The Catholic bulletin. [volume] (St. Paul, Minn.) 1911-1995, 1912-03-30
" 0 Nan SUFF RACE
Bishop Carroll Of Helena Discusses
the Question in One of His Lenten
Sermons at St. Patrick's Church,
Montreal.

WOflkTSdts
Anything that weakens woman's
interest in the home" says Bishop
Carroll in one of his Lenten sermons
in Montreal, lis detrimental to her and
to society. This is why | don't like
that Feminist movement whose lat
est development is the agitation for
woman's suffrage. The Church has
made no procurement on this sub
ject; some great churchmen have even
declared in favor of it. / don't see
much strength in the arguments adj
vanced for it. First, there is the argu-
ment of expediency. Capitalists want
it because the Socialists are favoring
it; Socialists want it because the cap
italists are making a bid for it; re-
formers want it because they see in
it a powerful weapon for the eleva-
ton of society. The argument of the
reformers has some weight with me
because I feel that woman armed with
the suffrage, would eliminate the So
cial evil and control the liquor traf.
fic; but / would prefer to see these
evils remain as they are rather than
have woman run the risk of losing in.
terest in the home.
There is the argument of equality
woman is the equal of man, the Creator
so made her when He said: LET us
give man a helpmate like unto him
SELF" so st. Paul taught, when he
said: There is neither male nor fe.
male, but all are one in Christ" us
not woman the equal of man." says the
suffragette, sis she not, just as he a
human being composed Of soul and
body and endowed by the Creator with
Intelligence and free will?'
Yes, all this is true, and were WON
an to be regarded merely as an indi
vidual, then, see no abstract reason
why woman should not have all the
rights and privileges of man, includ
ing that of suffrage, but woman Is
not merely an individual any more
than is man, both were created foI
society. 'It is not good for man ia
be alone" said the Creator; "let III
make him a helpmate like unto him
SELF" And it is exactly in their so
cial relations that the individual
equality or likeness of man and wo
man finds those differences, physical
mental and moral, which are at once
the basis of dissimilarity of rights
and duties, and the source of that
domestic oneness upon which alone
society can be built and perpetuated
What are these differences, and
how are they reduced to unity in the
family life? It is unnecessary to
speak of the physical differences
without which the race could not con
tinue, and yet these are natures ways
of assigning to man the government
of the material world, and to woman
that of the domestic world; again, mar
is slow in reasoning, reaching his con
illusions only after much argument and
through the influence of many mo
tives; he is, therefore, in his element
when disputing with his fellows about
the things of earth; woman, on the
other hand, possesses in a high de
gree the angelic faculty of intuition
by which she sees her conclusions as
clearly as if they were first principles
How divinely wise that she should be
made the queen of the home, where
not discussion, but direct authoritative
teaching means so much. Finally, man
because of the slowness of his menta
operations and the material surround
, ings in which his life is cast, does moi
, easily grasp the great moral and re
. ligious truths, and, consequently, he
: is not enthusiastically religious. Wo
, man, on the contrary, is naturally NOR
, al and religious, because she sees anG
feels the truth, and beauty, and good
| ness of the relations of this life with
the next. Woman is, therefore, By
: nature the mother and teacher of men
Barbarism made her the slave of mai
and the caprice of his passions, bu
l God lifted her up again in the mystery
: of the Incarnation by associating hel
with the mother of His Son. Christian
ity has placed her on the borderlanG
between this world and the next, hel
J mission that of reckoning men on tx
t the things that are highest and hottest
What a pity it would be to imperi
, woman's position as queen of human
society by bringing her down to ths
low land of mans life. The doctrine
of equal suffrage cannot give woman
real liberty nor permanent equality
and would only tend to deprive hel
of her highest and proudest preroga
tive.
: '"But," say the suffragists, ''tax
paying women certainly ought to vote
for there should be no taxation with
out representation. If there be any
merit in this argument, believe al
woman ought to vote, for all should
] be represented, and not merely the