The Washington herald., 1911-08-06
AROUSED BY TYRANNY

the discretionary will of the legisla-
might.
And what does the state give in re-
turn for all these riches (the still valu-
able remnants of a past wealth ir
which many thousands OF the needy
had their share)? What does 1t give tc
the clergy? What does 1t give to pa.
rochial clergy, who were only very late.
ly deprived Of a considerable part Of
their income by the enforcement of the
civil registration law? What does Il
give? Nothing! 1t promises, or rather
allows, to few Of the ministers OF re-
ligion certain life pensions still to bt
defined. without a fixed minimum ant
at the good pleasure of certain com
mfttees, on which. as a great conces
sion. one ecclesiastic may be elected or ap-
pointed. These committees have to take
into consideration many various condi
lions, amid which even the private anC
personal means Of the priest are to bt
reckoned, as well as the rental value o.
the dwellings. the grant of which 1!
otherwise declared to be a free gift Pen
sions which. subject to many charges
and on pretext of being an experiment
available for only one year. are no bet.
ter than few beggarly crumbsI And
those very crumbs can be withdrawn or
the slightest and almost unavoidable in,
fraction OF the enactments contained ir
this or any other future decree - . Thus
the menacing sword remains alway:
suspended over the head OF the priest.
For our own part We now here declare
most deliberately that we renounce such
pensions. which decorum itself forbids
us to accept
In any case, those pensions do not pass
60 hA 1T
Of the church. Yet real property of the
church remains; It does not end. and Its
income ceases not.
Once more We ask, by what right does
the state take to itself all this property
mostly due to the generous piety OF the
faithful, to the legacies and donations
of private individuals?
Such is not the procedure of other re-
publics. In America examples are not
wanting OF definite protection for the
Catholic Church and sometimes even of
an exclusive protection, The central
government of the United States of
North America does not indeed SUBJ
sidize any religion. but it respects all
legacies made in favor OF the Catholic
communion. The members of the Catholic
clergy are, by reason of their ministry,
exempted from military service. The
bishops juridical position is acknowl-
edged, and the judicial and coercive pow
er CT the church in spiritual matters
Is protected by the courts of law. The
strict observance of the Sundays rest is
we'll known. In every year one day is
set aside for the whole nation officially
to render thanks to God for all blessings
received.
Mockery.
Derogatory to the clergy is every law
that humbles and discredits It, as this
decree aims at doing. by lowering the
priest to the condition of a paid cleric
at the order of the associations for re-
ligious worship; by altogether setting
aside the ecclesiastical hierarchy; and by
forcing upon the prelates the necessity of
a placet, which is in all cases injuridical,
but quite absurd and absolutely unwar-
ranted under a regime of pretended sepa-
ration and liberty OF worship.
Derogatory to the clergy surely is a Law
that not only aims at corrupting the
priest with uncertain pensions, offered
on the most dishonoring conditions, but
also filings in his face the supreme in
suit of inviting him to disobedience and
immortality by assuring the payment of
those pensions to suspended priests, and
providing that maintenance "a special
shall be transmissible
mate or illegitimate, OF those priests who
may wish to avail themselves of the per-
mission to marry granted by the civil
law.
The Portuguese clergy must have fal
len low indeed in the appreciation Of the
legislator who dared to draft this!
The Clergy VIII RepeI This Affront.
This artical $50 sufficiently shows what
this law is, and reveals it's purpose
There may. unfortunately. exist weak
nesses. and even miseries, There may
be priests who, by using their ministry
not as a sacret calling. but as a paying
profession. may repeat the words "Quid
vultus mihi dare?"! What do you pur-
pose giving meD There may be the de-
generate. and the deserter! But the
overwhelming majority of the national
clergy will repel this affront, for they
have a thorough understanding OF the
high aim, moral and social, of the &c
clesiastical law which is binding on
them in conscience. 1t we'll knows that
celibacy is, if not the chief, one of the
principal factors in the superiority of the
Catholic clergy, compared with the min
listers of other persuasions or so-called
Christian sectS.
A profound thinker of our days has
very we'll said: The anathema remains.
Every priest who marries suffers a de-
in his character. The indis-
putable superiority of the Catholic clergy
is bound up with the law of celibacy
q. de Maistre)."
More, very much more, could be said
of the unjust. oppressive, predatory. and
insulting provisions embodied in this de-
cree of the goth of April But enough
has been cited to convince prelates,
priests, lay Catholics who are loyal to
their religion, all right-thinking men of
sound Judgment, all who are capable Of
understanding and appreciating the
meaning of the words liberty, justice,
consistency; all who know what respect
for the rights of others and regard for
societary interests imply. that We. in en-
tering this solemn protest against this
decree, are acting as our conscience
the character of our divine mission and
a sense of what Is due to our sacred Of
fee dictate.
With the holy see now lies the final
and definite pronouncement. But 1t is
not possible even for a moment, or as a
mere hypothesis, to suppose that pro-
can be any other than the
apostolic non possumus.
Though the Church does not, and can
not, approve in theory or in principle Of
the doctrine which regards separation as
a better regime and more in accordance
with progress, it may, for all that, under
special circumstances, alphabetically ac-
cept separation as tolerable and as a
lesser evil. But for this 1t is essential
that 1t shall~leave the Church freedom
to exercise her sacred mission and the
possession and ownership Of her own
property.
II the formula "a free church In a
free does pOt reDrasapt he idea 4