The Intermountain Catholic. (Salt Lake City [Utah] ;) 1899-1920, 1910-07-23
JOHN IRELAND.

Simply this; but before the name stands the
personality of great man, of churchnnan, whose
life is an illumination, whose character is pure
white, and whose record for loyalty to his church
and to his country is untarnished and unchal-
lenged. He is the ecclesiastical Bayard of Amer
ica-"sans peur ct sans reproche-fearless and
stainless" the Zion of the fold of Juda" man
who has accomplished great things
But why do we in writing of the great Arch
bishop of the West, abstain from attaching to his
name the courtesies and titles with which his
Church has honored him? We do so that we may
follow the precedent set US by himself when in the
North American Review for July, John Ireland
charges the Methodist denomination now proselyt-
izing in Italy and particularly in Rome with re-
sorting to the most dishonest and contemplate
trickery to accomplish its ends. He charges the
Methodist officials, and L'Evangelista, their organ
with unspeakable meanness in their cowardly and
dishonorable attacks the Supreme Pontif and
the Catholic Church. He proves his charges. Fur
thermore, the Archbishop leads US to believe that
the Methodist ministers, domiciled in Rome, stand
in with atheists cut-throats, assassins, thugs,
thieves and harlots, in their vile assaults on the
Catholic Church and the Holy See.
In his article, "The Methodist Episcopal Church
Of America in Italy," the Archbishop meets the
challenge of the Board of Bishops of the Methodist
Episcopal Church of America, demanding "details
of the specific acts" supporting "the recent unpro-
voked and unwarranted attempt to discredit one
of our most useful missions"
The Archbishop, early in May, framed an in
dictment against the Methodist body in Rome,
charging that determination with having recourse
to lies, calumnies, and dirty methods to FIJI their
chapels and schools. The Board of Bishops of the
Methodist Episcopal Church, through their secre-
tary, Bishop Wilson, entered demurrer and called
for bill of particulars. In the North American
Review the bill of particulars appears. The dis
tinguished prelate, Archbishop Ireland ruthlessly
and remorselessly presses his charges and supports
these charges with details and evidence proving the
guilt of the defendants, and satisfying the jury of
his countrymen, to whom the Archbishop appeals,
that the Nethodists in Rome are using in their at
tacks, weapons and methods condemned by the pact
of civilized peoples.
There is a manly and an indignant tone per-
vading the Archbishop's paper When reading it |
one calls to mind Cicero's attack on Catalina: |
"There is, moreover, that disposition in me- o |
Romans, that [ not only will yield to the audacity |
of no one but that always voluntarily attack the
worthless" When the Archbishop appeals to the |
justice and fair play of his countrymen, he uncon-
sciously repeats the language of the Roman orator
when attacking Verres: "And in this place [ APP
peal to you, Conscript Fathers, you ought to
take upon yourself not only the severity of judge
with respect to this crime, but something like the
vehemence of an enemy and an accuser."
His Grace, the Archbishop of ST. Paul, has again
made the Catholics of America his debtors We
say again. for John Ireland, as priest prelate and
citizen, has carried himself on all occasions and in
all emergencies with the dignity and strength of an
essentially great man. st. Paul. addressing his
Roman converts, exclaimed "As long indeed as
am the apostle of the gentiles, viii honor my
ministry" and so, in the evening of militant and
honorable life, the Archbishop may say with par
donable complacency q have, for nearly fifty
years, honored my ministry" By word and exam
pie he has edited all those under his charge "For
the rest, there is laid up for him crown of right