The Irish standard., 1905-08-26
That Destroyer of Ideals, the Socialist Doc
trinaire, With Atheism in Heart and
Materialism in Mouth.
Rev. DR.. Kirby, in the American Catholic
Quarterly Review, Ably Shows Why
the Church Opposes Socialism.

The Rev. Doctor Kerby, in an able
article under the above heading, pub.
lished in the American Catholic Quar-
terly Review, starts out with the
frank admission that a comparison
between Catholicity and Socialism is
as difficult as the necessity of doing
so is paramount. "Tbe two systems
of thought and policy, he says, "are
disposing forces for contest, already
well under way, and the world is not
large enough for the supremacy of
both as they now stand" Defendress
though she be of the social order
against the aggressive aspirations of
Socialism militant, the church stands
alone in the arena, with the undis-
guised antipathies of national and So
cial organizations, of modern educa-
tion and science, tacitly desirous Of
her defeat. Alone, she invokes the
Spirit of the Cross, the lesson of Cal
vary, as the only remedy which can
withstand the encroachments of that
tell destroyer of ideals, the Socialist
doctrinaire, with Atheism in his heart
and Materialism in his mouth. An ad.
vocate simply Of the material improve.
ment of his fellowmen and with dis
avowal of authority, earthly or divine.
the fundamental basis of his creed,
he enters the lists with an array on
his side of every worldly influence
that can appeal to the fleshly aspira-
tions of mankind. With him he has
the bulk of the secular press; the
greater part of educationists; the ma.
jority of researchful scientists and ev'
cry political apostle of that banefui
type of degeneration, modern liberty,
such as is exemplified, for instance,
in the French government of the day,
for whom Liberty, Equality and Fra
ternity are euphemisms for Intoler-
ance, Prejudice and Oppression. Brim.
full of enticements, he allures the poor
of spirit and the weak of faith with
pledges that promise the oppressed
the attainment of prosperity in the
path that offers the least resistance
to human weakness-the path that
knows no God but the flesh. 1t is
hardly to be wondered at, then that
he gains adherents by the million;
that he is mighty rival of the church
that works by, and with, the Spirit;
that teaches her children that this life
is but a preparation for an eternal one
hereafter, that sorrow and suffering
are the heritage of those who seek the
everlasting. And yet, says Doctor
Kerby, mot Socialism, but the age,
favors Atheism, loosens the bonds of
the family, challenges authority and
teaches false economics. - This
philosophy is SO close to the facts OF
life, 80 satisfying to one who looks at
the present merely, and not at past or
future, at individual or class and not
at race; it is so soothing in the freq
dom from self-discipline which it
promises that it is a real vital power
to it's believers" Modern evils, it is
not hard to discern, spring from the
paramountcy of Industrialism, the
forcing to it's furthest extreme of that
supreme doctrine OF selashness-the
survival Of the fittest. The law Of the
modern industrial world is that weak
ness shall serve strength law diam
etrically contrary to that of Christ's
teaching, which is that strength shall
serve weakness. In the pursuit o1
wealth and in it's accumulation, man
is no longer sentient being, but
machine, without heart or soul; work
ing always and incessantly for the
acquisition of that which is nowadays
the principle of power and worldly ag
grandisement, namely, money. Legis
lation, it is true, has attempted to i'm
prove the lot of the victims Of the In
dustrialist. To little avail, however
and legislation in all countries is fore
ed to confess itself subsidiary to th'
aims and workings Of the capitalist
Here the Socialist steps in with tn
revolutionary wand he claims to pos
sess. He will, he declares, remode