The Irish standard., 1908-05-09

III tn0 early years OF tne nlneteentn
century the atmosphere of New York
was not favorable to the consideration
of Catholicism by non Catholics. says
MonsiEnor Burtsell in the New York
Sun Of May 3.
The State Constitution had been
marred by suspicion of Catholics. John
Jay was able to foist upon the article
granting naturalization to foreigners
the requirement OF an oath of abjura-
tion Of submission to any foreign po-
tentate or priest In matters ecclesias-
tical or civil. Although this article had
certainly been annulled by the reserva-
ton in 1889 to Congress Of the power
Of making laws of naturalization, yet
this oath continued to be required from
all offlceholders in New York till 1906,
when it was finally abrogated in conse-
quence of an earnest petition to the
Legislature signed by about 1900 Cath
ollcs Of the city. A sample OF the feel
ing which pervaded the people may be
mentioned in the case about 1916 Of a
city official who cut Off all acquaint-
ance with his sister because she mar
ried an Englishman and with his
younger brother because he married
a Romanist though their mother re-
sided with the Romanist family. Here
and there sporadic case occurred of
Il conversion to Catholicism, especial
ly of some religious minded clergyman,
who. however, by his return to the old
Mother Church subjected himself to
much obloquy and denunciation. as Ii
he wero giving himself up to an idola-
trous worship fraught with immoral
ity
However. it was natural that the
great Oxford movement inaugurated by
Pusey. Newman, Keblc and others in
the Anglican body of England should
make a serious impression upon it's
American offspring. The revival Of
respect and appreciation Of teachings
of the Catholic Church. the new i'm
! portance attached to the necessity Of
Apostolic succession for true minis
try. an alienation from the Calvinistic
theory of total depravity, the rejection
or the Lutheran justification by faith
alone, began to permeate the Episco-
palian body in the United States.
Among the first to enter the Catho-
lie Church under the influence of this
movement in the United States was the
Rev. James Roosevelt Bayley. of dis
tinguished American ancestry. an Epis-
copal minister in Harlem. A serious
study Of the early Fathers Of the
Church had made him discontented
with the course Of the Episcopalian
body and convinced him Of the neces-
sity of entering the Catholic fold; he
became a member Of 1t in Rome about
1910. After several years course Of
study at the Seminary Of st. Sulpice of
Paris he was ordained to the priest
| hood in 1874 in New York by Arch
bishop Hughes. Intelligent genial and
methodical, he was influential in the
exercise Of the sacred ministry and
in the orderly arrangement Of the di-
ocesan archives He wrote a. brief
but interesting historical sketch of
Catholicism in New York. From 1853
to 1872 he was the pioneer Bishop Of
Newark. doing splendid work for it's
thorough organization. In 1872 he was
promoted to the archbishopric OF Bal.
timore, where he died in 1877.
The Tractarian movement, by which
name the Oxford tendency was famil-
iarly known, took a strong hold of
many Of the inmates of the Episcopal
General Theological Seminary of New
York, where Tract 30 was welcomed
and hailed because of It's effort to rec
orcile the twenty-nine articles of the
Anglican body with the teachings of
the Catholic Church. Wards Ideal
of a Christian Church" encouraged
many. of the inmates to the prac-