The daily morning journal and courier., 1900-03-22
RELIGION IN THE PHILIPPINES.

Problems Which This Country Must
 Face Over There.
 The most serious of sl the many problems which confront us in the Phil I ippines, the question which Is, more than all others, most pregnant with me mace to American relations, with the
 island people, is undoubtedly the re- ligious question. The islanders are not to be classed as heathens, ignorant and untaught savages who bow down to wood and stone' They are no more heathen than are the people of the West Indies. In Puerto Rico and in Cuba the religious problem was a comparatively | simple one, so far as it's complication with political affairs was concerned. The relation in those countries between the l Church and the State was Intimate. | But the relations of the Church to the people presented no such features as those which exist in the Philippines. In | the West Indies the spiritual guidance of the people was in the hands of the Roman Catholic Church, distinctly as church organization In the Philip pines that guidance is in the hands of | the monastic orders, the Franciscans,
 
 area, the Jesuits.
 | In this connection one point Is clear | ly noticeable. The West Indians reli- zion means little to him. the Filipinos means a great deal. In both Puerto Rico and Cuba I found, pronounced indifference to church matters among { the people.
 That is not the case in the Philippines. Their religion that of Roman Catholi- cism, means much to the Filipino peo- pie. Men as well as women are faithful in their attendance upon church wor- chip, not only on Sunday, but as well upon the prescribed holy days. Stand for an hour by church door In Manila at any time of day during the week. The majority of men who pass will be seen to lift their hats as they pass the portal. Go to any church during the earlier hours of Sunday It will be found well filled, often uncomfortably so with worshippers.
 To an unprejudiced observer, it would seem that the vital question was one of providing people with religious teachers whom they will respect and trust Material questions might be de- cided later. The buildings erected by Roman Catholics and for Roman Catho- lies might well be considered as the pro- perty of the Roman Catholic Church How property held by monastic orders belonging to that Church is to be or could be.transferred to the ownership of the mother Church is matter for de- termination by ecclesiastical councils if there be no established rule of pro- cedure and no adequate precedent. It Is hardly to be held that the United States Government should interfere and order any definite form of settlement. Law courts may determine questions of ti- ties If claims be set up for any of the property now held or claimed by the brotherhoods. But good title being shown, the United States can only up- hold those titles regardless of those in whose hands the titles may lie. Much of it, therefore, becomes matter for purely ecclesiastical determination.
 The more important question is the ministration of those churches. and that is the most vital point to the people of the Philippines It is a manifest wrong to foist upon them an unacceptable priesthood. A priesthood is wanted, Is needed. The clearest and wisest course would seem to be the immediate estab- lishment of men and a system which would be acceptable and satisfactory to the people. Apologists for the existing order of things insist that the present institution is efficient and reasonably free from faults. That avoids the main issue, which lies in the fact that the people are not satislied, and have again and again risen in protest and revolt It seerne most unwise and impolitic to insist upon the retention of an objec- tionable system. It might well be that under such a system, the United States would be forced to interfere. If revolts were to come in the future, as they have in the past, the matter would concern the peace and order of the islands, the life and property of citizens, some of whom would have no concern in the af- fair.
 While the pathway to solution of the problem would doubtless prove thorny and devious, the solution itself would appear to be reasonably simple. The of property ownership must rest with competent courts, or with commissions duly authorized to