The Catholic bulletin. [volume] (St. Paul, Minn.) 1911-1995, 1912-06-01

DR.. Rice again: II have seen as
gross idolatry in Roman Catholic
countries as I have seen in India and
China A clear case this is Of incur
able color-blindness Will not the Doc
tor give some details, so that we may
the more easily explain away his psy-
Geological illusions?
And again: In the South (the more
Southern countries of South America)
the priesthood have everything i'm
their clutches, and SO vice, poverty
and superstition are found there" Nav
we have, Doctor, some details, some
proofs. Verify, it is too much to be
asked to believe all you say on mat
tiers, when already in SO many of your
statements you are shown to have put
before us outrageous misrepresenta-
lions of facts. And, then, when you
give details, will you not kindly make
some effort to connect with their true
causes your cases of "vice, poverty
and superstition" or, if you still hold
them to be logical effects of Catholic
ism, give reasons for your Judgment
reasons all the more necessary that
we your opponents hold those cases
OF vice, poverty and superstition, so
far as such may be proven to exist, to
exist, not at all as a logical result of
Catholicism, but altogether despite the
teachings and mandates of Catholic
ism.
Sanctity of Marriage.
Equally vague and general, equally
unproven, are the statements of Bish
op Bristol. He affirms: I deny: until
his charges are somewhat substanti
ated, my denial is sufficient rebuttal.
One of his charges is rather specific:
[ give specific reply. He says:
"Methodism's regard for the sanctity
OF the marriage relation Is a revela-
ton to the people (the people of South
Amerlca) among whom the very sane
tity of the marriage tie has for CEN
turtles been a matter of barter by the
prevailing ecclesiasticism * The
exorbitant pecuniary demands of the
priesthood have made marriage i'm
possible among the poorer" Is not the
Bishop here little sarcastic towards
Methodism, talking of "Methodism's
regard for the sanctity of the marriage
relation" while we recollect, as no
doubt he does, that this very Quad
rennial Conference now in session in
Minneapolis refused to prohibit it's
ministers from being present at re-
marriages of Divorces? AS to what
the Bishop tells anent illicit marital
relations in South America, caused, he
says, by ecclesiastical greed: I have
on my table the volume of the eccles-
iastical law that governs the Catholic
Church in South America, and in this
volume read this authoritative decree
regarding marriage fees: CAS- the
gifts of Christ are gratuitous dispensa-
tons of his bounty, and as no blacker
vice there could be, especially in what
concerns the holy ministry, than that
of averice, no offering other than what
is authorized by episcopal ordinance
shall ever, directly OF indirectly, be
sought for on the occasion of the ad-
ministration of the sacraments Of bap-
tism and matrimony-and not even
that much is to be taken in the case
of the poor, of such as cannot either at
all, or only under serious inconven-
fence make any Offering" Bishop Bris-
toll may have discovered in slums and
back-alleys of cities parties, whose
marital union had not been blessed by
the Church, as he can discover as
many such as he may call for nearer
to the gateways of North American
Methodism: but when he says that
the evil, SO far as it exists in South
America, is there due to the Catholic
Church, he qualities himself beyond all
exception for the Ananias Club. And
far beyond the wide territory ordinar-
lily covered by this Club, we must bid
him go, when he has the audacity to
add that in "Romanism" parties, liv-
ing in marital unions never ratified
by the proper authorities, might have
lived and died good Catholics in
spite of their illegitimate relations" |
again refer to the volume of eccles-
iastical law, ruling the Catholic Church
in South America as proof of the helm
BUSINESS in the eyes of the Catholic
Church of the sin of illegitimate rela-
tons, of the hopelessness of salvation,
in the teachings of the Catholic
Church, for the unfortunates who per-
severe in such relations. By the way
this volume of ecclesiastical law, print
ed in Latin and Spanish, I will gladly
lend to whosoever desires to know the
high standards of Christian morals the
Catholic Church demands of it's chill
dren in South America. The volume
read, scorn becomes imperative with
regard to the weird tales and utterly
unsupported conclusions SO literally
disnonSod NV RiSh0n bristol and DIR