The herald., 1895-01-14
Religion and citizenship.
San Diego SIM

Last Thursday reporter of the Los Angeles
HERALD interviewed the Rt. Rev. George
Montgomery, Catholic bishop of this diocese.
in reference to the letter which, a few days
ago, was sent out by Archbishop Williams of
Boston, to be read in all OF the Catholic
churches of that city, and which read as fol-
lows:
1--WE learn by letter from Rome, forwarded to
his excellancy, the apostolic delegate at Wash
:ngton, that the most holy father has forbid
den Catholics to join the societies OF odd Fell
lows, knights of Pythias or Sons OF Temper
ance. AS to those who have already joined
any OF these societies, they are to be admon-
ished to withdraw from them, and if they re-
fuse to do So they are to be denied the sacra-
ments"
When questioned by THE HERALD reporter as
to whether any such order had been received
or was expected by the church authorities in
that city, Bishop Montgomery replied that
yet no such document has been received, but
added that the rule has been in practice III
this diocese for some time, prohibiting mem
bers of the Catholic church from belonging to
secret societies, but adds that as a matter of
course eff an edict is sent out by the holy
father it must be obeyed."
And this exceedingly popular ecclesiastic,
beloved by all who know him, proceeds to ex-
plain and defend this rule of his church. In
doing so he candidly admits that "from what
we have been able to learn about these secret
societies they advocate and preach much that
Is good for the members Individually" and
tacitly comedies they are governed by princi-
pies of humanity, benevolence and provi-
dence." But he claims all of this and more is
taught to Catholics every day and inculcated
into their hearts, and objects that there is no
occasion for SO much mystery and secrecy as is
practiced in these societies while teaching the
yir,pi Al fbot his al1n Loaf aq
publicly.
"The objection that the church has to the
secret organizations is their method" says
Bishop Montgomery. And adds, at is not
necessary or expedlent for a Catholic to belong
to any secret organization, We have within
our church everything they can find in those
societies." And again, "1hese organizations
all have certain ritual that in itself is semi
religious. The time may come that when a
member of the Catholic church is buried, the
secret organization to which the deceased be-
longed should desire to perform the ritual ac-
cording to that specific society, and, of course,
the service of our church would conflict with
the other"
This does but scant justice to Bishop Mont
comery's reputation as one of the ablest con-
troversialsts on this coast, renowned for
openness and candor. 1t ignores the controll-
ing factor of fraternity" extending beyond
church lines, Dut III no manner or degree an
tagoni2ing any religious principle or doctrine
And he is misnformed as to the motive or the
scope OF the obligations to secresy. These do
not relate to GAINS and principles" which are
made manifest to all the world by acts of fra
ternity, benevolence and broadcast humanity.
As trained and experienced controversial
ist he must know that it is not enough nor at
ali a convincing argument to assert that the
best teachings and practices claimed for these
societies are also taught and may be practiced
as an incident to membership in this church.
1t were more pertinent to show, or with appar-
ent reason alege, that these organiza-
tons practice or advocate anything counter
to pure religion or sound morals, and this the
good bishop has not attempted. In fact, his
large acquaintance must have convinced him
that he has neighbors and friends in these or
CARNATIONS who would not be parties to any
thing of the kind
But none OF these considerations touch the
main 20 mt in this controversy AS an Ameri-
can bishop, the spiritual guide and adviser of
other Americans nobody will contest Bishop
MontgomeIy's right to counsel and urge his
parishioners to abstain from any practice h.
may consider inimical to their spiritual well
fare, nor viii the propriety OF his doing SO be
quesu ned
But the sharp sticking point is in the idea
that the "edic" OF any foreigner be he of high
or 10 " degree, must be obeyed" by any Amer
lean oitiz,n as to any matter which clearlvand
distinctly falls within his rights of citizenship.
And no. amount OF cas- uistry can obscure the
fact that in this case the edict is aimed at what
is clearly recognized as right OF American
citizenship, so far as American civil law Ia
concerned. 1t will not dol