The Irish standard. [volume] (Minneapolis, Minn. ;) 1886-1920, 1912-09-07
Are Catholics lntoIerant?

Grant? An Assumption That is Shat
tered by History" Rev. w. J. Geer,
M. A., until recently Anglican curate
at All Saints Church, Woolaha, Aus
tralia, skaters the cry of the Orange
and other bigots as follows:
When the Samoan High Chief Ma
taafa died he was described as "a
noble tigure-perhaps the greatest Sa-
moan that has ever lived" The cor
respondent of the Australian Daily
Telegraph wrote: "Mataafa died, as
he had lived for many years, devout
Catholic. but, though a Catholic all
his life and a regular attendant at the
church, he was ever tolerant in his
manner" Here we have the quiet as
sumption that Catholics, as rule, are
intolerant, and that it. is an exception
to the general rule to find one who is
not intolerant.
A Bugbear.
This is the ordinary Protestant no.
ton. How many times have 1 heard
the remark: If they (the Catholics)
get the upper hand again they would
be just the same as they used to be,
and persecute us Prostestants." And
then some reference is made about
Bloody Mary" or 1.-THE horrors of
the Spanish Inquisition," or, perhaps
the Massacre Of st. Bartholomew" is
given as a proof that REV. Smith and
his nice young curate and Miss Jones,
who sings in the choir, and our fam
lily would all be wiped out" 1t is very
curious that Prostestsnts should be
under this strange delusion, when, as
a matter of fact, history shows that
the boot is on the other foot.
The plain truth is that the Catholic
Church never has claimed-and never
will claim-the right to compel people
by force to become Catholics. Her
only methods are those of persuasion,
instruction and example. It is true
that a few Catholic sovereigns have
allowed prosecutions, as did Mary Of
England, or have been prosecuted, as
was Louis XIV Of France in his meas
ures against the Observation-Disclosures
some Spanish Kingston the Spanish
Inquisition was the creation of the
Government, and dealt in most cases
with political offenders. 1t was not
the creation of the Church to deal
with heretics. Indeed, the Pope tried
to induce the inquisitors to mitigate
the extreme penalties.
Age Of liberation.
We live in an age of liberation, and
it is hard for us to understand the
fierce prosecutions of days gone oy.
Cato, when, at the age of Sc, he was
accused of certain offences Of his past
life, said: 1T is difficult to render an
account of ones conduct to men be-
longing to an age different from that
in which one has lived" So,both
Catholics and Protestants, in forming
an opinion on prosecutions of the past
need to remember. the great difficulty
of freeing their minds from the 1ntlu-
ence Of the atmosphere around them,
and Of entering into the spirit of those
times with their different ideas, harsh
er methods and particular circum-
stances.
Catholics hold no brief for Queen
Mary or the French and Spanish mon
archs, nor do they wish to maintain
that their measures were right. MOI
is it fair to the Catholic Church tc
pick out the blacklist sets Of some Of
her members, and then call Catholic
ism a religion of tyranny. Suppose
you picked out all the fatal mistakes
of doctors, and then called their pro.
fession one of murder, that would bt
| as just as crying out about "the fires
of smithfield" and "the massacre o.
the Huguenots," and then branding
the Catholic Church as persecutins
and intolerant.
Catholic liberation.
But Protestants should be the yer,
last to speak about religious intoier'
ance. Protestant victims of religious
persecution are few in number com
pared with Catholic victims. Suppos
we compare them. During Queer
Mary's reign about two hundred wer'
put to death. Who advised their exc
cution? Certainly not the Catholic
Church. The Protestant Bishop Bur
net writes that: Cardinal Pole. tn
Papal Legate never set on the clerg!
to prosecute heretics. but to reform
themselves; and that che advise
that no open persecution should b
| raised against the Protestants."
The story Of the sufferings of Iris
Catholics is well known. Eng'isl
Protestants for more than two hun
dred years starved, robbed an
/ slauphtered helnlesa Irish Catholict