The Intermountain Catholic. (Salt Lake City [Utah] ;) 1899-1920, 1900-01-20

Catholic press of America has been en-
gagged in attacking the policy of the
administration in the Philippine Is.
lands. Very few of these papers, how.
ever, have the approval Of the Church
authorities, and the majority of then
are mere political organs published il
the interest of political parties
Had these papers discussed the subject
with any degree of fairness and intelli-
gence, if they had appealed to the rea.
son OF their readers and not to Their
prejudices; in fact, if they had not beer
guilty of the grossest and most scan
dalous misrepresentation, 1 would not
have deemed it worth my while to in
terfere. But there are, unfortunately
people in this world so emotional and
so creduIous that they receive as gos-
pei truth the most palpable falsehoods
particularly if they see them in the
alleged religious journal which reaches
the innermost family circle. These pa
pers have not only been guilty of re-
producing in their columns lies which
have been frequently exposed, but they
have been equally guilty of suppression
| of the truth
OF late these papers have been VIC
lently agitated by the alleged desecra-
ton of the religious edifices in the
| Philippines, but they have not men
| toned the utterances of those distin-
! guished and patriotic ecclesiasticS who
gave thanks to God that the churches
had afforded shelter from the rain and
| the heat to our tired and wounded SOL
diers, who otherwise would have slept
! in the rice swamps Of LuZon. Nor have
! they informed their readers that these
! churches had previously been occupied
! as military barracks at different times,
both by the Spanish forces and the in
surgents But why discuss matter
which the hierarchy does not consider
worthy of consideration? AT the re-
cent meeting of the Archbishops at
Washington the subject was not even
! alluded to. All true Catholics share
Western Waterman, the well known
Catholic paper in the west, who says:
Some papers, to prove that our
American troops in the Philippines des-
ecrated, Catholic churches there, print
photographs of the interior of those
churches, showing them filled with SOL
diers Now, if the only dissertation
those churches receive is sheltering our
poor soldiers from the killing Philip
pine sun, a very few drops of holy wa
ter will reconcile them
Monseigneur Martinelli, the apostolic
delegate to this country, has defined
the position of the church upon this
question in the following language:
There can be no legitimate COM
plant over the occupation of churches
by troops in time of war. According
to the canons Of the church, we do not
hold that such quartering forms what
we call dissertation.
Another ridiculous argument which
the editors of these newspapers advance
is that the administration is carrying
out policy in the interest of England
in the east, and that it will lead to an
alliance with that power. No one has
been more vigorous in his hostility to
the suggested Anglo-AmeriCan alliance
than [ have been, and / think it ex-
tremely irreconcilable and illogical that
the allies of these journals in their OPP
position to American sovereignty in
the Philippines, should be the strongest
advocates and approyers of that prof.
ect
The anti-imperialistic movement
originated in Massachusetts, the eta
del of Anglican acknowledgment and
mugwumpery. Most of its leaders have
the faint of that intolerant spirit in
their blood. They were the chief pro-
meters of the defunct British arbitTa-
ton treaty. Mr.. Boutwell,, the chair
man of the Anti-imperiaiistic League.
attributes our success in the war with
Spain to British support. Quite re-
Gently the editor of one of these pa
pers under discussion confessed to me
in burst of confidence that the Cath
Ole anti-expansionists in New England
were never in such poor company as at
the present time.
While these alleged Catholic jour
nalists are engaged in giving aid and
comfort to Aguinaldo and maligning
the American army, the priests, friars
and nuns in the Philippines are en-
during untold misery from the brutality
of the insurgents. If the American
army had Withdrawn at the conclusion
of the war, the blood of these religious
missionaries would have been immedi-
ately shed and left the brand of shame
upon the honor of our flag. Within
few months the Archbishop of Manila
communicated to General Otis the dis
covery of a plot on the part of Aguin-
aldo and his brigands to aSsassinate
himself and the United States COM
mander. Before such wretches who
would dare to haul down the American
fagi The Catholic chaplains who have
been with the army in the Philippines
have all favored the policy of the ad-
not alone in the interest of
purpose of extending the blessings of
American rule throughout the archi-
pelago.
Archbishop ChappelIe. who is the
POpe's representative in the Philip
pines, in answer to the charge
that the inhabitants of Luzon are com
pletely under the church. has said:
Now, ] would ask, How can this be
possible when every priest with the
of few natives) in the is
land of Luzon outside of the walled city
of Manila is a prisoner of the insur-
gents? For the last eighteen months
this state of affairs has existed, and
during all this period more than $50
friars have been undergoing unheard of
fortunes in insurgent dungeons. I know
it to be a fact, from other reliable
that the insurgents represent
only one tribe out Of the efghty-five
tribes peopling the archipelago. so the
voiced by the insurgents
about the friars and Church property
cannot be taken as the sentiments of
than they can be taken as the senti-
ments of the natives toward our peo-
pie and government.
Now, what are the views of the Sow
ereign Pontiff in regard to the pacifica-
ton of the islands? On Oct. II Arch
bishop Keane, who had arrived a few
lays before direct from the Vatican,
authorized an interview which appeared
n all the newspapers, and from which
quote the following extract:
THE Pope has accepted the result |
IF the war between the United States !
md Spain, and has determined that
he priests in the islands that passed |
rom Spain to America shall support
he American government in all things. !
He has no sympathy with the insur- !
gents in the islands, and they will re-
,eive no support from the Church, any
more than they would have been en- |
by the priests in their revu- |
ution against Spain. On this subject |
he Pnne is YerY firm,