The Irish standard., 1911-07-01
SHOULD WOMEN
HAVE THE BALLOT?
Arguments For and Against Move
ment Outlined by Rev. Morgan
M. Sheedy, S. T. D.
Notable Churchmen not Agreed on
Probable Effect the Change
Would Have.
The Catholic Church, Emancipator
of Women, Ever Solicitous for
Their Welfare.

Rev. Morgan NJ. Sheedy, S. T. D.,
recently delivered lecture in st.
Johns church, Altoona, on the subject
The Catholic Church and the Stuff
rage Movement" Father Sheedy did
not attempt to solve the problem Of
woman suffrage but presented the
arguments advanced for and against
it.
Ours is an era of change, said the
preacher. There has been no greater
change than the present alterd posi-
ton Of woman. We are readjusting
many of our traditional ideas on the
| status of woman. Under modern condi-
transformations which have not
| halted, but arc still going forward--A
| new solution for many old problems
is demanded. We have with us the
eternal problem of woman. The in
hcrited idea that woman was en-
phatically q being to be taken care
of, one to be trusted, but hedged in by
defined safeguards and social regula-
tions is giving place to Il new idea or
estimate Of woman. That new idea is
that she is IL being fully capable O.!
taking care of herself, able to defend
herself, and to share in carrying II,
burdens fhithorto exclusively reserved
for men.
The problem as it presents itself
from the Catholic standpoint is this:
Can this readjustment of woman's sta
tus be made without any sacrifice OF
those gracious qualities of mind and
heart which form the charm, the re-
fining influence, the moral elevation
of womankind?
From the beginning the Catholic
Church has given us the true ideal
of womanhood. When Christianity
appeared it found woman practically
a slave or the sport of mems pleas
ures. Under the protection of the
Church, with the gradual abolition of
slavery, took place the elevation OF
woman and her redemption from pol
ygamy. Lecky the historian, points
out that no idea has exercised IL more
saIutary influence than the Catholic
Church's conception OF the virgin and
the vencration paid to her." For the
first time woman was raised to her
rightful position and the sanctity OF
: weakness was recognized. "No long
err he writes, "the slave, the toy of
, the ideas of degradation and sensll-
aIity, woman rose in the person of the
Virgin Mother into a new sphere anG
= became the object of Il reverentia
homage Of which antiquity had ne
conception"
Church Brings Freedom.
To the Church, then, woman owes
her present position Of freedom. Blu
the world Of today is progressive ir
/ its ideas, and woman demands the
/ fullest liberty. She is demanding equa
l rights with man. Hence we have al
! over the world at the present time :
movement on the part of woman
$ for political rights, including the righ
e of suffrage This agitation is mos
. intense n England. In elections hel,
1 last week in Italy there was for tn
i first time a woman suffrage plank
v Here in the United States there Is ,
:. growing demand for woman suffrag
G A bill for the reform of the clectora
q law passed the Swedish Diet on Feb
a. ruary u last. 1t provides for pro
n portional representation in Parliament
O and all persons over twenty-fou
r out discrimination on account Of Sc.
: Women have now complete suffrag
q in the three Scandinavian countrie
of Norway, Sweden and Finland, a
+ we'll as in the British colonies Of Aus
i. tralia and New Zealand, and tn
Il American states of Wyoming, Colo
~ RADIO, Idaho and Utah. So you SCI
the question has assumed very prac
tical form indeed.
l. Attitude Of the Church.
e What is the attitude Of the Cath
h Ole Church towards the general move
ment for woman suffrage? The Cath