The Intermountain Catholic. (Salt Lake City [Utah] ;) 1899-1920, 1900-09-08
Rev. Father Yer Maat of Lewiston
visited Butte Monday.
ASSAULT ON A PRIEST.

1t is with extreme regret your cor
respondent feels called upon to chron-
icle the heinous and most dastardly
assault on the Rev. Father McGIynn
last week in Butte, while on an errand
Of mercy, conveying the blessed sacra-
ment in response to a sick call in the
vicinity of Dublin Gulch. The Rever-
| end Father has only been ordained a
short time coming Immediately to Hell
ena and was appointed assistant pas
| tor at Butte and was answering his
! first sick call. He was attacked badly
! bruised and beaten and had three or
| four teeth knocked out. 1t seems he
| was cutting across a path in the vi
cinity of Dublin Gulch in order to
| make the road short, in company with
the man who summoned him to attend
the call. His guide lead the way until
they approached an embankment where
five men suddenly appeared. Four of
the men passed and the fifth one made
the remark there's a priest, let us
give it to him" No motive whatever
for the crime-the mere fact of him
being a priest was sufficient to incite
the cowardly villains to action. We
cover our eyes and wish to deafen our
ears when we hear of the fearful atroc-
tiles perpetrated in China and other
heather countries and boast of the fact
we are living IN such an enlightened
age and in a free country where every
ones rights are respected. 1t is enough
to make the blood boil in the veins of
every loyal Catholic young and old to
hear of such brutal conduct to those
who are the consecrated and chosen of
our Divine Lord, and to whom he has
given extraordinary power and grace
to do His will on earth, and also made
them the harbingers of happiness and
consolation and the comforters of many
weary souls. Such degrading conduct
should be openly denounced by every
Catholic and no effort sYared to bring
the guilty miscreants to justice.
We pride ourselves upon the broad
intellectual scope we are attaining and
would like to peer across the threshold
of the twentieth century to see what
further achievements await us there,
but sometimes 1t would be far better
for us if we still possessed the love and
reverence for our clergy that we see
SO Enthusiastically exhibited among the
Red Men of the West-the Indians.
Many touching incidents could be re-
lated of their veneration and respect
for the "Black Gown" and many les
sons could be learned from them of the
respect which should be shown to those
who have been called by our Heavenly
Father to leave their homes and
friends, to break every tie that is near
and dear to them, to minister to our
spiritual wants and necessities. Even |
among the cultured and highly intel |
lectual' Catholics we often hear the |
priest spoken lightly of and unjustly |
criticized. This is a sad mistake that |
many Catholics make not meaning to |
do so. Oftentimes these remarks are |
overheard by those not of the faith |
and in this way much disrespect is |
shown unintentionally. If such things |
exist among Catholics, what can we |
expect of those whose faith is like an
ornament to be put on and off at
pleasure and not the base or founda-
tion from which their very Individual
ity is grounded. The highest mark
or order of advanced intellectually is
respect for superiors, whether individ-
uals or nations and if we expect Gods
blessing and assistance, we certainly
must respect his ministers through
whose hands his grace must flow in
order to reach our souls