabrey, of the Presby-
terian church (South), declares that
Americans care worse than pagans in
this matter" that the Roman Cath
olic hierarch is right in its "conten
tion that the education of youth
should and must be Christian; that a
goddess, secularized education is an
outrage upon the rights OF parents.
and a deadly mistake to the young
and to society" "The exclusion of
the Bible from the schools" he says,