The sun., 1901-05-05
KEANE'S ARCHBISHOPRIC.
AnERICANIsN AGAIN IN IHE ASCEND
ANT AT THE VATICAN.
Promotion 70 Dubuque a Significant Comment
on leo NILS Letter TO Cardinal Gibbons
American Prelates and Their Methods
are .OnCe More In Favor at Rome,

are .Once More In Favor at Rome.
ROME. April 1.-THE public, preoccuped
with other things has paid no attention to
an ecclesiastical event, the Significance OF
which deserves. notwithstanding. anxious
scrutiny; l mean the appointment of Mar
Keane 10 the archbishopric of Dubuque
on Wednesday. April II. Rome will have
the pallium conferred on him and Mgr Ire
land will be present at that symbolical cere-
mony,
Bishop Of Virginia. rector OF the Washing
ton University. retired to Rome at the Holy
Fathers desire. a participant In all the events
that have marked the history Of the church
IN the United States and in Europe the new
Archbishop OF Dubuque strikes a peculiar
chord He IL a representative man in
Emerson and Carlyle's sense OF the phrase
Mgr. Keane with Cardinal Gibbons and Mgr
Ireland has attached his fortunes 20 public
policy the tendency Of which it IL not df-
hcult TO find out
A Bishop Of Virginia his action was funda-
mentally apostolic Like all the great trans
atlantic bishops, he has been a hurch founder.
an aocumulator OF religious capital As
first rector OF the University at Washngt on
he builded that institution ~ hi CHER culture
upon the rock His thrilling speech, his won
derful activity. his relations with the souls
on which he has left his mark. his instinct as an
educator, have brought the White House Of
Catholicism to rare degree OF prosperity.
financially and intellectually. In all the
stages of his career so full and An deserving,
he has co6pernted in a work OF light snd Of
zeal With his friends he stands for the
cult OF -Americanism"
shall not arouse again the diSsensions
which the word and the thing have created,
less in the United States than on the Conu-
nent Of Europe The reaCtionares and the
immovable conservatives have for many
wears persecuted the methods Of work and
the spirit Of conquest that Is improperly call
cd "Americansm Around tho American
-Americanism." a. Is well known, a parasitic
growth had formed n bastard American
ism" that was rightly named "the Continental
Americanism- Inexact theories about the
Church and the supernatural, the minimizing
of Christianity, a partial break with tradi-
ton and tho Gospels, or rather, perhaps.
condition OF mind mIde up OF ignorance, mis-
understood discomfort and indefinite as
pirations. such Is the Continental American
ism which Loo XIII. repudiated with reason
and officially in his letter TO Cardinal Gibbons,
Back Of that grotesque movement was con-
cealed a network Of personal intrlgues on
which history will some day have TO pass
Judgment.
The "Amerlcanlsm- Of Mgr Keane. in agree
ment with Cardinal Gibbons and Mgr Ire
land, represented. on the contrary the spirit
OF universal Christianity. To win over friends
from without TO the Gospels and to strengthen
the household within; to draw to the Church
the resources and the currents OF democracy;
to make manifest the popular virtues, the CO.
operative forces. national, intellectual and
economic Of catholicism; 70 make OF the
Catholic the most loyal citizen, the man Of
progress, with the aid Of faith and Of Christ;
by means OF science. education. the apos-
tolate and democratic action 20 broaden all the
paths leading 20 God. such seemed to their
ideal That ideal has brought into being
a method OF labor. which. thanks 20 Leo
NIL, Is taken as standard by the best
minds and the strongest wills.
That spirit is shown in the episode Of the
knights OF Labor. In the struggle against
Cahcnslylsm, the creation OF the University
of Washington and the defence OF the Amer
lean spirit against reactionary tendencies
The Church no longer seemed TO be tho an
mex OF a fallen government or Of party
without soldiers Christianity was no longer
identified with ideas OF routine. Of lntoler-
ance and Of narrowness; II meant the renewal
Of the world OF society and OF nations through
the leaven OF the divine life
Mgr. Keane has endured cruel humilis-
tons for the sake Of this movement and this
great idea Against him as well as against
Mgr Ireland bitter campaigns were waged.
More than the Archbishop Of St Paul he has
paid with his sufferings for the policy which
leo XIII. is making general in the main gov
ernment Of the Church
When Leo XIII addressed his letter 70 the
Archbishop Of Baltimore, enemies gave out
that IL was a condemnation Of Mgr Ireland
and his friends "Amerioanism." said they,
has been stlgmatzed as heresy- have
pointed out in these columns the indecent
falseness Of this interpretAtion and the real
meaning Of the Pdpal document. In con-
demnng Continental -Amercanism.- the
principal features OF which | have des-
crbed. the Holy Father intended to exalt
In happy phrases the true transatlantic Amer
lcanism. Passions protested in vain: facts
followed that brought into relief tho char
ncter and object OF the Roman document
Mgr. Ireland's late Journey to Rome. the
dazzling reception which Leo XIII In per-
son arranged for him. have given peremp-
tory PROOF OF tAls 1 ne IeSllNllS- AT llu-
buuus. the precious promotion Of Mgr
Keane, make the lesson and the demonstra-
ION still clearer That Is why the last con-
sistory and this appointment bear the char
acter Of universal Information for every ono
What tho Church and Rome celebrate in
she festivals and in Mgr, Keane's promotion
Ia the consecration OF tho methods Of work
which we call "AmericanIsm," tho life full
-lsA ~ . s.I.
Keane; the Christian movement Of which
Mgr. Ireland ia the most illustrlous repre-
sentative. That IA a moral event Of i'm
portance. From that point Of view the
Church Is not merely the Continuer OF the
divine work OF redemption, the guardian
and propagator OF the eternal truths and
the imperlshable Decalogue. Through It's
social and moral riches. It's organization and
It's hierarchy. its spirit OF conservation and
progress II becomes the national benefactor,
the ally OF every civilization that strives
for the elevation OF life in general and for
the unending betterment Of humanity.
The public ministry OF the Church re-
quires tho permanent adaptation Of It's treas
nres OF dogma. OF morals and Of discipline
70 the necessarily renewed needs OF the world
Catholic teaching and action are therefore
the constantly gushing springs OF political.
social, intellectual and economic evolutons
toward the widening Of the historic pom
priIm, tho bounds OF Rome
rhe partisans or the enfeofrment of Chris
uanity under the old governments have
failed to recognize this missi n, this unchang-
inn Of thu Churph Lao Kill In his