Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1907-07-11
TALKS IN NEW YORK TODAY
Has Studied Church System In
America.
WILL BE HERE FOUR MONTHS
He Says That the Present Clerical
Conditions in France Cannot
Possibly Last.

NEW YORK, July 1l.-France is no,
lost to the Catholic Church and notwith-
standing the seemingly irreconcilable diff
ferences now existing between the French
government and the Vatican. Able Felix
Klein. the French clerical writer ana
scholar. who has Just arrived here, said yes
terday. the Church in France would survive
the exactiors and spoliatious OF the
state" and, with the Catholic Church In
America a model. in the future would
develop a strong spirit of freedom and
would throw of It's dependency on the
French government. Able Klein is here
to give further study to American church
Institutions together with the country's
moral and civic development. and he hopes
to obtain such knowledge as may aid in
the solution of the difficulties which now
beset the Church in France The able. who
has made a profound study Of the church
system in America. and who has written
many works of note on religious life In
this country, believes that America Will
be the dominant power in the Catholic
Church in the future unless there is a
subsistence of the disposition on the part
Of the Latin governments to take control
Of the church. Able Klein will be here
for four months. and will lecture on The
religious crisis in France at Chautauqua,
Chicago San Francisco. Boston and sew
eral other cities in the United States
Conditions Must Change.
Church conditions now existing in
France as regards the state" said Able
Klein today, have reached a point where
their continuance may be truthfully de-
scrbed absurdity. The church and
the government alike realize that the pres
ent conduct of affairs by the state cannot
go The immediate result of the sepa-
ration act is bad. having provoked a spirit
of war on the part of the government
which has made Itself manifest in the
spoliations and confiscation of church prop
erty by the state. Each day new difficulties
arise causing more friction to develop.
The government has confiscated all
church property. and today. while services
are being regularly held in the churches
there is no legal right on the part OF the
clergy to use them. This curious situation.
which has reached an absurd stage be-
cause of the exactions of the French gov
eminent. developed naturally from the gov
ernment's abrupt adjustment of the
cordat between the Vatican and the French
state. -..
The government sought to foist a control
ling system on the church. known as assoc
Citations for public worship, to which the
pope declined to submit. Thereupon the
government contiscated all church proper
ties, and today. while the church continues
to use the edifices and institutions, no one
can say IL a church burns down whether
the government the church should re-
build it. .+5
Church in America.
Today there are no parishes or dioceSes
in France and here and there Instances
have arisen where local municipalities have
sought to control absolutely the number, and
length of the church services within their
municipal Jurisdiction. The situation can
not last and while the French government
will doubtless ever seek some control over
the church, l look to see the state take
more neutral ground that in the end the
French church may attain freedom from
hampering dependency on the government
for herself and her institutions"
Able Klein said that the progress OF the
Catholic Church in America was IN keeping
with the marvellous advance OF the people
and the nations development, and that
while the head of the Catholic Church. the
pope, would ever be the Bishop OF Rome.
he thought the future would find the domi-
nant forces in the Catholic Church in
America.