The Irish standard., 1907-03-16

1.-THE Catholic Church and the War
fare of Science was the subject of
a recent sermon in Philadelphia by
the we'll known Jesuit scholar and lee
turer, Rev. William O'Brien Pardon.
We are indebted to the Catholic Stan
dard and Times for the following ex-
tracts:
There are a great many men and
women of our day who are bitterly
opposed to the Catholic Church be-
cause they are convinced that it is
opposed to science. Volumes without
number can be found on the shelves of
any non-Catholic. library in which the
so-called warfare Of the Church
against all scientific knowledge is
loudly proclaimed to the world. Thus
1t is not surprising that the mass of
mankind who accept statements sec
ond-hand firmly believe that religion
has come forth humiliated and dis
credited from a protracted contest
against triumphant science. The
steady aim Of the Church, SO state all
the "warfare- Of science books" has
been to KEEP the human race in men,
tai bondage, and thus preserve its own
prestige. These bold assertions, it is
true, are not now repeated quite SO
frequently nor so positively as they
used to be. Men have learned by fre-
quent experience that because an as
sertion is found in print it does not at
all follow that it is true, and those
who profess to be real students are
now clamoring for proof, instead of
mere assertions. But if we go a little
farther in our search for the origin of
all this opposition Of many men and
women to the Church, we shall find
that their attacks are not so much
against certain dogn1as of the Catholic
Church as against Christianity itself;
that is, against. all revealed religion.
Any one who has followed the trend
of religious thought in our country for
the past twenty-five years must stand
aghast at the frequency with which
belief in the virgin birth of our Lord
and Saviour has been denied in So
called Christian pulpits. Moreover,
men who still profess a belief in re-
ligion proclaim that it must have no
dogmas and no creed. Now, this un-
reasonable opposition to dogma and to
creed is the more surprising as science
has it's definite dogmas and creeds just
as well as religion. The moment that
scientific research gets beyond the
stage of mere theory-that is, becomes
real science-it, at the very same in
slant, becomes absolute in it's dogma
tisnl. Chemistry has its creed; electri-
city has it's creed. And although ma
ture is the willing slave Of man in all
his needs, still she will be Of service to
him only on condition that man first
make himself familiar with her various
scientific creeds and submit to all their
minutest requirements. The rays Of
the sun, for example, will travel ninety
millions of miles and take your photo
graph for you at the end of their jour-
ney, but you must first procure an
advanced copy of the SUMS creed in the
matter of light; and you must sedu-
luously carry out each one Of it's ar
ticlcs, otherwise it will most stubborn
ly refuse to exert its wonderful pow
ers at your bidding.
The Catholic Church has always en-
couraged knowledge Of every sort, and
the Popes have drawn to Rome the
greatest minds in literature, art and
science. There is, however, one strik-
ing fact that stands out in bold relief
from the pages of history, and which
seems to contradict all that have said
about the Church's encouragement of
scientific research, and that is the
worldfamous condemnation of Cali
leo.
Let us glance at this much debated