The Irish standard. [volume] (Minneapolis, Minn. ;) 1886-1920, 1895-06-29

theology for years, then off ficiated as 2
priest for eight years more before dis
covering anything immoral In the
teachings.of the Mother Church, when it
suddenly occurred to him that It IVES
but q tissue Of falsehood, a yeritable
cesspool Of rottenness. have no, OBJ
ection to his leaving the Catholic priest
hood-his bishop stopped his pay. Like
the servant maid caught pilfering, he
1gave notice, with the nfssus "a pintinS
at the door," It Slattery believes that
the Protestant Through Line runs more
comfortable cars to the great hereafter
he's welcome to take his ticket over
that route; but I would have thought
better of him had he made the change
quietly and refrained from assaulting
with the ;vindictiveness Of a renegade
that church to which he owes his edu-
cation, such as it is; had he treated tne
religion Of his mother with decency IT
not with respect.
I thought i had met all manner Of
men; men hardened in crime men des-
titute tof even resemblance of shame;
but never before did behold one with
the hardihood to stand up before Aneri-
can women and boast that he had incur,
red a womans S curse When a man falls
so low in the scale OF human degradation
that his own mother disoWns him it
were well to watch him. When a crea-
ture asks strangers to accept him be-
cause his relatives have rejected him;
when, for the sakelof gain, he stings like
a poisonous adder the bosom thai once
8nurtured him; when, to promote his per
sonal ,endeavors to exterminate religious
liberty and precipftate a bloody sectar-
ian war, / tell you he was not born a
man but begotten beast.
From the very foundation of this gov
eminent the Catholics have been its firm
defenders Their wisdom and eloquence
have adorned its councils from the sign
ing OF the Declaration of American Inde-
peudence to this good day, Its every battle
field, from Lexington to Custer massacre,
has been wet with Catholic blood. Nine
Roman Catholics signed the Declaration
Of Independence, and the Roman Catho-
lies contributed so literally Of their blood
and treasure to the cause of the new born
nation that Washington wrote them let
ter praising their jpatriotism. Several
Roman Catholics helped frame the FEEDER
al Constitution, and the Interpretation Of
that wonderful instrument by a Roman
No lOHl0k JuSLlCO LOudy SUAoS1tUGSS
the fundamental law Of the land. Yet
of which he boasts himself a member
would have you believe that the American
Catholics would. at a nod from the pope,
ruthlessly trarnple under foot that flag In
whose defense they pledged their lives,
their fortunes and their sacred honor
that they would wreck without re1norse
and ruin without regret that nation they
helped place on the map Of the world.
Sherman died a Catholic. Fighting Phil
Sheridan was a Catholic. Old Pap Thorn
as, "ttle rock of Chfcamauga, was a Cath
olic. The "Bloody Sixty ninth" Of New.
York was a Catholic regiment, and its
heroism at the Battle Of Bull Run forms
one of the brightest pages in the military
history Of this nation 81 f5s - 20
He says ignorance is the correlative Of
Catholicism, and points to Spain as proof
of this startling assertion. There was a
time when Spain stood in the very fore
front of civilization, in the van of human
progress, the arbiter of the worlds politi-
cal destiny--and Spain was even more
Catholic then than it is today Nations
and civilizations have their youth, their
lusty manhood and their decay, and it
was as idle to attribute the decline Of
Spain to Catholicism as the ,decadence of
Greece tu paganism. The Catholic Church
found Spain 9. nation of barbarians and
brought it up to that standard of civiliza-
ton where aSpanish monarch could under
stand the mighty plans of Colunbus. It
was her Catholic majesty Queen Isabella
who took from her imperial bosom the
jewels with which to buy a worldwide
Exchanged the pearls of the orient for the
star OF empire. The Catholic Church
found England nation Of barbarianA and
brought it up, step by step, until Catholic
barons wrung from King John at Runny-
mede the Great Charter the mother Of
the American Constitution. It found ire
land a nation Of barbarians and did for 1t
what the mighty power Of the Caesars
could not--brought it within the pale Of
civilization. But for the Roman Catholic
Church S]attery might be wearing a
breech clont and digging roots with hts
finger nails in Ireland today Instead OF
insulting the intelligence Of American au-
diences and wringing money from fanatics
and fools for warning upon the political
institutions of their fathers.
From what could gather Of his dis
course, and from the report Of his al
legged wife's lectures. / infer that this de-
lectable twain impeach the virtue of the
Roman Catholic sisterhoods. Malice, like
death, loves a shining mark, and there is
no hate So venomous as that OF the apos-
tate But before giving credence to such
tales, let me ask you: Why should a
woman exchange the brilliant parlor for
the gloomy cell in which to play the
hypocrite? Why should a cultured
woman OF; gentle birth deliberately fore
go the joys of wife and motherhood, the
social triumph and the freedom Of the
world and condemn herself to life of
labor, a sireary round oil drndgery, if her
hearts Impure? For shame! n
Who is it that visits the slums Of our
great cities, ministering to the afflicted,
comforting the dying, reclaiming, the
falleno When pestilenee sweeps ever
the land and mothers desert their babes
and husbands their wives, who is it that
presses the cup Of cold water to the fe-
verish lip and closes the staring eyes Of
the deserted dead? Who was IT that
went upon the Southern battlefelds to
minister to the wounded sold diers, fol-
lowed them to the hospitals and tenderly
5nursed them back to life The Roman
Catholic sisterhoods, God bless them!
Il I know little about the Drivate lives
sof the Catholic priesthood; but this y do
know: They we're the first to plant the
STANDARD OF Chri liam faith in the New
World. They were the first; to plant it
in Texas. They were the first to teach
Slr .A 1N5 iroCrc