The Irish standard., 1900-11-24

A distinguished layman named
Thomas II. Woodbach writes to the
/. New York Sun, saying in part:
Bishop Potter has an article in the
November issue Of the Century on
@"The Problem in the Philippines" to
which I should like to call your atten-
ton. The publishers of the Century
introduce the bishop to their readers
as "this unprecedented and candid OBJ
server and practised writer so that l
am sure he will be glad to have point
ed out to him some errors in his state
ments of fact and some weaknesses in
his logic.
The purport of the article is to show
that the church, and especially the fri
ars, are responsible for the melan-
choly condition of the Philippines to-
day, and that it is the plain duty of
the United States government to ex-
pei the friars and regulate (more or
less the operations of the church.
Very early in the article the bishop
makes it clear that "the priest and his
), paraphernalia' (this phrase is the
bishop's) are not to his liking, and he
brings a comprehensive indictment
against the Catholic church in the fol-
lowing words:
But the gravest aspects of the &C.
clesiastical history of the Philippines
appear when we turn to look in the
pages of their own historians for the
influence, whether of institutions or
individuals, in bringing to pagan tribes
snobler ideals and doctrine or practice
resembling in even some remote de-
grees those of the brotherhood of Jesus
Christ
do not propose to argue this point
with the bishop, and merely quote his
words to show the general trend Of his
views. What 1 am chiefly concerned
with is his argument respecting the
friars. Here it is:
''That these things various abuses
and others like them were largely due
to the malign influence of the so-called
religious orders-heaven save the
mark!-has repeatedly and very re-
Gently been denied with coarseness
and vulgarity Of vituperation to which
I need not further refer than to say
that to minds capable of forming a
dispassionate opinion upon any sub
ject it was sufficient evidence of their
truth. Other evidence, however, there
: is in the history of the Philippines,
abundant, continuous and Of indisput-
able authority, most of all to those
who have ventured to challenge it.
The Jesuits were expelled from the
Philippine Islands in the year 176S by
virtue of an apostolic brief of Pope
Clement XIV. 1t is quite true that
they were permitted to return in 1852,
but only on condition that they should
confine their labors to strictly educa-
tional and missionary work. And
these were undoubtedly the least OBJ
noxious of the orders, the Others-the
Austin Friars, Recoletos, Dominicans
and Franciscans-being identified with
incidents in the social and domestic
life of the Philippine people, the cor
ruption of their households and the
adroit sequestration and appropriation
of their property, which will continue
to make any attempt of the United
States to avoid or evade the question
of the friars an utterly vain and futile
one"
The above argument contains two
distinct propositions, which reduce to
syllogistic form, the first being as fol
lows:
To establish the truth Of a propost
ton it is sufficient to state that 1t has
been denied with "a coarseness and
vulgarity of vituperation."
But-that the trouble in the Philip
mines is due to the "malign influence
of the so-called religious orders
heaven save the mark!-has been de
MED with "a coarseness and vulgarity
of vituperation."
Therefore, the proposition that the
trouble in the Philippines is due to the
malign, etc., is true.
I think need not pause to comment
urop this argument longer than to In
vite Bishop Potter to apply it in con
nection with some of Martin Luther
comments on Catholic doctrine anc
Catholic practice in the early days OF
the reformation, and see what fol
a~
The second proposition, viz. thu
proof from Pope Clements expulsion
of the Jesuits from the Philippines II
176S, may be stated syllog1stically a
follows: