The Intermountain Catholic. (Salt Lake City [Utah] ;) 1899-1920, 1908-03-21

able life; % to eXaggerate, or unduly
and unjustly dwell upon the personal
! shortcomings of some of the prominent
children Of the church, most unjustly
attributing the wicked deeds of the
children to the mother. However, 1t is
not this extreme class of historians
which occupies our attention at the
! present time: there is another class, re-
/ ferTed to in the letter of our glorious
/ poDe-sUch as, being Catholics and en-
deavoring to square Catholic truth with
| their oWH perverted IDEAS account for
/ the wonderful miracles of Christ and
| His apostles and saints, the astounding
growth of the early church, the sim
! pie, steadfast moral courage and pure
life of the early Christians, the rise
Of the papacy, the other matters per-
tanning to church history, in a way
which would appear ludicrous. if the
earnest warning words of Plus X did
! not uncover the hidden sinister inten-
ton, and probable effect.
| In a number of pages of his Encycli-
cal, our, Holy Father dwells upon the
causes of Modernism among some of the
children of the Church; and, having
carefully entered into it, and watched
! its progress with solicitOus care for the
welfare of the sacred institution whose
| glorious head he has the honor to be, he
names curiosity, impTudently regulated
and pride as the primary causes of the
uouble. Without doubt, Divine REVEAL
ton contains many truths which go be-
| yond mans comprehension; and I'M
| guarded curiosity is the root of most err
rors. seeking to know beyond what it is
meant to know, and relying too much
on itself to find the truth outside the de-
| post of faith, and the Church, where
alone truth is found without the posi-
bility of doubt. The Vatican Council
explicitly decreed that IF any one says
that man cannot be raised by God to
a knowledge and perfection which sur
passes nature, but that man can and
should by his own efforts and by con-
slant development, attain finally to the
possession of all truth and good, let him
be anathema.''
Besides curiosity and an inordinate
desire to attain all knowledge independ-
emily of supernatural guidance and as
sistance. pride is a primary factor in
leading many into the falIaciese of Mod
ernism. The proud spirit of many a
writer will not submit to the decision of
the Congregation which places his work,
the fruit of much earnest thought. on
the Index. and withdraws it from gen
eraI perusal. An abnormal curiosity,
actuated by an inordipate desire to
know, having caused aberra tons of hui
man reason, pride and obstinacy refus-
ing to subject knowledge thus acquired
to the authority of the Church and to
Gods Revelation, which is knowledge
infinitely more certain-we readily con-
cetve how difficult it is to convince such
a person of the danger of his position.
AS remedies to prevent the spread and
growth of Modernistic principles, the ul-
innate result of which must be an
alarming increase of atheism and inf
deity. the Holy Father ordains the re-
turn to- the old Scholastic philosophy,
especially that of St. Thomas Aquinas.
the exclusion of persons inlbued with
Modernistic principles from the faculty
of any college or university, certain
regulations with reference to episcopal
vigilance and censorship over publica-
tons; and after some earnest admoni-
tons to priests about editing papers and
periodicals, or attending congresses out
side their own diocese, the Venerable
Pontiff brings the memorable Encyclical
to close.
Worthy Brothers, in viewing the
whole matter of Modernism. which is
agitating the educated world in the
present age, we cannot but notice that
in its elementary principles it is out a
continuation of the age-long skirmish
between dogma and science, between
authority and independence stability
and change, rest and unrest. Cathol-
iclsm rests on authority, on divinely
revealed dogma, which, when once de-
fined, are Gods truth for all ages. and
cannot be changed may not even be
tested; the opposition to this is ever
lasting change, doubt, unrest 1t is this
offer of stability, of absolute certainty
and rest which like a magnet has at
tracted Wearied souls to the church
through all ages" 1t was this hope for
a sure footing amid the diversity of con-
-flctlng opinions which drew Newman
to Rome, and made Thomas a Kempis
cry out: 'Tu vera pax cords, tn sofa
requles, extra te omnia stunt dura eli
inquieta. Thou are the true peace OF
heart, thou are its only rest out of thee
all things are, filled with trouble and
unrest" Out of the Church the motto
prevails: Dubito. ergo sum; doubt,
therefore l am. The scientist who rests
only on human reason, knows no GER
talnty, no dogma, nothing but item.
porary working hypothesis, he de-
mands each day a newer, larger reve-
lation.
We know it is idle to waste any con-
Germ on the outcome of this skirmish. i
The Church has seen, the choicest
PSe'l 10 VI IIOleSlantlSfn dissolved by the !
acids of higher criticism" If Luther |
AWlngh, Calvin, Knox and the other So
called reformers, were to return today !
they would not recognize their own han
diwork. and would themselves be re-
garded as reactionaries. In all ages the |
overthrow of the Church was predicted; |
she stands forth today stronger in the |
hearts and minds of her people than |
ever, and as Newman has said: "a reli- |
gion which has fiourished through so |
many ages, among so many nations, |
amid such varieties eof social life. in |
such contrary classes and conditions of I
men. and after so many revolutions po-
litical and civil-can still subdue the |
reason and overcome the heart"
Hear the children of the U. S. A. SIS
from St. AIMS at Theatre, Saturday,
March q.