The Intermountain Catholic. (Salt Lake City [Utah] ;) 1899-1920, 1909-09-18
THE EXAMPLE OF
UNITY SET BY
GERMAN CATHOLICS
New York Freeman's JournaD

and of every other country owe a deb
OF era titude to the Catholics uf trar-
many for fUrl Sh LIS a practical DEM
Onstration of the good which can be ac
complished by Catholic unity. Tie viz
! tories they have won are the more le-
markable from the fact that they were
| scored in the face of difficulties Which
seemed to be Irresistible. Stricken
| France lay bleeding ut every pore. The
policy of blood and iron had carried
everything before it, brushing aside all
obstacles that would impede its onward
| progress. The iron will back of the Sc
ries of events which led up to the Ger
man empire and a United Germany,
had compelled obedience to its behests,
and was ready for new cOnquests.
The Catholic church in Germany was
selected as the next object for Bis
marcks onset. It's spiritual indepen
| dence was distasteful to him and he de-
| termined to make it an humble servant
| of the state. He had great ARMIES at
his beck and call and could WELD the
| influence of the most powerful govern
| ment in Europe. He never doUbted for
a moment of his final triumph. He HIM
self gave voice to his confidence when
he proudly boosted :hat he would never
go to Canossa. 1t was with light
heart that he undertook To dragon the
Catholic church into subm ssion. Bish-
ops and priests were imprisoned and eX-
lied because they refused 30 obey Laws
which they could not obey consCien-
tiCusly. At the beginning IF the war
upon the church, victory seemed about
to declare itself on the side of the iron
chancellor.
The affairs of the church in Germany
were in as bad, or perhaps worse, condi-
ton than they are in France today,
When the German Catholics, not con-
filming themselves to vain and ineffective
denunciations, resolved upon putting
forth their whole strength in defense of
their spiritual mother. Under the splen-
did leaderships of Windhorst and other
able leaders they began the work of or
ganizing and never tagged in it until
they had marshalled their forces in
numbers so imposing that the sponsor
of the infamous May laws had to give
heed to their wishes. Bismarck did go
to Canossa, and, as a result, his anti
Catholic measures were expunged from
the statute book.
When the attempt to make the church
the obedient servant of the state vas
inaugurated, the German Catholics were
able to poll $4,000 votes which were
represented by fifty-eight deputies in
the reichstag. That was a fairly good
beginning. Three years later an army
of a million Catholic voters deposited
their ballots in the ballot box, electing
ninety-one deputies. Organization, for
which Germans seem to have a genius
had done its work. But million votes
were not to be the high water mark Of
German Catholic endeavor in behalf of
the church. In the closing years of the
nineteenth century the million votes
had been increased to million and
half, and in the opening years of the
present century it had reached one mil
lion eight hundred thousand. At the
last general election in the winter Of
1907. German Catholics elected 107 cf
the 397 deputies in the reichstag Tc-
day they hold the balance of power in
the reichstag as between the other war
ring political parties Whilst ever on
the alert to champion the legitimate in
terests of the church, German Catho-
lies, as a political factor have shown
themselves thoroughly loyal to the Fa-
therland. They have stood as a solid
phalanX against the inroads of socialism
and anarchism, which. if successful,
would infict such irreparable injury
upon Germany.
AS one contemplates the splendid rec
ord made by German Catholics, one
cannot help putting the question, why
cannot the unity, which has made the
work of our German brothers so fruit
full, be established among Catholics in
other lands? If it had existed in France
the Clemenceaus and Brands would not
have won victory after victory with
comparatively little effort. In our coun-
try too, we have much to learn from
the brilliant achievements of our Ger
man brothers in the faith. 1t is true
that we are not called upon to exert our |
energies, as Catholics, in the political /
field as German Catholics have been
compelled to do by the force of circum-
stances. Luckily we are living under a
form of government that can be relied |
upon not to adopt Bismarckan tactics. |
But whilst there is no need of a Cath |
Ole political party in this country, there
is still field in which Catholics acting
as a unit may effect a great deal 1t is |
this conviction which has summoned
the Federation of Catholic Cocieties of |
America into existence. It's aim, as is |
well known, is to bring about unity of |
action of all existing Catholic societies |
in certain matters affecting Catholic |
interests. This is not intended to inter- |
fere in any way with the special work |
TO which each individual society is de- |
voted.
1t is to be unity in diversity in the |
sense that all Catholic societies, whilst |
remaining perfectly independent, will |
cooperate for the purpose of enforcing I