The Irish standard., 1907-10-12

ed the advice of Leo XIII. to accept
the republic Of France.
"And now we have the situation of
today. It is absurd-and severe; as
absurd for the government as severe
for the church. We have a government
that is violating it's own laws and re-
framing from prosecuting others that
also violate them. Is it not so? The
state has closed the churches by law
to religious bodies which would not
form associations cultuelles,' but they
are still used by the Catholic clergy;
and the government does not dare to
close them actually. Is that not an alb
surd situation? And it is fully as pre-
carious for the church as it is incon-
sruous for the state; for it places the
church in the position Of a law-break-
er, and makes it subject, Of course. to
prosecution at any time. It cannot
last
ut cannot last, you say. What will
be the outcome, then?''
"Ah, who knows? God alone knows
that"
But what is your opinion?"
"Who can tell? We are at the crisis
now. No one can tell what will come
next, but it cannot last. The use Of
the churches as places of worship may
terminate at any time. Pastors having
no legal right to the buildings cannot
make the necessary repairs on them;
they can be used only as temporary
places Of worship as long as the walls
stand and the roofs keep out the rain.
The situation is precarious indeed. and
no one can predict what will happen!"
What effect has all this had upon
the peoples" ..... a. =. -. .s-:
1.-THE churches are filled more than
ever, and the Catholics are, in the cit
les, at least, contributing to the sup
port of their priests; and that is some
thing they have never done before But
l VIC pS04SiS11 al "uiSu pA1C5tS
themselves is a most sad and trying
one. What can they do? They have
no homes, no means. of support. But
lthsy are brave, and hopeful And hsre
!: we, see the geod effects az thr Law OF
Separation. 1t has made the church in
dependent, and when the crisis is
passed we will be strong and young
again. Do you not see that? Though
the law has deprived the church of
all property. it has given her an inde-
pendence which she did not enjoy under
the Concordat. Under that agreement
the bishops of France were prohibited
to meet without special permission of
the government. They could not en-
ter: into any. agreement even by letter
without the consent of. the state. They
could not appoint any pastor of par
ish without the approval of the gov
ernment officials: and this meant that
the candidate had to be acceptable to
everyone of a host of office holders and
even the chief of the Masonic lodge
Otherwise he would be rejected by the
government To save unnecessary de-
lays, the bishops usually submitted only
the names Of those whom they thought
to be acceptable to the officials, and
these were generally not the most wor-
thy. The Holy See in appointing bish-
ops was compelled to name those NOM
mated by the government. so that the
church was shackeled by the Concordat
and denied. that freedom which should
have been hers by right.
NOW all this is changed. The
bishops are free to assemble together
for counsel" and -deliberation whenever
they choose, and during the past year
they have held three meetings without
let or hindrance by the government.
They are free to appoint the most wor-
thy candidates to the charge of parish
es no matter whether the candidates
are acceptable to the government or not
The vacant Sees in France have been
filled by the Pope since the abrogation
of the Concordat, when there were fif-
teen vacant bishoprics in France owing
to the. failure of the government to
nominate suitable candidates. This
freedom of the church has compensat-
ed for many disagreeable features OF
the Separation Law. and there are few
Catholics now. who would be willing to
return to the slavery imposed by the
Concordat on the church,
There are no longer any such thing
then. as relations between the church
and the government go.
mo, that has all passed.. No more
political interference. 1t was tlia,
which weakened the church and left II
open to the oft repeated charge tha,
the Catholics were anti Republican
and even secretly fostering the Mon.