The Minneapolis journal. [volume] (Minneapolis, Minn.) 1888-1939, 1906-12-24
IRELAND ANALYSES
? FRENCH SITUATION
ARCHBISHOP DELIVERS ADDRESS
ON RELIGIOUS CRISIS.
Eminent Prelate Sees Hope that All
Troubles Between Church and State
Will Be Satisfactorily Settled-Lays
Part of Blame on Clergy-Many
Infidels in Power.

Archbishop John Ireland, in sermon
delivered Sunday morning in the Cathe-
dral, st. Paul, discussed the present re-
igious crisis in France. Aside from
personal knowledge of the French
people and governmental affairs gained
from several years residence in that
| country as student, and in subsequent
visits, the archbishop is thoroly con-
versant with the situation as one of
the live topics of his church.
| After succinct statement of the
| troubles between church and state from
a historical standpoint, prefaced by a
statement that in his opinion all the
differences will be worked out event.
cerned, the archbishop gave the fol-
lowing analysis Of the situation in
| France:
| crux Of Situation.
What is the matter with the govern
ment of France? What is the matter
| with France?
Two chief ideas dominate the minds
OF men who at the present time govern
France-one, a hatred of religion; an
other, the omnipotence of the state.
| 1t is lamentable fact that there is in
France a party bent on the destruction
| OF religion. The war Is made on the
|
| represents religion. In reality, in intent
and in fact, the war is against Christian
lty under any form, against religion of
| any kind, against the idea itself of God
relgn1ng over men. The old spirit of VOL
taire and the Encyclopedias of the
eighteenth century never died out in
France. 1t had an outburst Of triumph,
in the revolution, when God was de-
clared nom existent, and infamy itself, de-
hn 'CrNI 80
lifted to alteration upon the altar of the
Cathedral Of Paris. 1t slumbered awhile
under succeeding imperial and royal
! regimes; it has reawakened to new vigor
| IN the freedom allowed to thought and
| speech by the present republic. I need
but quote few sayings of it's modern
apostles.
In an address in the chamber Of depu-
| ties, Juares, the well-known socialist
leader, has said: IF God himself APP
peared before the multitude in palpable
form, the first duty of men would be to
refuse him obedience, to consider him not
as a master to whom all should submit,
but as an equal, with whom men may ar
gue.' Viviani, the present minister of la
Dor, has said: "All Of US together, first
by our forefathers, then by our fathers,
| now by ourselves, have been attached to
| the work of anti-clericalism and irrelig-
1
| science from belief in a future life"
| An important member Of the present
! ministerial majority, Monsieur Delpech,
| has uttered these words: 1.-The triumph of
the Galilean has lasted twenty centuries,
| it is now his turn to die. The mysterious
voice which once in the mountains of
Epirus announced the death of Pan, to-
| day announces the end of that false God,
who promised an era of justice to those
who should believe in him. The decep-
| ton has lasted long enough; the lying
God In his turn disappears" So wild in
practice is the spirit of religion that for
years no official of the government has
had the will or the courage to pronounce
IN public proclamation or discourse the
name of God unless it were in derision
and from the text books used in national
schools and colleges the name Of God has
been erased, as equally so all words that
tell Of a spiritual soul in man, or of q
moral law deriving it's binding force from
! the heavens
lnfdeIs Are Active
This party Of infidels and atheists is
far from being. France, as shall later
say; but 1t is active, persistent, unscru-
pulOus, and it forces itself with vengeance
to the front. 1t has grasped the helm of
power, and it steers the ship of state into
llg1on. Yesterday it was Combes. the
most brutal of all; today it is Clemen-
ceau, somewhat more subdued in his
hatred, but yet leader in the fight,
with such men, and with others d.
Vldlng with them public power, even if
less violent adopts Of irreligion, there
reigns another idea-the omnipotence of
the state. This was ever the plague of
F'rance-even when her rulers were deyout
Catholics. The state must control all
agencies Of power; it must brook no
rivals. Even the church must be in the
hands OF the government. So it was with
Louis XIV and with Napoleon, so is it
with the republic. The republic is a
name In France; it has been we'll said of
it that it sleeps on the bed of Louis XIV.
France has never understood the mean
ing 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. The most repub-
lican of republicans seated In parlia-
ment set out at once to regulate all
things to their own liking. I'VE are the
state" they cry out, as Louis XIV once
said: II 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 it were not to some extent,
at least, the spirit Of some good Catho-
lies, who, were they tomorrow in the
ascendancy, should believe it their duty
to make every one go to mass as the
present government assumes it as their
duty to let no one go to mass.
Hatred Of Religion.
Combine together in the present gov
eminent of France the idea of deep
seated hatred Of religion and that Of the
omn1potence Of the state, and you can
understand how the law of separation,
with its associations Of worship, has
come to be enacted.
Let us understand, however, what is
meant by the government, lest we be-
lieve things to be worse than they are
The law Of separation was carried in
the chamber of deputies by vote of 341
against 233, and in the senate by a vote
of ISL against 102. 1t would not have
Required a very marked change in mem
bership in either Of the chamber or of the
senate to have defeated the law. Sound
sense and a respect for rights covers
yet more benches in the French parlia-
ment; and no wonder were it If one day
it claimed supremacy. r.
| What is the matter with France:
Why does there come from the urns OF
France the anti-Catholic majorities in
parliament? -. t.'r.*
France is a Catholic country; Of thi.
we must not doubt. Inidelty has mad,
it's inroads among her people; the ties
of active faith, attendance at mass ant
the reception of a sacrament is wantinf
among many. But their hearts are loya
to the old religion, and summoned II