Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1902-07-17
MUST NOT RETURN
So the Taft Commission De-
cided as to Friars.
VIEWS FRAMED EARLY
BASED ON TESTIMONY OF BOTH
PRELATEs AND LAYMEN.
Hatred of Filipinos Too Deep Seated to
Be Ignored in the Read
justment.
VIEWS FRAMED EARLY

The transfer of the negotiations between
this government and the Catholic Church
relative to the status of the friars in the
Philippines from Rome to Manila directs at
tention even more pointedly than before to
the views of the commission headed by
Governor General Taft. who is about to
leave the former for the latter city. On the
30th of November, 1909, the commission
submitted its first report to the Secretary
of War, it being transmitted to Congress by
the President. January y. 1901. In the
course of that report the commission dis
cussed the problems of the friars in the is
lands in a comprehensive manner, basing
its views upon the testimony taken by it
during the months Immediately preceding,
extracts from which were printed in yes
terday's Star. The commission said, in
part:
Ordinarily the government of the United
States and its servants have little or no
concern with religious societies or corpo-
rations and their members. With us the
church is so completely separated from the
state that ii is difficult to ina CINE cases in
which the policy of a church in the selec-
ton of its ministers and the assignment of
them to duty can be regarded as of pOlitl-
cal moment. or as a proper subject of COM
meut In the report of a public officer.
In the pacification of the Philippines by
our government, however, it is impossible
to ignore the very great part which such
question plays. Excepting the MoroS, who
are Moslems. and the wild tribes, who are
pagans. the Philippine people belong to the
Roman Catholic Church. Total number of
Catholic souls shown by the church regis
try In 1898 was G.,LJ9,G To care for these
in that year there were in the archipelago
ito regular parishes, 100 mission parishes
and 116 missions. or 96T in all. OF the reg
ular parishes all but 15O were administered
by Spanish monks of the Dominican, Au-
gustinian or Franciscan orders. Natives
were not admitted to these orders. There
were two kinds of Augustinians In these is
lands. the shOd and the Unshod. The latter
are called ReCOlletoS and are merely an Off
shoot from the original order of St. Angus
tine.
By the revolutions of 1896 and 1888
against Spain. all the Dominicans, Angus
tfnians. Recolletos and Fra nciscans acting
as parish priests We're driven from their
parishes to take refuge in Manila. Forty
were killed and 4O3 were imprisoned and
were not all released until by the advance
of the American troops it became impossi-
Die for the insurgents to retain them OF
the LA who were in the islands in 1896
but Az remain The remainder were either
killed or died. returned to Spain or went
TO China or South America.
There were also in the islands engaged
in missions and missionary parishes ~
JeSu1ts. IL Capuchins and q Benedictines,
and While many of these left their mis-
sions because of disturbed conditions, they
DO not seem 10 have been assaulted or i'm
prlsOned for any length of time In ad-
ditiOn TO the members of the monastfc
orders. there were $50 native secular clergy
men in charge of small parishes who were
not disturbed. There were also many ma
tive priests in the larger parishes who
assisted the fTiar curateS, and they have
remained. and they have been and are act
ing as parish priests. The burning politi-
cal question, discussion of which strongly
agitates the people of the Philippines. is
Va b4afh h.
orders of st Dominic, St Augustine and
St Francis and the Recolletos shall return
TO the parishes from which they were
driven by the revolution. Colloquially the
Of these four orders. The Jesuits, Capu-
chins, Benedictines and the Paulists, of
whom there are few teachers here have
done only mission work teaching and
have not aroused the hostility existing
against the four large orders to which we
are now about to refer
Power of the Friar.
The friar parish priest was usually
the only man Of intelligence and education
who knew both the native dialect and the
Spanish language well IN his parish His
position as the spiritual guide of the peo-
pie necessarily led to his acting as inter-
mediary between them and the rest of the
world in secular matters. In only a few
of the parishes was there any other Span
ish representative of the government of
Spain than the friar priest At first &C
tually, and afterwards by law he came
to discharge many civil functions and to
supervise. correct or veto everything which
was done or sought to be done in the
pueblo which was his parish.
1t is easy to see from this that the priest
was not only the spiritual guide. but that
ne was III every case the municipal ruer
1t further appeared from evidence OF other
friars that whenever a resident of any pu-
ebio was suspected of being a disturber of
the peace or a plotter against the govern
mtnt, or a dangerous character in other re-
spects. no action was taken until the parish
priest was consulted by the head of the
fnsular government.
The truth is that the whole government
OF Spain in these islands rested on the
friars- To use the expression of the pro-
vincial If the Augussiniaus. the friars were
the pedestal or foundation of the sover-
eighty 81 Spain in these islands," which
being removed the whole structure would
topple over. The number of Spanish troops
in these islands did not exceed , OOJ until
the revolution. The tenure Of office Of the
friar curate was permanent. Once sett ed
IN parish. a priest usually continue
there until sUperannuatio He was there
fore, constant political factor for a gen.
Grafton The same was true of the arch
bishop and the bishops The civil and mill
tary officers of Spain in the islands were
here for not longer than four years and
more often for less period The friars
priests ard bishops, therefore constituted
a solid. powerful. permanent well-organ-
lzed political force in the islands which
Dominated policies. The stay of those Off
GERS who attempted to pursue course at
variance with that deemed wise by the
orders was invariably shortened by monas-
tic influence
or the four great orders one the Fran
ciscans, Is not permitted TO own property
except converts and schools This is not
true OF the other three They own some
valuable business property In Manila and
nave large amounts of money to lend But
the chief property of these orders is In
agricultural land The total amount owned
by the three orders in the PhiliDDines is
approximately 100000 acres OF this 1oI noo
acres Is In the province of Cavite alone I.
immortality.
II has been frequently charged that there
was much immortality among the friars
and that 10 this is due the popular hos
tiity against them The friar witnesses
denied the charges of general immortality.
admitting only Isolated cases, which. thev
said. were promptly disciplined The evil
dence on this point to the contrary. how
ever. is so strong that IL seems clearly to
establish that there were enough instances
IN each province to give considerable
ground for the general report. It is not
strange that IL should have been so There