The San Francisco call., 1896-06-26
What Emperor Frederick Said
to Philosopher Benjamin
Franklin.
DEFINES "sTALL-FED" CATHOLIC
Declares the Catholic Church to Be
in the Vanguard of Thought
and Progress.

on the SUBJECT oil Exploded fallacleS.
The lecturer was in his best voice and was
frequently interrupted in his discourse by
the applause of his large and sympathetic
audience.
Prior to the lecture there was an interest
ing prelude of musical and literary
character. The performers were all
encored. AS Father Ferguson arose and
was introduced by the chairman the au-
dience burst into prolonged applause.
81 intend to lay before you this even
ing" he began, "the proof of certain fall
laces regarding the Roman Catholic
church. These proofs are so cogent and
most skeptical eye cannot obscure them.
lone of these fallacies is that the Catho-
lie church is an enemy of human free
dom. Why, IN the broad light of history,
any being can SO hold is more than l can
tell you. 1t is one of those things that is a
marvel unto the philosophical mind.
Until very late period such was the
bitterness against those of our faith that
they were not permitted to enter any OF
the learned professions. Men of honest
minds, who did not realize that this state
of affairs was due wholly to bigotry, came
is an enemy to freedom and all progress.
Then look at the prejudices that have
flooded Protestant homes in the form of
partisan literature. This is one reason
why the Protestant world, not SO very
long ago, believed us to be followers of a
crude, if not corrupt, religion.
'But of late years there has come an i'm
portant change. The diffusion of Catholic
literature, the writings of unprejudiced
Protestants, and even of hberalists and in
fdels, have done much TO do away with
such fragrant error.
"Let me tell you right here, that the
wisdom of hunting down these disreputa-
BILE rales is manifest. AS Macaulay says,
we cannot consider it strange that Protest
tants believe even the most strange and
outlandish tales about us when we let
them pass unrefuted.
This is something for you Catholics
who may be termed 'stall-fed' TO consider. !"
After the laugh that greeted this sally
had subsidized Father Ferguson continued
his discourse in elucidation of the term
''stalI-fed.''
"a stalled Catholic" he declared,
while the faces of his audience showed
that they anticipated something witty,
''differs from the 'jelIy-fish' Catholic in
this: The 'jelly-fsh' Catholic, while he
will not answer, will let it go at that,
while the 'stall-fed' Catholic will neither
answer himself nor will he let others
answer. They call this 'dignitied silence,
but it ought rather to be called 'dignified
cowardice.
Pausing for the applause and laughter
to subside, the lecturer drew a deep
breath and then launched forth again, his
manner becoming more impassioned as he
warmed to his subject.
'"They tell us that the Catholic Church
is an enemy to civil and religious
L. Ae4,
whitened by the SHOWS of the
ages while her countenance has been
Kept hooded and away from the sunlight
of toleration and benefcence, that like
some hideous animal from the shades of
the underworld she lies in wait with her
talons ready and itching to pounce upon
and rend him who would sink broader and
deeper in the rock of human liberty the
foundations of the social fabric.
"How any man can pretend to believe
this and then hold up his head before his
fellow-men and assert that he has ever
glanced inside the pages of history is a
mystery so profound and marvellous that
in graphing with it the brain reels and
the senses become utterly confused. |
now and forever will maintain that if it
were not for the Catholic church the pres
ent liberty of the United States could not
be maintained.
What have the enemy to say of the
valor of our chivalrous sons who, in the
tremendous charge between the cross and
the crescent, bathed the soil OF Europe
crimson with their lifeblood in preventing
it from being overrun by the Moslem
hordes2 Nothing whatever. Their silence
is as deep and unbroken as the grave.
Listen to what the Protestant historian,
Lecky, has to say:
No human pen can write its epitaph. for no
human imagination can adequately realize Its
glory. In the eyes of those who estimate the
greatness OF sovereignty, not by the extent OF
its territory nor by the number of its soldiers,
but the influence it has exercised over man
kind, the Papal Government has no rival and
can never have successor.
Father Ferguson then mentioned more
instances in which the archives of history
demonstrate the obligations of the world
to the mother church, and then took a
new tack.
who was il" he demanded, "that es-
tablished the present system of trial by
jury, with the good that it has brought TO
us? VINO was 1T that founded all those
cardinal laws that have insured peace and
prosperity to nations and peoples as long
as they obeyed them in spirit and In
letter? Who but the Roman Catholic
church, which is and always has been the
tender mother of civil and religious lib
erty and of individual right.
"The Protestants cannot claim the honor
for these institutions Why? Because
they existed long before that form OF re-
ligion ever came into the world with its
attendant string of evils. That is why.
Isn't it enoughP''
Now" continued Father Ferguson,
Magma Charta is commonly supposed 10
be the document that forms the basis of
all modern governmental liberty. To
whom was its origin due2 Let me tell
you = it was owing to the siren
nous endeavors of that grand and
noble man whose memory shall for
ever linger with US as an odor
fresh from the balmy groves of the Gar
den of Eden, Stephen Langton, Arch
bishop of Canterbury. On his memory
Sunset Cox. late envoy to Persia, pro-
nounced euIogy so fitting that I am
going to read it TO you to, night I am
going to let you know something of this
man to whom the civilized world is so
greatly indebted
Here the lecturer read rather long arti-
Gle by the author mentioned, showing the
estimation in which he personally neid
the Archbishop of Canterbury and what
homage his memory deserved from
all enlightened nations. The reverend