The San Francisco call., 1906-12-24
FRANCE USURPS
POWER Of A
MONARCHY
Archbishop Ireland Warns
Americans Not to Be Con-
fused as to Situation
PEOPLE OF NATION
MOSTLY CATHOLIC
Have Yielded Too Pas
sively to Aggressive Party
Of "Infidels and Atheists
SPECIAL DISPATCH TO THE CALL.

SPECIAL DISPATCH TO THE CALL.
ST. PAUL, Dec. 23.-Archbishop Ire
/ land. in his sermon at the cathedral
this morning. spoke on the topic.
"Church and State in France" He said
in part:
.Let not Americans be misIcd by
words which have totally different
Significance I'm their land from what is
allowed them in France. Separation of
the church from the state in America
means liberty and justice, there 1T
means servitude and oppression.
Speaking on Friday last to the car
dinals present in the Vatican, Plus X
said of the French situation: We are
ready to submit to separation from the
state, but it must be a fair separation
such as obtains in the United States.
in Brazil, in Great Britain, in Holland
and not a subsection. No Catholic in
the United States makes objection to
separation. for there separation means
exactly what 1t purports to mean
Under advice from the head of the
church the bishops of France refused
the associations offered by the law OF
separations. They acted from princi-
pie. In the Interest of religion they.
could not approve such associations:
they cannot. by tolerating them, appear
to approve them. They are not rebels
against the laws of the country. The
associations, as the Minister of Educa-
ton. NJ BRAND himself, declared, were
not statutes binding upon citizens; they
were privileges rendered to the church.
which was free toqaccept or reject She
has rejected them.
AN ERA OF PERSECUTION
Pope and bishops knew well the
consequences that were to follow; the
spirit of the Government was not hid
den from their eyes; 1t was an era of
prosecutions; but. if no other escape
from persecution were possible than
the acceptance of the law Of associa-
tions. they We're ready to welcome per-
secution.
'It is IamcntabIe fact that there is
in France party bent on the destruc-
ton of religion. The war is made on
the Catholic church because she I'm
France represents religion. In reality,
I'm intent and in fact, the war is against
Christianity in any forna, against re-
Iigfon of any kind, against the idea
itself of a God reigning over men. The
old spirit of Voltaire and the encycIo-
died ont in France.
This spirit had an outburst of
triumph in the revolution, when God
was declared non-existant and infamy
itself, denoted the goddess of reason,
was upiifted to alteration upon the
pillar of the cathedral of France 1t
slumbered a while under succeeding
imperial and royal regimes; it has re-
awakened to new vigor in the freedom
allowed to thought and speech by the
present republic.
This party of infidels and atheists
is far from being France, as I shall
later say; but it is active, persistent.
INSCRIPTIONS, and it forces itself with
vengeance to the front. 1t has grasped
the helm of power and 1t steers the
ship of state into the darkest depths
of unbelief and irreligion. Yesterday
it was Combes. the most brutal of all;
today it is Clemenceau, somewhat more
subdued in his hatred, but leader in
the fight.
with such men, and with others di-
viding with them particular power.
even less violent adopts of irreligion, |
there reigns another idea-the om-
impotence of the state. This was ever
the plague of France, even when her
rulers We're devout Catholics. The |
state must control all agencies Of
power; it must brook no rival. Even
the church must be in the hands of /
XIV and with Napoleon, and so it is
with the republic.
REPUBLIC IN NAME ONLY
The republic is a name in France:
it has been well said of it that it
sleeps on the bed of Louis XIV. France
has never understood the meaning of +
a republic, which is respect for private I
and personal liberty, whic-i is to leave I
as much as possible to the people, to
take to the state only what is needed
for the public welfare. The most re-
publican of republicans. seated in
Parliament, set out at once to regulate
all things to their own liking. We
y