St. Paul daily globe., 1895-11-08
SHARP REPLY TO ROCKER.
Priests of the Anti-BOnacum Fac
ton Answer SatOIii.s Secreturx

uOn Answer SatOliEs Secretary.
OMAHA, Neb., Nov. THE follow
ing open letter to the editor of the
Bee from Rev. Fathers Fitzgerald and
Murphy, the Nebraska Catholic priests
leading the faction which has had so
much trouble with Bishop Bonacunn.
was published today:
our attention has been called to
an interview given through Dr. Rook-
er, secretary of the apostolic delega-
ton, to your Washington correspond
ent, and published in last Sundays
Bee. In this interview DR.. Rocker
makes gratuitous and false statements
the Lincoln diocese. 1t i'll becomes him
| to thrust himself in so frivolous a
/ manner into this controversy, in which
! other priests who are as learned as
he, and more Highly esteemed by their
| Fellow citizens, regardless of creeds,
| than he may ever hope to aspire to-
are contending against immense odds
| for the fair and impartial hearing
which the church guarantees to every
one. In this matter there is not now
and never has been any crime charged
against us by any authority. civil or
ecclesiastical Therefore the language
used by Rev. DR.. Rocker, calling us
recalcitrants and 'obstreporous' priests,
Is most indecent, and unbecoming. the
dignity of secretary of a cardinal
In peto and an apostolic delegate. This
language is on a par with the shame
less accusations published recently by
Bishop Bonacum in the st. Louis Re-
public, in which, by insinuation, he
asserts we are men of licentious lives
Our fellow citizens in the West, and
especially in Nebraska, feel aggrieved
at this unrighteous manner of imped-
ing the beneficent action of the church,
and depriving men useful to mankind
Of their inherent rights. Yet We are
not surprised at this conduct of Rev.
DR.. Rocker, since he impeaches the
integrity of Mgr. Satolli himself in
the following: Mgr. Satolli informed
Bishop Bonacum that he would have
to proceed against these recalcitrants
under the laws of the council of Bal
timore and subject them to trial for
alleged disobedience of church law
etc. Here we see the judge of appeal
PENDANTS. Nor does he stop here. but
| insults the dignity of the state of Ne
| braska by directing the tyrannous
| bishop Of Lincoln to invoke the civil
do if a tenant failed to pay rent for
| my house in which he lived
WASHINGTON, Nov. THE above
dispatch was shown to DR.. Rocker
tonight, and he dictated the following
statement for publication:
"I have not seen the interview in
question, but simply gave the story of
the case as it stood. L never used any
such language as 'recalcitrant or OBJ
streperouS' priests. l said to the cor
respondent that here nothing was
known of an appeal by Bishop Bona
cum to the civil authorities and the
last official information received on
the case was that the priests had been
cited to appear for investigation on
what charges 1 did not know. They
had refused to appear. Having re-
fused to appear the delegation was
informed that the case had been decid-
ed against them by the diocesan in
vestigating commission by default;
that the reported further action of the
bishop with regard to invoking the aid
of the civil authorities to dispossess
them was not known at the delega-
ton except through the newspapers.
In answer to the question whether
the bishop could invoke the civil au-
thorities or not, 1 said that under
proper circumstances he could do so,
but that did not know whether these
circumstances were verified in the
present case or not
THE delegates in the case Mgr.
SatollD,' added DR.. Rocker. has
never officially had the matter brought
to his attention.