Waterbury evening Democrat., 1906-12-14
torily ordered to Rome under pain of

CCubuIG. t
 The case of Mrg Noldez is some what similar, The charges against him were of so f1agitious character that even the students of his sem mary refused to be ordained by him. He, too, refused to resign, and. like Mgr Geay, was ordered to Rome. The French government, through it's charge d'affaires, protested against what 1t termed the unwarrantable liberty taken in communicating with French bishops. It must be re- marked here that there was no Ques- tion of deposition, but only sum- mons to come to Rome, to the non- compliance with which a censure was attached, just as 1t attached to many regulations affecting even French bishops. Such letters, 1t was con- tended, were no violations of the con- cordat, for it contains no provision for such cases. Unless the French government contended that the French bishops were merely state officials, entirely withdrawn from the Jurisdiction of the pope, it is not easy to understand how 1t could take rea- sonable offense at the action of the Holy See. Yet upon these two ques- tions. the right of the Holy See to communicate with French bishops and summons them to Rome to an swer charges that had no political aspect, but were entirely ecclesiasti cal in their nature, the long looked for separation so ardently desired and so arbitrarily effected, has been consummated and the famous con- cordat is dissolved, not by Rome's wish, but the nefarious machinations of horde of infidels whose pre- dominant characteristic is hatred of Jesus Christ and all that savers of Christianity.
 The Separation Bill.
 Following the rupture with Rome came the enactment of the present separation bill To consider 1t in its various details would require too much time and space just now. It proposes in article l to give liberty of conscience, but as one reads the various articles and sees the restric- tions imposed upon the so-called free dom of worship, one cannot but feel that the French legislative assembly has some sense of humor. The lib- erty of worship granted is but the shadow of a name and so hedged round by odious conditions, that 1t is extremely despotic. Ostensibly there is separation of church and state-a condition pleasing to many of the French clergy; in reality, there is no separation, but the absorption of the church by the state. There is no recognition of the authority of the church, it is tyrannical measure enacted without giving the church a voice in the matter. The church in France is society anterior to the republic, legitimate society differ ent in object from the republic, but not opposed to it. The republic is not the sole source of the right of association, that right is natural right, logically anterior to the repub- lie. The church existed before the republic. Before it she had her hierarchy, her property, her rights, and the republic had no just power to absorb society which existed be- fore it did and whose object, never opposed to the rights of the repub- lie, was however by its very essence outside the competence of the state. i:H ,l,t
 War if Church Wants It.
 "If the church wants war;" said NJ. Clemenceau, Tuesday, "she can have it." It is declaration that strives to place the responsibility for present affairs on the church. It is cry that probably found a re-echo fin many minds. But we must not lose sight of the fact that the precarious nature of the separation bill forces the church to her present position. In the bill there is no guarantee of good faith, nor of the peace and sta bility necessary for the development of religious institutions. The bad faith of the French government left it's character for sincerity doubtful. The concordat was a bilateroal con- tract. yet we see how arbitrarily 1t was dissolved. Less still could the church in France count on a bill that party caprice could modify. aggravate and change to suit Its own tastes and whims. He is but very short-sighted who thinks that persecution would cease with the adoption of the pres ent measure. The insatiate animosi- ty of men like M. Combes is not so easily appeased. For such men the