Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1906-12-24
LAMENTS THE NEW LAW
He Discusses the Power of the In.
fidels and Atheists.
0MNIP0TENCE OF THE STATE
Declares That the French Catholics
Have Been Unfortunate in
Their Leaders.

ST. PAUL December 24.-Archbishop Ire
land, in his sermon at the cathedral yes
terday morning, spoke on the topic,
Church and State in France" He said,
in part:
THE conflict raging as the present time
between the church and the state In France
awakens universal and profound interest.
1t could not be otherwise were it only
for the personalities of the contestants;
on the one side the Catholic Church. which
for ages has swayed the moral and religious
life of the tens of millions of mankind, and
demands. as in heavens name the right
to continue its work a-down the coming
ages; on the other, the ''grande nation
which since the days of Clovis and Char
lemagne has reveled in the title of "eld-
est daughter of the church, and has held
so long amid peoples the most conspicuous
place in the vanguard of religion and Of
civilization.
For the moment the situation Is I'M
doubtedly serious for both contestants.
Yet, seen more a-near. it reveals no color
ing of despair either for France or for the
Church of France. A bright morning, 1
dare predict, will, at no distant time, dawn
over the field OF battle, dropping from the
skies sunshine Of peace, and begetting, both
in the church and in France, joy and eX-
ultation that the passage at arms. angry
as it was, has opened the way to a clearer
warmer glow of olden mutual love.
And now, by act of parliament, the con-
cordant is abolished. regime of separation
is instituted. Let not Americans be mis-
led by words which have a totally different
significance in their land from what is al
lowed to them in France. Separation of
the church from the state in America
means liberty and justice; there it means
servitude and oppression.
Under advice from the head of the
church, the bishops of France refused the
associations offered by the law of separa-
ton. They acted from principle; in the
interest of religion they could not approve
such associations; they could not by toler-
ating them appear to approve them.
The Pope Knew.
Pope and bishops knew the consequences
that were to follow; the spirit of the gov
eminent was not hidden from their eyes;
it was an era Of persecution.
TT is lamentable fact that there is in
France a party bent on the destruction of
religion. The war is made on the Catholic
Church, because she in France represents
religion. In reality, in intent and in fact,
the war is against Christianity under any
form, against religion Of any kind, against
the idea itself Of a God reigning over man.
The old spirit of Voltaire and the ency-
clopaedlsts of the eighteenth century never
died out in France
This party of infidels and atheists is far
from being France, but 1t is active, per-
sistent, 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 darkets depths Of
unbelief and irreligion. Yesterday 1t was
Cambes, the most brutal of all; today it is
Clemenceau, somewhat more subdued in his
hatred, but yet leader in the fight.
with such men there reigns another
idea, the omnipotence of the state. This
was ever the plague Of France even when
her rulers were devout Catholics. The
state must control all agencies OF power;
1t must brook no rival Even the church
must be in the hands Of the government
So was it with Louis XIV and with Ma
poleon; SO 1t with the republic. The re-
public is a name in France; 1t has been
well said of 1t that it sleeps on the bed
of Louis XIV. France has never under
stood the meaning Of 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 veal.
State a Great Power.
THE state is the great power, and all
must think and act as the state wills. This
is certainly the spirit Of the infidels who
now rule the country, and l am not at all
sure it would not be. to some degree, at
least. the spirit Of good Catholics who,
were they to be tomorrow in the ascen-
dency, would believe 1t their duty to make
every one go to mass, as the present gov
eminent assumes 1t as its duty to let no
one go to mass.
Then French Catholics have been un-
fortunate in many Of their leaders and
spokesman. If the masses Of the people
have learned any one thing 1t is this: That
France is republic, that they are republic
cans. The infidel, the socialist, who go
ltcits votes, cries out: The republic Is in
peril; no republican must cast his vote for
infidel or the socialist, in order that the
republic survive, trusting to the republic to
do in the long run what is most serviceable
for France and even for religion itself
The evil goes further. There is an in
fidel or a socialist candidate, and opposed
to him a republican, moderate conserva-
tive, who clings to a peaceful, even re-
ligious France. But he is re-
publican; monarchists, generally we'll
known Catholics, put up n candidate
of their own; the king must not be for
gotten; If no kings live, scores of them
nave lived, and fidelity to them Is the
moderate republican is defeated the infl-
del or socialist is elected.
mo one understood France better than
Leo XIII. He bade all Catholics seek
the welfare of country and of church with
in the ranks of loyal adherents to the re-
public Had Leo been listened to- France,
in all probability, would have escaped the
religious persecution of the present day.
Monarchial ideas and plottings have done
dreadful injury to the church in France"
SO, 10000 CARGO.