Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1901-01-28
PHILIPPINE fRIARS
Continued from Eleventh Page,

and 1893 was charged by the people to the
friars. Whether they were, in fact. to
blame is perhaps aside from our purpose.
but 1t cannot admit of contradiction that
the autocratic power which each friar
curate exercised over the people and civil
officials OF his parish gave them a most
plausible ground for belief that nothing
OF injustice, of cruelty. of oppression. CT
narrowing restraint of liberty was imposed
them for which the friar was not en-
trely responsible. His sacerdotal functions
were not in their eyes the important ones,
except as they enabled him to clinch and
make more complete his civil and political
control. The revolutions against Spain s
sovereignty began as movements against
the friars. Such was the tenor of Rial s
chief work "Noli me Tangere.' The treaty
of Biac ma bato, which ended the first revo-
luton. is said to have contained the con-
dition that the friars should be expelled.
4 Feeling of Hatred.
All the evidence derived from every source
but the friars themselves shows clearly
that the feeling of hatred for the fri2rs
is welnigh universal and permeates all
classes. In the provinces of Cavite La
guna and Bulacan, as we'll in the coun-
try districts of Manila. the political feeling
against the frars has in it also an element
of agrarianism. For generations the friars
have been lords of these immense manors,
upon which, since 1880, they have pad no
taxes, while every "hombre' living on them
paid his cedula. worked out a road tax
and if he We're in business of any kind paid
his industrial impoSt. 1t is significant that
1t was i'll Cavite that the two revolutions
broke out, and that each in it's beginning
was merely a protest against the agrees
SionS of the friars.
In the light of these considerations. 1t IL
not wonderful that the people should re-
gard the return of the friars to their par
ishes as return to the conditions before
the revolution. The common people are
sovereignty of the United States the posi-
ton of the friar as curate would be differ
ent from that under Spain. This is not a
religious question. though it concerns the
selection of religious ministers for re-
ligious communities.
The Philippine people love the Catholic
Church The solemnity and grandeur of
its ceremonies appeal most strongly to
their religious motives, and it may be
doubted whether there is any country in
the world in which the people have n more
profound attachment for their church than
this one The depth of their feeling against
the friars may be measured by the fact
that it exists against those who, until
two years ago, administered the sacra-
ments of the church upon which they feel
So great dependence and for which they
have so profound respect. The feeling
against the friars is solely political. The
people would gladly receive ministers of
the Roman Catholic religion any but those
who are TO them the embodiment of all in
the Spanish rule that was hateful. If the
friars return to their parishes, though only
under the same police protection which the
American government is bound 10 extend
to any other Spanish subjects cummorant
in these islands. the people will regard it
as the act of that government. They have
so long been used to have every phase of
their conduct regulated by governmental
order that the coming again of the friarS
will be accepted as an executive order to
them to receive the friars as curates with
their old. all-absorbing functions. 1t is
likely to have the same effect on them
that the return of General WeyIer under
an American commission as governor of
Cuba would have had the people Of
that island
4 Most Important Matter.
Those who are charged with the duty
of pacifying these islands may therefore
properly have the lIveliest concern in
matter which, though on its surface only
ecclesiastical, is in the most important
phase of 1t political and fraught with the
most critical consequences to the peace
and good order of the country in which it
is their duty to set up civil government.
We are convinced that a return of the
friars to their parishes will lead to law
less violence and murder, and that the
people Will charge the course taken to the
American government, thus turning against
1t the resentment felt toward the friars
1t is 10 be remembered that the Filipinos
who are in sympathy with the American
cause in these islands are as bitterly op-
posed to the friars as the most irrecon-
ciiable insurgents and that they look with
the greatest anxiety to the course to be
taken in the matter. 1t is suggeSed that
the friars, if they returned, would UPHOLD
American sovereignty and be efficient in
struments In securing peace and good or
der, whereas the native priests who now
fill the parishes are many of them active
insurgent agents, or in strong sympathy
with the cause.
1t is probably true that considerable
number of the Filipino priests are hostile
to American sovereignty, largely because
they fear that the Catholic Church will
deem it necessary on the restoration of
complete peace to bring back the friars
to elevate the moral tone of the priest
hood by Introducing priests from America
elsewhere. But 1t is certain that the
enmity among the people against the Amer
lean government caused by the return of
the friars would far outweigh the advan-
tage of efforts to secure and preserve the
allegiance of the people to American SOW
ereignty which might be made by priests
who still subjects of a monarchy with
which the American government has been
lately al war. and who have not the slight
est sympathy with the political principles
of civil liberty which the American gov
eminent represents.
We have set forth the facts upon this
important issue. because we do not think
they ought to- be, can be. ignored. We
earnestly hope that those who control the
policy of the Catholic Church in these
islands with the same sagacity and pre-
vision which characteriZes all its important
policies, will see that it would be most I'M
fortunate for the Philippine Islands, for
the Catholic Church and for the American
government to attempt to send back the
friars, and that some other solution of the
difficulties should be found. The question
for the preiate and statesman is not
whether the bitter feeling toward the friars
is justified not, but whether it exists.
1t does not seem to us, therefore, to aid
in reaching d conclusion to point out that
all the civilization found in the Philippines
is due TO the friars. Be it so. Ought they
on this account to return to their parishes
in the face Of deep popular feeling
against them? popular bias or prejudice
deep seated in All ignorant people is not
to be disregarded because it cannot stand
the test of reason or evidence. 1t must be
reckoned with. 1t would, of course, be of
much assistance to the American cause II
the Catholic Church were to send among
the people American priests with the love
of their country that they have always
shown. and with their clear understanding
OF civil liberty and conservative popular
government; but it is said that such priests
are not available for the work. This IS a
question of purely church policy with which
we have nothing to do. 1t is enough to say
that the political question will be elimi-
mated if the friarS are not sent back.