The Irish standard. [volume] (Minneapolis, Minn. ;) 1886-1920, 1899-05-27
MISTAKE OF A CATHOLIC PRIEST.


Kew. Edward A. Terry who would have
achieved distinction in the sacred min
lstry by his. oratory and erudition had
ne not lectured in spirit of levity on
the Mosaic account of the deluge while
officiating as assistant pastor at St. Pat
rick's church, Chicago, quarter of a
century ago., He was born in Ardmore,
Waterford County, ireland, in 1912, and
came with his father to the United
States when he had just arrived at the
years OF discretion. In 1861 he gradu-
ated from the Lazarist College of St.
Marys, Perry County, Mo-, and the fol-
lowing year repaired to Belgium and
was matriculated in the ancient Univer-
sity OF Louvain At the close of his
divinity course, in 1866, he was ordained
in Chicago by the then bishop of Fort
Wayne and was Immediately offered the
chairs Of Dogmatic Theology and Sa-
cred Scripture in Mount St. Mary's
College, Md, which he filled for five
years. He subsequently went to Chica-
go, and there it was he made the mis-
take which necessitated his removal
from that city. The Chicago Chronicle
OF last Sunday refers to the matter as
follows:
Endowed with rare gifts of oratory,
music, charity, wit among wits, faith
er among the poor, student of higher
learning in which his attainments were
widely known, his vivacity OF tempera-
ment, with his gifts, made him reign
ing favorite among all classes. Versa
tile, exuberant, vigorous, he seemed a
model for Alfred Percival Graves
Father O'Flynn." In too generous
moment Father Terry consented to de-
liver lecture in which he had to deal
with the natural history OF the old tesla
lnent. Unconsciously borne on by his
irresistible gayety, he pictured the enor-
nous difficulties Noah must have had
assembling and transporting all the ami
mails from their various countries in
time to get them into the ark. He never
doubted for an instant that he would
be rightly understood as discriminating
the natural and therefore fallible element
OF allegory or human invention in the
sacred writings from revelation, their
inspired and unbeatable constituent.
His drollery was contagious. Peals OF
laughter answered his clever depletion
OF the contests, with giraffes to find
standing room for them if they arrived
late. Throughout the discourse ran an
inebriating vein of raillery which, had
its echoes been confined to discreet pre-
cincts, would have done no harm to the
brilliant speaker or anyone else. Alas,
the sensational newspaper OF the day
seized upon it.; Father Terry awoke to
find himself morally impounded for
heresy before laughing, soothing or
disedi6ed public.
Thomas Foley Of benign memory was
bishop. He never noted the incident in
public, magnanimously resisting pres
sure from sensation-makers of many
creeds and especially holding back the
protesters within his own fold who fear
ed that the incident would undermine
foundations OF faith in the community.
Bishop Foley reproved Father Terry
firmly but paternally in strict seclusion.
He saw that the young ecclesiastic had
erred grievously against taste, but he
had committed no offense against sound
theology or logic. Private reproof was,
in the bishops judgment, adequate and
Father Terry submitted in graceful do
cility to the mild but conclusive censure
imposed There the incident would and
ought to have ended. But busybodies,
fearful for what they deemed faith, but
what was in fact only geological kin
dergartening in the wrong place, so
veNed the life of Father Terry in conse-
quence of his folly that within a year
he was glad to accept appointment to
the diocese OF Albany, whittier he carried
a letter of commentator from Bishop
Foley and where he labored in zeal and
prudence to the end.
How great the change in the religious
and general atmosphere in less than
twenty-five years! Now no Catholic au-
thority asserts that there is any obliga-
ton to hold the letter OF the scriptures
necessarily authentic except in matters
OF faith duly defined by the church in
her supreme capacity. Father Terry
paid the penalty of anticipating his sue
cessors on platforms in differentiating
the human from the divine in the Bible.
His method was too jocund
Here is the same theme elaborated in
profound sobriety by Rev. DR.. Zahm Of
Notre Dame, who holds his doctors de-
gree from Rome itself. According to
the theory OF those who interpret liter
ally the story OF the deluge there were
i'll the ark polar bears from Alaska, wa
pitt from Canada, tapirs and jaguars
sloths and condors from South Ameri-
ca, lions, gorillas and ostriches from
Africa, elephants and tigers from India
and Siam, lemurs from Madagascar
kangaroos, ornithorynchi and emus
from Australia. How did they gel
there?' DR.. Zahm goes on to show
| that sound tbeoIoov doec NOT oar,,;,