New-York tribune., 1906-10-14
THE CHURCH IN FRANCE AND SPAIN.


The reassembIing Of the Spanish Cortes, only
q few days off, is to be regarded with some ap-
prehension in Spain and with deep interest by
the world at large, as certainly marking the
opening of an earnest debate and as possibly
precipitating a violent political conflict over
the question of the relationship ef Church and
State. We have hitherto told Of the action OK
the King and his Ministers in decreeing that
the Roman Catholic Church shall not have
monopoly of the right to perform marriage
ceremonies. but that marriage shall be civil
contract and that public cemeteries shall not
be closed against non Catholics but shall be
under municipal control for burials without re-
gard to creed There are other Items In the
government programme. Education Is to be
seeularized, and uhautherized clerical orders
are to be suppressed. 1t Is made known that
the government is fully resolved to maintain it's
ground and it is also intimated that the Cleri-
cal party In the Cortes will vigorously assail It.
What the outcome of the controversy will be 1t
would be idle to try to predict We can only
hope that it will make both for the advance
ment of civilization and the rights of man, and
for the growth and confirmation of religion and
morals.
In France the crucial date Is further away,
yet near at hap6- Scarcely two months remain
before the BRAND law for the separation Of
Church and State vii; go into effect, and as
yet no 0lndAS nireHds has apparently been
reached. The. Church continues to protest
against the prescribed associations oultuelGes
while the government maintains its prescrip-
ton of them and also its penalty for their nom
fOrmation-to wit the taking charge OF the
churches bS the State for educational plrposes
II is scarcely conceivable, however, that this
radical disagreement will be maintained to the
end, and that the results which 1t poPtends will
be literally fulfilled. The (,''lrch will scarcely
permit the bulk of its properties TO be alien
ated and the French government viii surely
not bring upon the country the unspeakable dis
aster of practical suppression of the worship
Of the great majority of the people Of France.
The extreme demand Of some Socialists, that In
return for its refusal TO accept the law the
Catholic Church be outlawed and all its prop
erty confscated. will, OF course, not be granted.
Thoughtful French statesmen have Iii mind no
such madness as that. That there will be any
repeal of the law is not to be expected; but we
may assume that before December II a way
will he found TO comply with OF to enforce the
law without betraying or expressing the Church
correspondent appears to take sone exeep-
ton elsewhere in to-day's Tribune to a recent
article Of ours upon this subject We welcome
his letter for its elueidation of the law which
prevails in Germany and for its statement of
his Interpretation of the new French law. His
exception appears, however, to be taken against
an eminent Catholic writer. whom we quoted,
rather than against us. Apart from technical
details 1t seems to US that the saving feature
of the new French system, from the clerical
point OF view. and the one which suggests the
possibility OF ultimately accepting that system
without detFment TO the Church. is this, That
the associations cultaelles, while they are, as
our correspondent says, to be invested not only
with 1.-The administration Of Church property
"but also the administration Of worship which
an France means the ADMINISTRATION OF relig-
"ion" are required by the hw 10 exercise their
powers in conformity with the general laws and
practices OF the Church. That 1t seems TO us,
should preyert them from introducing schism
or from doing anything contrary TO the will of
the Pope and the bishops.
For these boards of lay trustees 10 admins
ter worship" does not, OF course, mean that
they are TO administer the sacraIuents or Con-
duet the services, but simply that they are to
provide and arrange for the doing of those
things by the ordained clergy. Precisely such
n system prevails In most churches. in this and
other countries. but we seldom hear Of any trus-