The Irish standard. [volume] (Minneapolis, Minn. ;) 1886-1920, 1907-08-24
Brilliant Defense of the Doctrine of the Uni
versal Church. The Fate of All
New Dogma's.
The So Called Liberal Catholics of Present
Day and Their Hobbies, Compared With
Those of Former Years.

| Rome was never without work
enough to keep her busy. There was
never an age since Paul arid Peter
that someone was not trying to tell
her how best to be what, in his opin-
ion. Christ meant her to be. writes
Prof ]. c. Monaghan. In the bat
ties she has fought. she has never
had to borrow the weapons of one age
to beat down the arrows of another
except that her best weapon. in each
and every age. has been the Truth.
AS the last echoes OF Dollinger's De
volution.' or ld-Catholicism. are dy-
ing away, Neo-C'a Catholicism is coming
up. It, too. has had its prototypes in
the ages. Against the insidious sap
pers and miners" inside the Church
itself. sanity Plus X. is sending forth
an encyclical, or circular letter The
new "sowers Of tares. apostles OF
naonstrous heresies. ands-rebtls who
dreamed ofthe renewal oe dogma. by
return to the pure Gospel. apart from
| the authority of the Church and of
theology" are up against the lightnings
Of Rome. The Pope's letter has been
answered (?) by an Italian document
that Is supposed to have five priests
behind it. Archbishop Ireland's mas
| terly. article In the North American
Review. in reply to an anonymous
priest in this country. will he worthy
OF an Italian Archbishop's imitation.
The letter of the five priests talks
of the dishonest conduct of the church
authorities (Condotta disonesta), and
proceeds to paint a. picture in passion
ate disregard of the past and of truth.
1t is all OF a piece with the battles that
have been fought for the last 1900
years. In 1901, to go back no further.
France was wild enough in her rage
against Rome, to imagine the possible
ity Of putting up a. new Catholic re-
ligion. La. Petite Eglise It was called
The French are always poetical in
their phraseology. August 15-Lady
Day-1s01. Plus IX. wiped the entire
French episcopate off the face of the
earth. sub divided the dioceses and
thus created a. new hierarchy. The
Gallicans. seeing in this an oppor-
tunity to separate themselves entirely
from Rome, set up for themselves and
organized La Petite Eglise"-The lit
tie church. This unique institution
was composed Of a considerable num-
ber of bishops, priests and laymcn
The last bishop Of this bit Of bizarre
church went on his knees to Rome in
memory. l venture to say that not
many who peruse these pages ever
heard of La Petite Eglise F'rancaise"
And yet it stirred Rome to the depths
"iE its day, as Gid Dollinger's Old
Catholicism, in its day" In 1871, DOL
linger satisfied with the Vatican
Councils decree Of infallibility, organ
lied a movement that was to wipe
Rome from the list of living churches,
replacing it by a better (?). purer co,
because a more faithful (?) church.
La Petite Egise refused to recognize
Rome's authority in matters of juris-
diction; the Old Catholics took excep-
ton to Rome's authority in matters of
faith. In the bunch that began Old
Catholicism we find professors. priests
(mostly in bad odor with the bshops) |
and laymen; learned (?) laymen. It'll
was pitiful spectacle this old Catho-
lie movement. Dollinger. who a. short
time before had been the best defend |
er Rome had in the new empire. had
gone over body and soul into the new
schism. The weight Of his word was |
the worst that Rome had to meet: but I
she met it. New defenders appeared |
in Germany; men like Jansen. greater
by far than DoIlinger. Dogma. said
the Separationists, to be valid and
obeyed, must accord with the Holy