The Intermountain Catholic. (Salt Lake City [Utah] ;) 1899-1920, 1902-04-26
FATHER GAssoN ON ST. PAUL.
The Alleged Quarrel Between Saints
Peter and Paul.


The Alleged Quarrel Between sain-
Peter and Paul.
The usual monthly meeting of II
Children Of Mary was held at the s,
cred Heart convent, Boston, on Il
afternoon of Friday. April 4. Thel
was large attendance of the men
bers, and several non-C Catholics wer
also present at the chapel service
The spiritual director, the Rev. Thoma
l. -GaSson, S. J., continued his confer
enceS upon the life and labors of s
Paul. We give herewith u synopsis Q
his sermon:
SO much has been said" he re
marked, concerning the alleged qltsr
rel between St. Paul and St. Peter tha
IT VIII not be fruitless 10 consider ii il
detail To understand the matter fully
we must bear in mind that the early
church was recruited from two sources
from Paganism and Judaism. Henc,
arose two sets of difficulties. On tbt
Part of the Jewish converts there wa:
tendency to insist upon Mosaic OBJ
servances and isolation as essential
parts of orthodox worship. The Jewish
race had prepared the way for Chris
tianity and it was extremely difficult
Tor a jew to see how any one could en-
AtA llAlo Alt PROMISED nerildge OF the
Lord except through the law of Moses.
on the part of the converts from Fa-
ganism there Were the customs gen
Grated by long centuries of idol worship
and Of lax morality.
st. Paul had. Of course. dispensed
With the oljservances of the Jewish
law, which was, of its nature, tempo
rary only. Absolutely firm as the
apostle Of the Gentiles was, wherever
there was question Of essentials, he
showed the utmost liberality with re-
gard TO non-essentials. Criticism uron
his generous dealings on the part Of
certain narrow minded individuals led,
IN great measure to the first council Uf
Jerusalem, wherein it was decided to
lay upon you (the Faithfully no greater
burden than these necessary things: |
lhaJ ye abstain from meats offered 70 |
idols and from blood, and from things
strangled. and from weaknesses of he |
flesh This decision meant much for
the early church. because it taught The
Judaizers that hereafter the interna-
uonal and worldwide influence of /
christianity was to take the place of
national Jewish isolation.
1T was after the DEGREES of +bis
council had been published that ST
Eeter came TO Antioch, and that there
the famous scene referred to in the
letter to the Galatians when Cephas
(Peter) was come to Antioch ] with
stood him to the face, because he was
to be blamed. For before that Some
came from James, he did eat with the
Ientiles, but when they were come.
ne withdrew and separated himself
TWO conclusions are drawn by some
from this incident. name il
y-QJ that st. Peter failed in the ;
h1f
'erlor, and hence that the primacy did :
lot belong 10 St Peter. :
A slight reflection will convince anv
air minded man that these two infer
noes are unwarranted. First of al. I
ne act IN question was one neither Of a
eaching nor of professional was m \
ct in itself Indifferent, and st. Peter :
as undoubtedly led by motives of the n
lghest charity to withdraw for a short a
me from open communication with
le GENTLE converts somewhat after
he manner observed in India, whers Q
le missionaries have to deal with the q
herent castes. st. Paul did not an .,
rove OF this yielding, even for a til.>. | m
Jewish preiudices. Being an ex- bi
emely frank character, he openly ex-
'essed his disapproval. But this dis
'proNai was the utterance, not of au- Ie
orltY, but of fraternal charity. as is "a
.rfectly evident from the many pas .,
ges in St Paul's letter. wherein he E
limits the higher prerogatives of The
inee Of the apostles. To wrest the
ent to any other purpose is to strive
build a superstructure for which co
ere is no foundation. 20 20
After many apostolic JOURNEYS tr.
rough various provinces of Asia tn
nor. St. Paul came to Troas. where ha
vision Of the night he beheld = no
militant from Trrro,,e ,,la, li,,,- - -, ro
ritual needs of that great continent. w
e cry Of the Macedonian touched ST. :
us heart. and he set sail for those RI,
sions, so high in intellectual culture roj
low in moral depravity 1t was at TIL
historic town of Philippi in Mace SOC
lia that St PauIs European ruissh n me
med, mission fraught with mo. =
ntous consequences to the then civ Of
ed world and To the broad SWAY cf res
me. Boston Pilot vii