The Intermountain Catholic. (Salt Lake City [Utah] ;) 1899-1920, 1903-02-14

weeks conversations Father John an
swers the charge made against him
| by Winslow, that he recommended the
Church to become conformable to the
spirit of the world. He says that Cath
olics, while sternly adhering to the
I teachings of faith and the Church.
should strive to be abreast of the times
in political circles. instead of content
ing themselves with bewailing and
brooding over old, obsolete customs
/ This is the reason why non Catholics
and even anti-Catholics though in the
minority, MAINTAIN an ascendancy in
the political and commercial world
even where the population is over
Whelmingly Catholic. He points to
France as an example. The burden of
his arguments this week is contained
in the sentence: Our Lord did not
give us a religion that untitled us for
our duties as men, or members of
natural society, and the peculiar Cath
Ole virtues only render one all the
more capable of discharging them wise
ly, honestly and faithfully.'O
Conversation II, CoDtinued)
But our Lord did not come to found
a temporal kingdom" Raid Winslow
land we are not to look or his earnest
and humble followers in courts or high
places of the state. Tie spirit of our
holy religion is that Of self-denial, hu-
initiation, prayer, mortified ton and de-
tachment from the world. 1t STILES
worldly ambition, gives men distate
for affairs and a relish only for the
| unseen and the eternal. The true
Catholic does not live for this world;
he .withdraws from it and devotes all
his time and thought to the only real
ly important thing-the saving of his
soul"
1.-The Catholic" added O'Flanagan.
'takes no thought for the morrow and
has learned, in whatever state he finds
| himself, Herewith to be content. Why
bother ones head with affairs, as
though the government of the world
was intrusted to our hands, aud there
was no God to take care of it or of
us? Let us leave the world to Provi-
dence. Providence will take care of
religion, of the church and of soci
ETY.. We trouble ourselves unnecessar-
lily and think the Lord cannot manage
his own affairs without our assist
ance.'
And yet" replied Father John, ''Mr.
| O'Flanagan is a patriot and is ready
to make any sacrifice for the liberation
of Ireland from the oppression of Eng
land and the Orangemen. 1 understand
| his and Mr.. Winslow's arguments, and
the principle on which they are based
cannot be gainsaid. Certainly our Lord
did not come as a temporal prince to
found a temporal kingdom, but he did
come to found a church which should
| teach all men and nations, and in pro-
cess of time gather all within her fold.
Temporal government is Indispensable
| to individuals and society, and when
a whole nation becomes Catholic, in
whose hands, if not in those of Cath
olics, is the government to be placed?
Undoubtedly, the true Catholic subordi-
mates all his thoughts and actions to
eternal good, but there is nothing in his
religion that units him for taking an
active and effective part in temporal
affairs. Our Lord did not give us a
religion that untitled US for our du-
ties as men or as members of natural
society, and the peculiar Catholic viz
tues only render one all the more ca
pable of discharging them wisely, hon
estly and faithfully. There is no in
compatibility between humility and
magnanimity, between weakness and
energy, between the absence of world
! ly ambition and the presence of po-
/ litical honesty and capacity. Our re-
| ligion requires US, to be men of under
| standing. 1t detaches US from the
world, but it does not forbid us to
serve the true interests of society for
Gods sake. 1t never could have been
the intention of our Lord to give us
religion which would require a class
of non Catholics, or proud, greedy men
of the world to take charge of our
temporal interests. The present posi-
Ition of Catholics in so-called Catholic
states is not imposed upon them by
/ their religion, and it is not the effect
of their faith, piety or spiritual-mind-
edness. 1t is the result of social, po-
! liticaI, Industrial and commercial
! changes, of which they have not been
the first to avail themselves. They have
suffered the government of the world
to slip from their hands, and they find
themselves now deserted by the active,
living world, which, by going on with
out them, is fast Fastening to destruc-
tion.'
"There are" remarked Diefenbach,
"many things which were good in their
time, which formerly were of great
service to religion and to which
the churchmen are still attached from
habit of routine, and half identify with
religion itself which must be aban-
doned. The emperor can no longer be
| expected to shape his policy in the
interest of religion. The recent recep-
ton of Turkey the leading Ma
family of nations, proves that political
Christendom is effaced and no longer
exists. The Christian law of nations
has been abrogated by the Treaty of
Paris. at least so far as it concerns
the principal powers of Europe, and
Christianity and Mahometanism are
henceforth to be regarded as standing
on the same legal footing. The Chris
tan empire ceases to exist: the conse-
Grafton of nominally Christian kings or
emperors would now be an anomaly,
nay. a gross absurdity. No sovereign
now, on acceding to the throne, as
sumes any Christian obligation; even
Russia, by consenting to the peace of
Paris, has abandoned her Christian
claims. and the Emperor Alexander II
holds by the same title as the padishah
of Contantinople. All the governments
that were parties to that treaty cease
to be Christian governments and are
to be regarded as having thrown Off
the Christian law. There is no Chris
tan government in the world now, I'M
less it be Spain and Naples, any more
than there was when st. Peter estab
lished his chair at Rome. The peace of
1856 has definitively changed the rela-
ton of the church to the secular au
thority. and compelled her henceforth
to treat all secular governments as
simply Catholic. We must, there
fore. regard the old union of church
and state as everywhere dissolved, and
the state as declaring in principle.
that it is no longer bound to govern
according to the Christian law. The
peace of Westphalia was a compro-
mise: that of Vienna was a partial re-
turn to the Christian state; that of
Paris marks the definitive victory of
the secular order and the complete