The Intermountain Catholic. (Salt Lake City [Utah] ;) 1899-1920, 1899-12-30

| III Iltc Idi4S udSe OIL St. Rdul, teaches
obedience to constituent authorities,
and in the words of st. Augustine, in
| culcateS Charity towards all and mall
Ice to noneR (''De Moribus Ecclesiae, y
lib. l., C. 800. The signs of the times
show danger signals in the fast rising
| flood of socialism and anarchy, and
thinking men the world over find the
| greatest bulwark against these dan
! gers in the conservative principles and
doctrines of the Catholic Church. All
her past history shows what she mas
done for the people--mitigating their
SORROWS, alternating their hard fate in
| cases Of plague, famine Or oppression;
pleading their cause at the bar of jus
tice and humanity; while she has. AID
ed civil governments, in turn, by pro
tectlng their just rights, and enforcing
due obedience to their authority; en-
deavoring always, in one word, to make
both rulers and people realize that all
are children of one Father, who is III
Heaven; all destined to enjoy together
| the same blessed Immortality. The
Church is allied to no form of govern
ment; she f1ourishes under every form
in which justice and right prevail; her
supreme guide of conduct and her chief
solicitude consisting in the great max
i'm: Seek We first the kingdom of COO,
anil all things else shall be added unto
you
Lastly, it is said, the perpetuity OF
our free institutions depends on lndl-
vidual sovereignty.
If this proposition be intended TO mn
ply that a good Catholic cannot be d
good citizen, stubborn facts are against
| it. If merely truism, it need not oc-
cupy our attention.
With the Indignation born OF logic
and history, we repel the odious charge
that the Church of Christ cannot I'VE
in harmony with the American repup-
| lie. Only by distorting and perVerunS
the plain language of the Vatican de-
cree can il be made to seem that the
Vicar of Christ interferes with the eX-
ercise of individual liberty. Fortunate
ly. in the case of the reigning pontlH,
the charge is made against one whom
the civilized world hes learned to ad-
mire and revere as the friend of the
laboring classes; as the champion or
the downtrcdden slave in darkest
Africa as the patron and lover of his
tory, of art and letters; as the pacif1ca-
tor of nations; as "a light from
Heaven" Let US strengthen his hands
yoffering him material means to
carry on the berreficent work of the
Church; let US aid him by our prayers,
and let us console his paternal heart
sons he has so often and so eloquently
taught of meeknesr5 of charity, of ear
not the Catholic host in arms against
ne2tneSs and perseverance in prayer, of
fervor in the pursuit of every Christian
virtue
Have the kindness, reverend dear sir,
to read this letter to your flock, that
they may be on the alert to defend our
Holy Mother, the Church, against the
Leo, i11 1,
need constant care, and healthy, ener-
getic treatment.
1 am, reverend dear sir, very faith
fully yours,
MICHAEL AUGUSTINE,
Archbishop of New York.
A goodly portion of Facing the
Twentieth Century" is devoted to
Archbishop Ireland and the part which
that prelate mas taken in politics.
The palpable mistake which Mr.. King
makes in reference to Archbishop Ire
land is his assumption that the Arch
bishops partisanship is matter of
church polity, and that the Archbishop
of ST. Paul is a Republican in order
that he may advance the material in
terests of the church.
On the one hand we see Archbishop
Corrigan condemned because he is not
politician, while on the other hand
Archbishop Ireland seems to meet with
disapproval because he is one. One
fact however, is clear, viz: the CATH
Ollie people of the United States will
never heed Bishop or Priest when he
presumes to talk politics. Thissis true,
the non-Catholic opinion to the con-
trary Notwithstanding.
@ @ @
Mr.. King processes to find in that
sterling Catholic organization, the
knights of Columbus" cause of alarm
and appalling danger to American in
situations. Speaking of this most de-
serving society he says:
1.-The Columbian Order was the name
given to the Tammany Society when it
was originally instituted as a patriotic
organization. The Columbian Order
has been converted to political Rot
manism, and now the principles of con-
verted Tammany are being extended
throughout the country by the Roman
Catholic secret society styled tho
knights of Columbus which has made
tremendous strides in organization and
development during the past few years.
It's members, in speaking of its purpose
to outsiders, call it a benevolent So
ciety, but we have ascertained from the
most authentic sources that benevo!
lence is only an incidental feature, and
that it's purpose 81 primarily and es1
sentially political. In the city of New
York and vicinity it is definitely an adj
juct of Tammany Hall in it's political
workings and purposes, and it reports
nearly 100 lodges in f1ourishing condi-
ton.
In some portions of the northern
part of the state of New York and else5
where it's membership claims to be
made up largely of Republicans, but it
matters not whether the membership
are professedly Democrats or Republi-
cans, the one predetermined object of
the multiplication of these secret or
CARNATIONS is TO mass in secret, OATH
bound, organized form the male Roman
Catholics of the city and state and
country, with a view, at no distant day,
of making the organization the basis
and structure of a distinct Roman
Catholic party, to be openly announced.
as in Germany, when the originators
and promoters of the movement shall
judge that it has gained sufficient
strength, and that the times are ripe
for it's announcement"
We are not in any way connected
with the knights of Columbus Hence
it cannot be charged that we write, in
any sense, in the spirit of the special
pleader
Mr.. Kings charges, however, are too
radical to pass unheeded in any review
of his book. A careful, minute and
most exactlng examination of, and in
vestigation into, the workings of the,
knights of Columbus" have convinced
us, beyond the color of doubt, that tho
charges made by King against this or
der are the rankest falsehoods. and
could only emanate from a vindictive
and malicious spirit.
The knights of Columbus is an or
ganlzation composed of Catholic gentle
men, having for it's object the social
and religious well being of it's members.