The Saint Paul globe. (St. Paul, Minn.) 1896-1905, 1897-03-29
ARCHBISHOP IRELAND EULoGIzEs
POPE !. LEO
XIII. -.oI
LIBERAL IN HIS POLICY.
THE FRIEND OFF LIBERTY AND
MODERN REPUBLICAN INSTI-
TUTI0NS.
REBUExE
Be They American, French. or Cana
dian French-NO Race Nor Color
In Religion.

w AOt11NdION, March 2S. Arch
bishop Ireland, of st. Paul, preached to-
night at st. Patricks church on "Pope
Leo XIII" This is an age. he said. of
wondrous social and political transfor
nations, of great intellectual activity.
or great discoveries and inventions. and
he asked what is to be the position of
Catholics towards the age. Replying to
his own query, he said it should be
one OF sympathy. of jealous co-opera-
ton and prudent discretion. Such. he
stated, is the position of our chieftain
and leader, Leo XIII.
The archbishop said: Leo is the
providential pontiff given to the church
in this new era of humanity to show
that the church is Of all ages. as is her
founder, Christ Holding fast to the di
vine organization of the church and to
the principles of faith and morals, Leo
recognizes the social and political
changes which are coming upon hu-
mainly and adapts the human forms
Of the church to the new Surroundings:
he recognizes wondrous discoveries and
inventions of the age, and he blesses
and encourages them, seeing in them
the development of Gods own crea-
ton; he blesses and encourages prog
ress along all it's legitimate lines; he
eXtols movements tending to the high
Ell elevation and the greater happiness
of humanity. The encyclicals of the
pope. especially that on labor and that
on the republic of France, prove him
to be indeed the pontiff Of the age
Catholics should follow the direction Of
nd oid n tn e.
filling the divine missions assigned to
him to dominate in the name of Christ
and Of Christ's faith this modern world
and conquer it to religion.
There are Catholics in every coun-
try who more or less consciously and
effectively keep themselves aloof from
I.eo's leadership They imagine they
understand better than Leo does the
situation Of the church in this age.
Welded to contingent and perishable
forms, which they mistake for the abso-
lutte and the permanent, they would
have the church and the world stand
still. Thus, in France today, despite
Leo's repeated invitations to see in the
republican form of government which
the people of the country have adopted
the representative of law and order
and the legitimate government of the
nation, certain Catholics cling to dead
empires and monarchies and refuse to
give peace to country and church. Well
in his late address has Leo called such
Catholics refractaires, or rebels. Be
there in the future no refractaires in
America. There are, we must confess,
divisions among Catholics in America,
not, indeed, in faith and morals, but
in tendencies and movements and
adaptations of action to modern cir
crmstances and surroundings. There
IL H. q,N,~ hrrk H., Il
one movement, and those indicated by
the pope. Opposition to his direction,
however much it clothes itself among
us, as among French Catholics, with
the Speciops titles of conservatism and
traditionalism and religious fear of
the new, is nothing but rebellion; those
who resist the direction given by the
pope are refractaires and rebels It
Is asked sometimes, are not Catholics
divided on the lines of race? Not at
all. l speak for myself, and in what
l say l know | speak for all true CathO-
lies and loyal followers of the pope.
There is for me no race and no color
and no language. | rise above all such
aCcidentals and recognize as my breth-
rem all who work for God and truth.
When French Catholics are with the
pope, I am with them. when they are
against the pope, / am against them;
my position is the same with German
Catholics, or Catholics of other races.
f l differ from some of them, it is
because Of their ideas. not because of
their race. 1t is we'll that this be I'M
derstood; efforts have been made to
identify certain refractaire tendencies
With whole races. This is wrong; it is
unjust to those races, the great num-
Der of which are most loyal to the pope,
most ardent to follow his directions
and to work with him. Some self-con-
stituted leaders are too willing to pose
as representatives of races which they
both misunderstood and misrepresent."
The archbishop concluded his dis
course by reference to the special love
of Leo for the American republic AMI
to the duty OF Catholics to be models
of good citizenship and of loyalty to
American institutions.