The Irish standard., 1904-05-28
FRANCE AND THE CHURCH.

FRANCE AND THE CHURCH.
The importance Of the movement
now going on in France is not appre-
ciated in this country. Catholics in
America will regard it as persecution
Of the Catholics of France, because
they are Catholics, and mont atholics
will look upon it as movement in
favor of religious liberty. Both suppo-
sitions are wrong. The anti-religious
crusade in France is not anti-Catholic
in the sense that it favors Protestant
ism; it is against all religion. 1t is an
other effort to Danish religion and en-
throne reason, about which so much
was said at the time of the French
revolution. 1t is not movement in
favor Of Professionalism, which has
never had any hold upon the French
people. The men who are making the
fight against the religious orders are
not Protestants. Out Of population
of about 100000 in France, there are
not more than 100000 Protestants.
The present movement is political in it's
nature rather than religious. The lead
ers are forcing the people of France,
who are nearly all Catholics, to choose
between loyalty to the republic and
loyalty to the Pope. They could never
persuade the French people to join in
a crusade against the Catholic church.
but, strangely enough, they have sue
ceeded i'll making them believe that it
would be better for the church and
state to end all connection. The lead
ers themselves are inspired with Il deep
seated hatred of Christianity. They
hate the Pope because he stands in
the way of their designs. They have
made a large proportion of the Catho-
lies believe that their object is to leave
the church untrammeled, as it is in
the United States. Their cry is for
tolerance and liberty of thought" a
phrase which has always had Il pecu-
liar power to sway the French. AS IL
matter of fact, if these leaders succeed
they will make France not tolerant,
but intolerant of all religion. 1t will
become openly and in name an irrelig-
iOus nation. With view to accom-
plishing their object, they strike at the
source of religious training-the
schools. They have passed laws for
bidding religious instruction under the
plea. that the Catholic schools have
filled the youth of France with unpa-
triotic ideas. Their next step un-
doubtedly will be to abolish the con-
cordat, or agreement between the
church and France. If this is accom-
plished, the church in France will be
deprived of about $1O,OOO,OOO a year.
which is now given to it by the state.
1t must not be imagined, however, that
this would be an unmixed loss to the
church, for the latter would then be-
Independent in several matters where
the state now exercises certain
amount of control. notably in the APP
continent of bishops 1t is hard for
Catholics in this country to understand
how a country which is almost entire
ly Catholic will allow itself to be
placed in opposition to the head of the
churc... 1t is not the first Tine that
the same situation has presented itself.
France believed that it had banished
religion at the time Of the French revo-
luton, and enthroned reason in it's
place. After the delerium had run for
a few years, and the lands of the
church had been confiscated, France
returned to sane views and the rela-
tons between church and state We're
embodied in the concordat. The tickle
French are once again allowing the en-
emies of religion to persecute the
church. but the present trend of affairs
will not last. France is Catholic to the
core and will so remain, and the day
is not far distant when the orders now
banished to other lands will be well
coined back.