The Irish standard. [volume] (Minneapolis, Minn. ;) 1886-1920, 1909-01-02
NEGRO BORN WAS A ROMAN CATHOLIC
Among the Forces Enlisted in the Cause of Freedom the
Most Potent Came From The Popes Of Rome,
Says The Lecturer

Rev. Charles Randolph Uncles, sem
icr 'colored priest in the United States.
recently lectured on ".rhe Catholic
Church and the Negro" in St. Peter
Clavers hall, Philadelphia. The fol-
lowing report of his address is taken
from the Standard and Times Of that
city:
| desire to remind you this evening
Of what the Catholic Church teaches
and practices as regards the Negro; Of
what she does as well as says In favor
Of my people.
: When Jesus Christ, the Divine
Founder of the Catholic Church, COM
missioned His disciples He assigned to
them the whole world as their Hel1 of
lebor, and the entire human family,
without regard to race or color. What
is why the Catholic Church knows nc
North or South, no East or West; that
founded on race. or color. The Catholic
Church Il, not sectional nor national,
but catholic or universal. AS tho
Church is for all countries and all
mankind, she recognizes no color line;
her places of worship have always teen
oren for all Of her children of c:.ry
race and color: in her eyes all mtr
are brothers in Christ, sons Of a COM
mon Father.
Though this is undeniably the teach
ing and the practice Of the Church,
yet her explicit commands and jealous
efforts have at times been made of no
avail by the cruel avarice and the cold
barbarism OF some of her children. But
it would be unreasonable and unfair to
hold religion responsible for the per-
vcrsity of pseudo disciples. What rea-
sonable man will hold the Church re-
sponsible for conduct that she repro
bates and condemns officially and most
explicitly?
I repeat, then, that the Catholic
Church holds and has always held in
equal regard men of all races and OF
all colors. TO the Negro, therefore, az
we'll as to all other men that have suf-
fered oppression. the Catholic Church
has, claim, ever been friend in need
and IL friend indeed.
Speaking OIL this very point. DIR. Bly,
den, the well-known Negro scholar,
wrote in "Frazcr's Magazine for May.
1870, the following words, which i!c
afterward incorporated in his Chris
tianity, Islam and the Negro Race"
"The thoughtful and cultivated Pro-
testant Negro, though he may. ex-
amino, subscribe to the tencts OF the
particular denomination to which he
belongs, as approaching nearest to the
teaching OF Gods word, cannot read
history without feeling that the Negro
race owes n debt of gratitude to the
Roman Catholic Church. The only
Christian Negroes who have had the
power successfully to throw off oppres-
sion and maintain their position as
free men were Roman Catholic Negroes
the Haitians--and the greatest Negro
the Christian world has yet produced
was q Roman Catholic-Touissaint
IiOuverture."
Wherever the Catholic Church has
had a commanding influence all races
o, men have been treated alike. This
is seen every day in every one of the
re publics Of Central and South Ameri-
ca, where the Church, though far from
unhampered, has secured for the Indian
and the Negro the free exercise of the
sJme rights and privileges that other
citizens enjoy. Yes, wherever the
Cathoic Church has commanding in
nuence, all men are treated as men
and brethren; wherever men are dis
criminated against because Of race or
color, it is in contradiction and VIOLA
tion Of the teaching Of the Catholic
/ Church.
The sentiment and belief Of Catholics