The Irish standard., 1908-06-13

W ~oFN0.Aon AAO4u I1lo 10V10W OI OC.
tober 8. 1905. the letter we then re-
esived and the reply we made as fol-
lows:
"Ritual Of ElIs In Catholic Cemetery.
Boston, Mass, Sept. 26, '06.
Editor Review:
In one of the Boston papers 1 read
last week an account Of the funeral of
John H. Griffin. Of Quincy. Having
tcld Of the Solemn High Mass at the
church. the paper said: AT the grave
the service Of the Elks was read in
this city for the first time by Daniel
i j. Deasy, exalted ruler. and a quartet
composed Of Miss Angela Mccarthy,
Miss Josephine Mccarthy, James Lee
and DR.. Daniel B. Reardon, sang
Nearer. My God. to Thee and An
Absent Brother
Does the Church allow the burial
service of the Elks or any other secu-
lar society to be used at the grave in
her cemeteries?
Respectfully.
"S"
"(Certainly not. Our correspondent
may rest assured that the Church
would not, indeed it would be more
correct to say, that the Church could
not. tolerate any other burial service
than her own. This ritual of the Elks
was used. Of course, without the
knowledge or approval Of the clergy
who have charge Of the cemetery.
This incident illustrates very we'll
the danger Catholics. who live in
Protestant communities, are in, Of in
nocently adopting ideas and practices
foreign to Catholic principles. I'm
questionably. Mr.. Dsasy would be the
last man to substitute the burial SER
vice of the Elks for that of the
Church, had he known it to be un-
lawful.
1T would be just as reasonable for
the Elks to use their ritual in the
Church as to use it In the cemetery.
The cemetery, as we'll as the Church,
has been solemnly consecrated and
blessed and forever dedicated to the
service Of God and His people. In the
mind of the Church. and according to
the law and teaching of the Church,
the cemetery is sacred ground enjoy
ing, in many ways, the honors and
privileges Of a church. Indeed, in
very true sense the cemetery, the
resting place for while of her de-
parted children, il a church. This is
why 1T was blessed and solemnly con-
seorated by Holy Church SO that it
may be fitting place to lay the sa-
cred bodies which have been the tenn
pies Of the Holy Ghost, and which one
day will be the companions of the
angels In heaven. That is the reason,
also, why our Mother. the Church,
will allow nothing profane to enter.
Nothing profane must ever obtrude
itself into the consecrated ground of
the Church's cemetery.-Ed Review, )"
The mistake is sometimes made of
imagining that we are free to do as
we please on matters Of this kind un-
less the Bishop or Archbishop speaks,
whereas it may easily happen that he
does not know. or more likely, he may
be averse to noticing such matters,
preferring to leave us free to follow
that Catholic instinct which seldom
errs.
We now turn to our correspondence
questions: 1. What orders are now
under the ban of the Church?" Our
answer. restricted to the orders exist
ing in this country. ia: The Free Ma
sons. the Odd Fellows, Sons of Tenn
perance. and knights of Pythias. 2.
HAS any order ever escaped the ban
or had 1t lifted because of the fact that
large numbers Of Catholic members
threaten to withdraw from the Church
rather than from the order?" Answer,
never. The Catholic who maintains
the affirmative Of this question could
never have read much Of the history
CT the world. One case Of such shut
fling, or double dealing, or diplomatic
r'ethods. would discredit forever the
claim Of the Church to be the teacher
of truth and tho ditness to Jesus
Christ and His Gospel. Could Clement
VII tergiversate in the case OF Henry
VIII, England would be Catholic to-
day. OF course. our correspondent
must understand that the Church is
constantly changing her disciplinary
laws to accommodate them to the new
needs of the people. The Church has
this power to change her own laws.
but when it is a question of changing
the laws Of nature or certain positive
laws of God, the Church is powerless.
The illustration Of this principle will
appeal in the reply Of the ecclesias-
tical authorities TO certain Catholic