The Irish standard. [volume] (Minneapolis, Minn. ;) 1886-1920, 1901-03-02
Returned Missionary Refutes the Lying Charges Made
Against the Prosecuted Priests
Detraotors and sanderers Native Freemasons and
Bigoted Protestant Missionaries
The Landed Possessions the Religious Orders Not So
n =; Vast and Valuable As Is Stated

culpable and capable? When a man
wants to kill dog he says it is mad.
But, good people of America, you
have among you Jesuits, Franciscans,
Dominicans, Augustinians; you meet
them every day; you can easily scru-
tinize their lives, and you are invited
to do so. You will find out that they
are not monsters, but honorable and
respectable priests of the Catholic
church. Well, the Philippine friars are
religious men of the same orders, hav-
ing the same rules and the same su-
periors; and ask to be believed when
say that the Filipino friars were of
as high a standard, at least, as the
friars of this country. If there were a
difference it was in their favor, for
they made the sacrifice of their coun-
try to go for Gcd's sake to distant
land, where many hardships were in
store for them, and many acts of heroic
abnegation, as in the case of those who
were employed in the interior to con-
vert the remaining savages. They are
rewarded by calumny and persecution.
Well, happy are they, after all, for
their Master and yours has said:
blessed are ye when they shall revile
you and persecute you, and speak all
that is evil against you untruly for
My sake. Be glad and rejoice, for your
reward is very great in heaven
Matt. ", II, r..
| Besides, after the events which have
taken place in the Philippines, it is not
the friars who wish so much to re-
turn; but it is the Pope, the apostolic
delegate, the church, who need them,
for the native clergy is manifestly in
sufficient. Many of them have already
left for China, for Venezuela, Colum-
bia, Spain and elsewhere, taking the
treasures of their hearts to other peo-
pies. Some hundreds are still kept
waiting only by the authority Of their
superiors;T and especially the desire Of
the apostolic delegate, to whom they
are necessary. The members of the
American commission say they don't
want them. Protestants as they are,
of what interest to them is the saliva
tion of souls? They are only too glad
to please the ministers and the Filipino
Masons, whose confreres they prob
ably are; though it would not require
much experience and common sense
to understand that in the pacification
of the Philippines every friar by his
influence would spare many troubles
to the Americans and many a precious
American life.
Some days ago the New York Her.
aid related Indignantly that the Philip
pine friars owned together 100000
acres of land. In the same number it
calmly narrated that an estate Of
100000 acres in Guayama, which be-
lcnged to the Venezuelan general,
Crespo, had been sold. There was not
a word of blame that single individ-
ual had owned 100000 acres Of land.
But that 1000 and more friars pos
sessed 100000 acres! Oh, scandalous!
Again in the same number the Herald
lspoke of the private possessions Of
Emperor William of Germany and
some of his principal subjects, and
though these five or six individuals
owned many more hundred thousand
acres than 1000 friars together, no
surprise was manifested.
Yes, the friars had possessions Of
some extent in the Philippines, but
what's wrong in that, o men, lovers Of
liberty and claiming equal rights for
all your fellowmen? Do you mean to
say that they acquired those proper
ties by "theft and intimidation" as the
Methodists put it in their petition to
Mr.. Mckinley (see the Sun of Feb. 5,
page a, in which they ask the presi-
dent to Danish the friars forever? Al
low me to observe that when the friars
were sent to the Philippines the esti-
mated population of all the islands was
not 100000 inhabitants, who then lived
by hunting and fishing, roaming wild
throughout the vast forests and con-
tinually at war, tribe with tribe. The
king of Spain, i'll order to reward
somewhat these men who were going
to the end of the world to sacrifice
their lives for his service, and to civil
ize those savages and to try to make
:: men of them, made the friars certain
grants Of lands, which might yield
some necessary resources, and to which
they attracted the savages, little by
little, teaching them patiently to till
the ground and raise the crops. vir-
tuous Americans, do you not think this