The Salt Lake herald. [volume] (Salt Lake City [Utah]) 1870-1909, 1906-12-24
SERMON ON THE
PARAT|ON LAW
Archbishop ireland Says
French Republic Is Making
War Upon All Religion.
OLD SPIRIT OF voLTAIRE.
MOVEMENT OF INFIDELs AND
ATHEISTS.
OLD SPIRIT OF voLTAIRE

st. Paul. Dec. 23.-Archbishop ireland
In his sermon at the cathedral this morn
ing spoke on the topic, Church and State
IN France" He said in part:
Let not Americans be misied by words
which have totally different signifi-
canoe in their land from what is allowed
10 them in France. Separation of the
CHURCH from the state in America means
liberty and justice; there it means servi-
tude and oppression.
Speaking on Friday last to the cardi-
nails present in the vatican Plus X said
or the French situation: We are ready
TO submit to separation from the state,
but 1t must be a fair separation-such
as obtains in the United States, in Brazil.
In Great Britain, in Holland-and not
subjection.' No Catholic in the United
States makes objection to separation. for
there separation means exactly what it
purportS to mean.
Could Not Approve the Law.
Under advice from the head of the
church the bishops of France refused the
associations offered by the law of separa-
interest of religion they could not ap
prove such associations; they cannot by
toierating. them appear to approve them.
They are not rebels against the laws of
the country. The associations, as the
minister of education, NJ. BRAND himself,
has declared. were not statutes binding
upon citizens; they We're privileges ten
dered to the church which it was free to
accept or reject. She has rejected them.
Pope and bishops knew full well the con-
sequences that were TO follow; the spirit
of the government was not hidden from
their eyes; il was an era of prosecutions;
but. If no other escape from persecution
We're possible than the acceptance of the
law of associations. they were ready to
welcome persecution.
Alleged War on Religion.
''It is a ,lamentabIe fact that there is
in France a party bent On the destruction
: .
Catholic church because she in France
represents religion. In reality, in intent
and in fact, the war is against Christian
ity under any form, against religion of
any kind, against the idea itself Of a God
reigning over men, The old spirit of Vol
taire and the encyclopedias of the eight
zenith century never died out in France.
1t had an outburst of triumph IN the rev.
olution. when God was declared nOn-eX-
1stent and infamy itself, denoted the god
dess of reason, vas planted for adora-
ton upon the pillar of the cathedral of
] iris 1t slumbered awhile under succeed
ing imperial and royal regimes; it has re-
awakened to new vigor in the freedom
allowed to thought and speech by the
present republic.
InfideIs and Atheists.
''This party of infidels and atheists is
far from being France. as 1 shall later
say; but it is active, persistent, unscru-
pulous, and IL forces itself with ven
geance to the front It has grasped the
uCIm Oh power. ana II SlttTS LHC snip
OF state into the darkest depths of uD-
belief and irreligion. Yesterday it was
COmbeS the most brutal of all: today ii
is Clemenceau, somewhat more subdued
in his hatred, but yet a 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 omnipotenee of
the state. This was ever the plague of
France, even when her rulers were de
vout Catholics. The state must control
all agencies of power: il must brook no
rival. Even the church must be in the
hands of the government So it was with
Louis XIV and with Napoleon: and so
is Il with the republic. The republic is
a name in France; it has been well said
of 1t that ii sleeps on the bed of Louis
XIV France has never understood the
meaning of a republic, which is respect
for private and personal liberty, which
is to leave as much as possible to the
people. to take to the state only what
is needed for the public welfare. The |
most republican of republicans. seated in
parliament, set out at once to regulate |
all things to their own liking. We are
the state. they cry out. as Louis XIV
once said. Il am the state And the |
state is the great power and all must |
think and act as the state wills and as |
we will. This is certainly the spirit of /
the infidelS who now rule the country. |
and | am not at all sure ii would not |
TO Some degree at least. be the spirit of |
good Catholics. who. were they TO be to-
morrow in the ascendancy, would believe
it their duty TO make everyone go to |
mass. as the present government assumes |
il their duty to let no one go to mass
: People Are Catholics.
I 81 know her cities and her villages.
KNOW her people-her aristOcracy her
bourSeoise and her peasantry-dnd |
know them to be Catholic. How. then.
explain the political situation? There
are several causes TO be noted. The
masses are not used to political life For
ages they We're governed, they do not
comprehend the art of governing Put
q party in power; ii names the hundreds
of thousands of officials. from the pre-
feet of a department to the humbiest
school teacher to the village constable: