The Intermountain Catholic. (Salt Lake City [Utah] ;) 1899-1920, 1902-05-24

The religious controversy of the Mill
wood brothers comes to a close in this
issue Last weeks debate had refer
ence to the old sterotyped objections
raised against the Catholic Veneration
of saints and relics. John Milwood eX-
plains the true teaching of the church
to his misguided brother, who is al
ways on the fly. johns deadly aim
never reaches the brother who is con-
tinually shifting his position. This
weeks final controversy shows that
Catholic service consisting of the sac
rifice of the mass is the highest form
of worship. and that it is accompanied
only by such pomp and ceremonies as
are becoming the great unbloody sac
rifice James assumptions of idolatory
and superstition are mere begging the
question. without any foundation, in
fact.
IF idle and vain, superstitious, of
course; but how do you know that they
are idle and vain? Our public worship
consists of the holy sacrifice of the
mass, prayers and singing the praises
of God. These you have no right to
pronounce idle or vain. Our sacrifice
we hold to be a real sacrifice. in an
unbloody manner, of real victim; and
prayers and the singing of praises
have, by the common consent of man
kind, the authority for determining
what is the law of nature, always been
held to be appropriate parts of public
worship. Much of what you call idle
ceremony and vain observance is in
tegral in the worship itself, and what
is not absolutely essential is adopted
for the sake of decency, solemnity, and
the edification of the faithful"
Il am not edited by it,"
Because you are one of the faith
full and do not worship. Satin, no doubt,
could himself bring the objection to
our worship, which you do. Our wor
ship is adapted to the editication of
those who worship, not of those who
do not"
But your worship is calculated to
lead the weak and ignorant into idol
airy and superstition
1T will be time to consider that OBJ
lection when you have shown that a
Catholic, by practicing what the church
enjoinS or permits, is rendered super
stitious."
But the superstition is in supposing
that honoring the relics is honoring the
saint"
The law of nature teaches the re-
verse; for that teaches us that honor
to what belonged to another, because
it belonged to him, is a pious and af-
fecting mode of honoring him. Hence
the universally of funeral ceremonies,
the marks of respect which all men
show to the relics of their deceased
friends, especially to the remains of
those held to be deserving of honor for
their rank, their virtues, their services,
their heroic deeds; and surely none
are more deserving of honor than the
saints of God"
Your feaStS, faStS and external OBJ
servances are all -superstitious"
How do you proHe that?'
"They are all external and mechan-
ical; and to expect spiritual effects
from them is to look for effects from
inadequate causes"
THE law of nature commands US to
worship God externally as well as in
ternally, and an external worship must
needs be external. The fact that what
you object to is external is, therefore,
no ground of objection. Feasts or
festivals are merely days set apart for
public thanksgivingfto God for his mer-
cies and favGrs to us; in becoming man
for us, in suffering and dying for us,
in rising again for. us, in. sending us
the Holy Ghost, in raising up and Civ
ing to us such or such a saint, etc. If
kept according to the intent of the
church, internal as well as external
thanks are rendered by each worship
er, and, therefore, the. observance of
the festival is not and cannot be me-
chanical. The saw of nature commands
the giving of thanks to God; and per-
haps even the mere external observ-
ance of appointed seasons for public
thanksgiving is better than no observ-
ance at ALL Fasts are for the morti-