The Intermountain Catholic. (Salt Lake City [Utah] ;) 1899-1920, 1899-10-19

of misconceptions and misused words
What do you mean by civilization. .
as you use the word in the paragraphs
above?
Do you mean material prosperity in
the form of wealth, railroads tele-
graph. telephones, street cars daily
newspapers and electric light Or even
that higher form of material prospect
ty, free libraries, free schools and poD-
ular government? Or do you mean
civilization in the highest, noblest and
| truest sense, namely inculcation of
faith and morals where there have been
heretofore no faith or misguided pa
ganism, and no morals? If you mean
the former, what has the church-any
church-to do with such things?
1t is true, as you say, that the church
by which | mean,- Of course, the Ro-
man Catholic church-became by force
Of circumstances the guardian and pro-
tector of that material civilization
which includes the better part of the
worlds goods, viz: learning in the form
OF the liberal arts and the sciences
but this was an accident of its career
and not the end or even partial OBJ
! ject of its existence 1t was not even
4 necessary means TO its great end; that
/ il was used as means merely shows
that the church neglected no oppGruni-
| ties that were offered it by circum-
| stances.
But its motto, the guiding and first
| principle Of its existence, and of the
! existence of any body that claims to be
Christian church is contained in the
words: My kingdom is not Of this
world and any church not founded
upon this principle is no church-cer-
tainly no Christfon church. The whole
| New Testament bristles with varia-
| tions of this great statement. Surely
no Christian can refuse unlimited in
telectual assent to it. 1t is a necessary
postulate Of religion-practically all re-
ligiOn.
Now, if you do not mean by the word
"civilization" in the second paragraph
quoted, the material prosperity that is
of this world" in what has the "civili-
cation" that the Spanish priests build
ed in Luzon lived out its days" and
what higher and better is to take its
place?
L grant you that material progress
on eVer-worked and much abused word |
that, ''progress''-is being introduced |
into the Philippines, for have we not |
seen telegraph Instruments operated
from high affairs, some of which affairs !
antedate, no doubt, American independ- |
ence? If we look a little higher how /
ever, We find that the Filipinos have |
been by no means destitute of "cul-
ture, for the University of, San Tomas
was founded in 1907, and the other great
university (presided over by the Dom
inicans) had on its rolls no less than
1000 native students when the war
broke out. But even the question of
education is beside the mark when re-
ligiOn is the question
What are American Protestant mis-
sionS going to give the F'ilipinos to take
the place of that which the Spanish
priests brought them? Are you pre-
hot /
higher and better" than Catholicism,
or do you simply mean that American
are going to bring them ]
different kinds of clothes, teach them
English and offer them secular free ,
schools, and a complete system of pop :
llar government, with duly protected .
,
Have you not in reality confused your 5
mind with the mixture of commerce ,
md missions, that is at the bottom of :
20 much talk in church circles just >
low? There seems to be an iGea that :
he conquest of the Philippines offers Z
'reat things to United States trade and -
he Protestant Church, and that some .
low the two are linked together in a +
glorious opportunity. Is it this that
-ou mean, or when you talk of higher
nd better things do you not mean t
he telephone, street cars store +
lothes, public (secular) schools. free
ibraries and the daily newspaper? The l
spanish priests did not bring these f
Kings to Luzon Except the schools), Y
or it was not their business to do so .
low is it the business of American ,
Missionaries? Their business is to r
pread Christianity as they see it. and G
$ they practice il; but there is already ii
in the Philippines it was :,
mere before it was in the United =
tates, / believe. b